We are pleased to be able to confirm that students registering for the OU / Trinity Laban Certificate The Practice of Music Making will be eligible for student loans, provided they meet the general eligibility criteria (for most OU students, this means provided they do not already have a qualification at an equal or higher level to the Certificate – the infamous “ELQ status” regulation).
After discussions between the Student Support branches of both institutions, Trinity Laban have confirmed that they will register the Certificate as a “standalone” qualification with the Student Loan Company (SLC). The OU already has other 60-point qualifications registered in this way. Once this has been done, then students will be able to apply to the SLC for a student loan in the usual way.
This will affect current OU students in slightly different ways, depending on whether they are “post-2012” or “pre-2012 (i.e. ‘transitional funding’)”:
- Pre-2012 students are ‘abandoning/withdrawing from’ their pre-2012 studies and starting a new post 2012 qualification and become loan eligible as a consequence.
- Post-2012 loan students are transferring their loan eligibility to a new qualification.
The main question that “pre-2012” students must consider is whether they exit their OU studies with a qualification (e.g. a BA degree) that makes them ineligible for a loan under the “ELQ” rule.
Registration for the Certificate is open, and places are limited, so students who wish to register should do so as soon as possible.