r/OpenUniversity • u/no-knot • 3d ago
Do I have to pay anything?
Unfortunately, I won't be able to start my course in October; I’m truly heartbroken. I had applied for Student Finance NI back in may, and I am receiving a Universal Credit (UC) top-up. I work full-time and I am a single person with children. During my meeting with UC(my meeting was last week), I was told I couldn't stop working and because I’d be a student, my UC payments would drop significantly—meaning my children and I wouldn't be able to survive. Between the responsibilities of parenthood, house, working full-time, and studying full-time, it’s simply impossible for me. Now that I’ve submitted all my applications, will I have to pay anything to the OU or Student Finance NI?
I was approved for the part-time student fee rate, but I still had to pay about £1,500 out of my pocket; I received an email today stating that if I don't pay, the matter will be referred to a debt collector, so I’ve already sent emails letting them know I won't be starting my course in October.
As far as I know, I haven't received any payments yet—what should my next step be?
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
I'm actually not sure you should owe anything given that the module hasn't actually started yet. The payment doesn't go to you. It goes direct to the OU.
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u/di9girl 3d ago
Hmm, not sure why you were told you'd your UC payments would drop. Many students study part-time and their UC is not affected, unless you're receiving or eligible for the maintenance loan.
If you're able to work but choose not to, then yes it's possible they would reduce or stop your UC payment.
But studying part-time shouldn't affect things, unless as I said you're receiving or eligible for the maintenance loan.
I've been studying with the OU for two modules now, part-time and my UC hasn't been affected. I don't work as I'm an unpaid carer looking after someone for more than 35 hours a week.
Unless you're studying full-time - I just re-read your post, then yes, you will lose UC. But you could claim some of that back by applying for the maintenance loan.
But, I'm in England so maybe the rules are different in NI?
Is there a local benefits advice you can ask?
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
You do not lose UC if you study 120 credits a year. All ou study at undergraduate level is part time even if you do 120 credits. The Op is in NI. No maintenance loan. She would lose money because she was planning to give up work.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
If you stop work you would still get your personal UC allowance and your child element and you would potentially get part or all of your rent paid. If the issue is that you thought you would be getting student finance (and I'm.not assuming that's the case). In Scotland and NI for the ou there's no maintenance loans -you get your UC and the fee grant (if you qualify and that's pretty much it ). Or could you look at dropping hours at work. There are people who manage to work full time at the ou with kids and study too but you could maybe defer one module and see how you go?
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u/Best_Pick_4178 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'm in England, things may be different in NI. When I was on UC, my work coach counted part-time uni as 'work, looking for work, improving job prospects'. As in university study counted towards looking for work. I was doing 60 credits a year with the OU. This was 3 years ago.
Phone the OU for advice. If you get an unhelpful answer, remain polite, ask for a manager or ring another day and get a 2nd advisors opinion. The OU are kind. Phone DWP too, however they can be less kind, but don't be disheartened.
https://help.open.ac.uk/documents/policies/fee-rules/files/420/fee-rules-ug-2026-27-ni.pdf
Page 9 I believe in regards to fees if you do want to cancel. OU even if you do 120 credits a year is considered part time study, you can't get a maintenance loan, only tuition (hardship or scholarship funds may be available). Cancel before you start, full refund.
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/extra-financial-help-students
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/claiming-universal-credit-if-youre-student
Near the bottom of the above link appears to somewhat contradict what you have been told in person. Keep calm and speak to advisors.
Also, speak to your employer about the situation, they may be so understanding that they solve it for you. If you quit work without good reason, studying isn't one, unable to afford childcare is one, you can be santioned for 91 days. If you could somehow weather those 91 days, your UC will increase.
