Info reqd - financial help available for mature students?

Yeah yeah yeah - now you've stopped giggling at the 'mature' bit...

I'm seriously looking into the possibilities of going to Uni - probably Part Time (at least until my knee's sorted, then I could maybe do Full Time)... but having never been before (left school and did that whole 'earning a living' thing) I don't have a clue about what sort of financial help is out there now.

Let's face it, back when I was 18 it was all grants n stuff... do they still exist!

The one thing I have to avoid are Student Loans... hell, anything that has to e paid back really . Seriously, I'm just getting out of debt and don't want to be shoved back into it unless it is the very last resort and I have nobdy elses kidneys left to sell.

Obviously I'm talking to the Uni itself, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any external resources, links, government bodies etc I can also look into.

Oh, and the course is a bit obscure, 'Equine Management' and I'll be concentrating on the development of tack and other equipment (like historical saddlery, Military tack/harnesses & Barding (Medieval Armour)) - so any clues on where to start with regards grants from governing bodies, professional societies etc would be cool too. I know there's some horsey folk on here.

Thanks.

Unless you/your partner earn below a really low amount, the threshold is quite low, financial assistance sems to be geared more towards loans than grants nowadays. Which IMO is a fairer way of doing things, surely the whole point of university is to increase your earning potential! It may be worth taking a loan in the short term to earn more long term.

Tha said i rent a house to a mature student and his only income is his wife working part time 10 hours a week. Unless they are going into masive debt to pay the rent (just under £1k month), then there is obviously financial assistance out there.

[anna]

The university will be able to send you information as to any bursaries available to you. If the fees for the course are over a certain amount then the university has to offer a hardship grant which is £500 per term; however these are only issued at the universities own discression.

http://www.support4learning.org.uk/m...ponsorship.cfm

try the above link to see if there are any awards outside of the university that may be available to you. Generally speaking getting an outside company or investment may be the best way to go.

Hope this helps.

Ooooh, thanks for that link Anna - loads of stuff there.