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Author Topic: Back to Uni at 40, argh...  (Read 42597 times)

HTH AMPS

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Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« on: November 26, 2013, 07:34:46 PM »
I've been thinking about retraining and going back to Uni for a while now.  I've had a good think about what gives me job satisfaction, feeds my needs for ongoing mental stimulation and also will have a decent likelihood of employment with a good wage at the end of it.  The longer serving members on here will also remember my rough time before I got my arthritis under control and I ended up in hospital as I couldn't walk or anything, was totally debilitating.  This has been on my mind for some time and its informed my decision to study biomedical sciences with the intention to focus on immunology as the course progresses.

The biggest hurdle is funding - with a degree already (back in 2000) in Broadcast Engineering, I don't qualify for a fees loan.  I do qualify for always everything else - maintenance loan and university bursary.  However, thats still not gonna pay £9000 a year in fees.

I'm just wanting to get some opinions from anyone on here who's recently gone through Uni to get an idea of possible sources of funding.  I'm already writing to pharmaceutical companies for private funding, but the chances of that happening are slim to none. 

So I'm left in reality and a problem of how to fund this.  Short of letting out my house while I study and moving back in with the parents, I can't see a way to make it work financially.  This is obviously the last resort (much as I love my parents).

Anyone got ideas? - will be starting in September 2015.


Jamie

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2013, 08:12:01 PM »
As a current student who is struggling to get a grant from student finance, I have been told to check this out...

http://www.unigrants.co.uk/

Not sure if any of it will be applicable to you, but its worth a try. Good Luck.
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Philly Q

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2013, 08:21:26 PM »
I've no useful suggestions to make, but good for you going back to Uni at 40!  Good luck with it!  :D

I'd like to be able to do that, not with a view to a career change but just because I like the learning environment.  Don't think I'd fit in very well with the social life though (...no change there, I didn't fit in at 18 either.  :| )
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Alex

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2013, 08:32:12 PM »
You could vote for Labour and hope that they'll review the whole university fees thing...

Short of studying in another country, you're out of options really. Normally only PhD students manage to get scholarships nowadays, though on very rare occasions, Master students get some funding from somewhere as well.
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Philly Q

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #4 on: November 26, 2013, 10:19:30 PM »
You could vote for Labour and hope that they'll review the whole university fees thing...

 :lol:  Not much chance of that.
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Dave Sloven

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2013, 02:15:07 AM »
Sounds like the kind of thing where there might be a job at the end of it.

All I know is don't do journalism, the rate of successful completions to people gaining jobs in the field is dismal.  Same with PhDs in most fields outside of the biological sciences and related fields.  Also IT is not so great anymore, with a lot of jobs going off-shore to India and other cheaper countries with lots of English speakers.
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JDC

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2013, 04:19:42 AM »
NHS will pay your fees on certain courses, they do for mine

I'm 30 next week and I live with a load of 19 year olds, I'm officially not cool any more :(

dave_mc

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2013, 12:32:45 PM »
^ I dunno, you're a total badass among 30 year olds :lol:

You could vote for Labour and hope that they'll review the whole university fees thing...

 :lol:  Not much chance of that.

yeah considering they brought them in (though i think the tories were on the way to bringing them in, too).

fees are zero in scotland and much less in wales and NI, I think, but I suspect you have to live there (i.e. be from there, not just move there for university :lol: ) which sucks if you're english. I think university is free (or near enough, at least compared to UK fees) in the republic of ireland, but again you might have to be resident there or in northern ireland.

What about the netherlands or somewhere like that? Just from reading in the paper (so yeah, take this with a pinch of salt) a lot of courses are now being run in english and they're having more and more english students because the fees are so much less. But obviously you'd need to be careful that whoever you eventually want to work for will accept it the same as a UK degree.

That was no help, sorry. :( It really should be free, it sucks. Especially when you don't qualify for support for fees etc.

Dmoney

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2013, 07:33:13 PM »

you're a broadcast engineer? So am I! It sucks. ha!

JDC

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2013, 09:37:03 PM »
^ I dunno, you're a total badass among 30 year olds :lol

But if I was a badass and 19 I could be part of the shag fest that makes up my student halls

Philly Q

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #10 on: November 27, 2013, 11:08:44 PM »
^ I dunno, you're a total badass among 30 year olds :lol

But if I was a badass and 19 I could be part of the shag fest that makes up my student halls

Blimey it wasn't like that in my day.

Or if it was, no-one told me about it.  :?
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dave_mc

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #11 on: November 28, 2013, 12:39:23 PM »
:lol:

JDC

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #12 on: November 28, 2013, 08:51:49 PM »
^ I dunno, you're a total badass among 30 year olds :lol

But if I was a badass and 19 I could be part of the shag fest that makes up my student halls

Blimey it wasn't like that in my day.

Or if it was, no-one told me about it.  :?

Probably went to a decent uni then, I'm at a metropolitan :( most of the people round mine are doing pointless degrees, layout of the flats helps, so does facebook, so do mobile phones

The people I know who go the real uni down the road actually study and don't go out partying every night, they also get proper societies, mine are absolute cr@p

Philly Q

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #13 on: November 28, 2013, 11:46:05 PM »
Probably went to a decent uni then, I'm at a metropolitan :(

Bath.  It was a long time ago.
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Dave Sloven

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Re: Back to Uni at 40, argh...
« Reply #14 on: November 30, 2013, 02:00:06 AM »
^ I dunno, you're a total badass among 30 year olds :lol

But if I was a badass and 19 I could be part of the shag fest that makes up my student halls

Get yourself some spandex, one of those crazy '80s paintjobs on your guitar, and repackage yourself as some kind of weird old Satchel type.  Invite them to your room to show them your divebombs, girls love that
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