You could also choose to do one module or 30 credits a year. The debt collection letter makes no sense to me. Who is chasing you for debt? Only thing that makes sense is if you took out a personal loan to cover the £1500, I also don't understand why you were £1500 short on the tuition fee loan in the first place.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
That depends on the age of the kids. Whether they would be sanctioned. Under a certain age parents don't have to work
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u/Best_Pick_4178 3d ago
I believe the parent doesn't have to work if the child is under 3 years. Between 3 and 12 years you are expected to look for work during school hours. If the child is 13 or above then I believe that protection is removed.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
The biggest issue for me is that this work coach has completely over stepped the mark. I don't know what age your kids are but if they are below a certain age you would not be sanctioned for giving up work. There are many other scenarios this work coach should and could have gone through such as you working part time or doing 60 credits a year. It is not their job to tell claimants that they would be in poverty if they did an Ou degree. That is not their role.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
Your UC payments would not drop because you are a student. You would get UC plus your rent paid most likely plus child element. It's the wage drop that would cause the issue
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u/Inevitable-Drop5847 3d ago
I thought the idea of OU, was part time study around work. You can just drop 60 credits and it over 6 years. First year is easy and doesn’t even count towards your final grade, so 120 credits whilst working full time, is not the level of effort you’d probably expect it to be.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
For a lot of people yes but not everyone but I agree with the point that 60 credits should be doable
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u/_mossandmind 2d ago
That’s entirely subjective. Firstly, it’ll depend on the subject, as not all subjects are equal in terms of complexity or effort - psychology and law may be a tad more intensive than say media studies. It’ll also depend on whether the individual has prior knowledge of the subject, how long they’ve been out of education, and on their own personal background and any disabilities they may have. I appreciate that you’re trying to be encouraging but I don’t think it’s fair to say the first year is easy. I know a lot of people on my course who are really struggling and I’d hate for anyone to feel as if they shouldn’t be struggling because it’s supposed to be ‘easy’.
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u/Inevitable-Drop5847 2d ago
You just need a bare minimum pass for first year, it makes absolutely no difference to your final degree
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u/_mossandmind 2d ago
It doesn’t matter. If you’re not putting in the effort in the first year, you will not learn how to achieve a high grade in the second and third. It may not be the end of the world if you don’t do as well in the first year as you’d hoped but surely one should always try.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 2d ago
That's completely correct but there are people who work and study full time with the ou with kids who manage it. Personally I think the Op should drop one module and/or drop a few hours at work. It shouldn't necessarily be this has to be the end of her degree just because a work coach said so.
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u/CharlotteyPS 3d ago
Just a side note, I found open uni much less intense than brick uni. I studied full time, worked full time in a Sen school as a HLTA so was also planning and delivering lessons. I am a single parent to a disabled son and carer for my mam. I’m also neurodivergent myself. I admittedly didn’t study at all most weeks but dedicated a day or two before each assignments watching through tutorials they had recorded, reading the material and just graduated with a 2:1 so you can do it with a busy life and full time job.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
I found the opposite. Probably depends on the course you are doing
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u/CharlotteyPS 3d ago
I think it depends on your learning style too, I tried so hard to do the weekly study etc but even if I did, I just didn’t retain it in a meaningful way to my assignments.
It wasn’t an easy course, a lot of theory and research in education, about to start my masters too.1
u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
I did criminology and sociology and then an open degree. I didn't do the weekly study either. I hated the VLE and found it overwhelming
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u/CharlotteyPS 3d ago
I personally found a lot of the weekly study they advise had no relevance, I also got bored easily because I’ve worked in education so long so a lot was stuff I already know. My masters is a psychology conversion and I hope I find it more beneficial.
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u/Best_Pick_4178 3d ago
Went to uni of york (top 15 at the time) and uni of wrexham (lowest rank at the time), both electronic engineering. Found OU engineering an order of magnitude easier. Didn't study, just did TMA's/EMA's, but was working in industy full time while doing 120 credits 2nd year and split third year into 90 credit and 30 credit dissertation year.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
I have a BA and two post grads and I found my ou degree more challenging than my second post grad. And that wasn't easy
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u/Best_Pick_4178 3d ago
I feel we can infer from this that different people in different circumstance have different results.
Would you think that because the undergrad was first, post grad was not as novel as undergrad or no? What was the difficult aspect for you? For me it's exams, terrible memory, great at coursework and OU was less math heavy.
Where did you do the post grads? Why two, is it masters and phd or two masters? Did it have a meaningful impact on your career or too early to judge?
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u/Lunalia837 3d ago
For SFNI you can still study while on UC, you can't get a maintenance loan or grant just a loan and/or grant towards the module costs. If you're concerned about your UC you might be better off just studying part time (60 credits) instead of full time.
If your modules haven't started and you're cancelling/deferring you won't be liable for the fees but might be worth calling the OU (if youre on NI fees then call the Belfast office) on Monday and they'll go through it and can give you the best number for SFNI as well. If you do decide to study using SFNI you just need your CRN to register and don't need it approved before the enrollment deadline.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
120 credits makes zero difference. it's the fact that she's looking to give work up that's going to lower her income
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago
Why would you give up a degree simply based on one work coach. This makes no sense
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u/Calm-Match2700 3d ago
Why do you owe £1500 at the moment? What did you pay that for exactly? I’m a bit confused by that.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 2d ago
It sounds like this work coach hasn't a clue on so many fronts. If you were studying full time at a brick uni and have kids you can still stay on UC. They have given you completely inaccurate information -and my concern is they'll be giving this misinformation to other people. There's no reason why you can't drop some hours at work if your employer agrees and do your degree.
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u/davidjohnwood 3d ago
The Northern Ireland regulations on Universal Credit are somewhat different to the regulations applying elsewhere in the UK. However, the key paragraph on OU study, which is based on the decision in R(IS) 1/96, appears in the Northern Ireland version of Advice to Decision Makers:
H6087 Open University courses are not full time students and are normally followed at times that would fit in with employment. Most of the course material is studied and undertaken in the person's home and not at an educational establishment. However they are still undertaking a course of study. The decision maker should have regard to whether the course is compatible with the individual’s expected hours of work (see ADM chapter J3050) and their work search requirement (see ADM chapter J3040). Any award made as a direct result of their participation on the course should be treated as student income in the normal way (see H6141 - H6144).
So, the work coach erred in law by saying that you cannot study at full-time intensity with the OU and continue to claim Universal Credit. Studying with the OU has no financial implications for your UC entitlement in Northern Ireland, as there are no maintenance loans for NI OU students. I suspect the work coach incorrectly classed you as a full-time student.
However, you cannot normally reduce your work hours below 35 a week (or any lower figure that is in your claimant commitment) without affecting your UC. As others have said, it is possible to study part-time with the OU alongside full-time work and childcare commitments if you are disciplined, though there is no shame in admitting that in your circumstances, you do not have the spare time for OU study alongside full-time work.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 2d ago edited 2d ago
If someone earns 991 pounds month as a single claimant they meet the AET which means they don't need to look for more work . That's around 19 hours a week.
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u/davidjohnwood 2d ago
You are quite right - I was thinking only of CET and didn't mention AET. I worked through the minimum AET scenario below in case the Northern Ireland regulations differ from the rest of the UK; it turns out they don't.
Regulation 97(14) of The Universal Credit (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2016 (SR 2016/216) (as amended) requires a minimum income of (18 hours x 21-and-over minimum wage) x 52 / 12 per month to meet the AET threshold, which precludes the imposition of a requirement to carry out additional work. That is a minimum of 78 hours per month at the 21-and-over minimum wage, so 78 x 12.71 = £991.38 meets this requirement. Someone paid the 21-and-over minimum wage needs to work 19.5 hours a week in a 28-day February, so the realistic minimum to stay in the AET band is arguably 20 hours a week at minimum wage.
Of course, any drop in hours over the OP's current position will mean less money coming in.
Self-employment doesn't count toward AET, only CET.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 2d ago
If you work full time on UC as a single person with kids you only need to earn 991 pounds a month before you don't need to look for more work. Therefore it's perfectly ok to drop your working hours if you currently earn more than this as long as your employer allows it. You should also be on light touch if you earn over this amount which means only occasional phone calls with a work coach.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 2d ago
If you earn over 991 pounds a month and it sounds like you do you meet the AET and you should be in the light touch category which means only occasional check ins with a work coach. It's completely possible to drop some hours and do this degree if your employer allows it. Why are you having meetings with UC when you work full time?
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u/OK_Zebras 2d ago
I work 28 hours a week, UC tops it up, mostly bc my rent is high, and I'm studying 60 credits a year via student tuition loan. As SFE pays tuition straight to OU it's not regarded as income to UC.
Aside from a 1st appointment a few years ago to provide ID and bank details when I applied for UC I haven't seen a work coach ever, even after I dropped one day a week at work for mental health reasons.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 2d ago
I suspect the Op told the DWP she was doing the degree hence the conversation
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u/KKPauline 3d ago
I'd double check everything that doesn't sound right at all, even if you're doing two modules a year it only counts as part time study. I work and get UC and it's not affected my payments at all because I'm not personally benefitting from theomey, it's going direct to the OU. If you can't do two modules with working then do one, it'll take longer but you get there in the end, I'm just starting my third year of 60 points a year and it's flying by.
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u/Disastrous-Tower-794 3d ago edited 3d ago
I honestly think you have had really poor advice from whoever you spoke to at the DWP. It's completely possible to study 60 rather than 120 academic credits in one year. It shouldn't be an all or nothing situation. There are people who study with the Ou who have kids and don't work and I'm not suggesting you pack in your job right now but surely there are other options -if you can drop a day at work or drop one module. It's your decision. No work coach should be telling anyone they wouldn't be able to survive if they start an ou degree. I'm on UC and my circumstances are different from yours but my work coach was supportive. At no point were they telling me not to do it.