Nailbiting time

LegacyUser

Hi ,

Maybe this should be in another section , but I want to go unreg.

I am soo nervous of late. I am going back to college as a mature student .
That's mostly why im nervous , but generally im quite confident in my abilities to get things done. Its the technicalities of college life that are really worrying me. I have applied for BTEA , but Still no official response telling me whether Ive been approved or not. I was working a min wage job until feb this year. So have been signing since march/late feb. What do I do ?
I mean , without an official reply from SW where do I stand ? Should I even be going to college? Should I go , and then continue to collect at PO every week , (taking time out of college ,which I don't want to do) or will they have it sorted by then , that the money would be going into my acc? My grant has been approved, pending the registration with the college.
I will be commuting a long distance at least for the first while, and just am so anxious that things are going to work out. What if they don't ? And what about this new announcement from the gov introducing fees from next year? Do I really want to get into more debt over a degree?

Should I be going to college at all. Should I register early september?

rantyface

I don't have to pay fees, but if I did I would take out the loan. It's worth it to get into an area you want to work in. You won't have to work for minimum wage either.
You'll probably also have a late morning or half day during the week when you can go to the PO if you're still eligable. The set hours in college are usually only about 25 per week, you're meant to study the rest of the time.

Good luck

girlbiker

I'm in the same boat too - heading back to college, waiting on my grant to be approved, waiting on a loan to be approved, wondering will I get enought PT work so I can afford to eat next year, anticiapting eating pot noodles and wearing rags for the year, then on top of that the worry about the course - can I handle it? But even though I do worry about all this I'm still going... Come what may, and everything will be okay in the end.
Get a loan, get student assistance from your college, live off your grant and out of Lidil and you'll find in college alot of people exactly the same as you, fretting away, but still getting on with things, you and me will do that too.

LegacyUser

Hi OP, I am a mature going back too.I couldn't go back to college without BETA but thats just my situation. Once you apply for BETA you should get a letter acknowledging your application(phone them if you don't), then when you register you bring proof of registration to SW and that's that. You won't have to take time off to sign on cos once you register you will be on BETA. I am not worrying about fees until next year, if they come in there should still be grants for social welfare people(that's what I am hoping) and if not I will deal with that when it happens. Try not to worry about the future, enjoy this new time, going back to college, meeting new people. All us mature students will be in the same boat most us having not studied since school, so join a mature students group. If you get BETA and a grant you will be financially fine and won't have to take a part-time job.
I say go for it if it's something you really want to study. Think of it as a fun time:) Don't let fear hold you back.

LegacyUser

Hi Op here ,

Thanks for all your responses.
I have applied for the BTEA like weeks ago ! but still don't even have a letter to say that they have acknowledged my application! I really need to know before I go back don't I ? Otherwise I could be accused of doing something I really should not do ... ie. Claim J.S.A while I am a Student! ? They could say to me weeks into my course , hang on a minute , your supposed to be job seeking your not , your in college , and a full time course , so your not entitled to J.S.A And were cutting you off ! If they told me now that my application for BTEA failed and that I was not going to get it ... then I would say , o.k I accept that . I'll stay on J.S.A and look for another minimum wage menial job, in which I am overworked an underpaid !

And stay out of college , since I wont even be able to cover travel costs without a basic welfare payment. let alone ... Materials and food ... !

LegacyUser

Unregistered wrote: »

Hi Op here ,

Thanks for all your responses.
I have applied for the BTEA like weeks ago ! but still don't even have a letter to say that they have acknowledged my application! I really need to know before I go back don't I ? Otherwise I could be accused of doing something I really should not do ... ie. Claim J.S.A while I am a Student! ? They could say to me weeks into my course , hang on a minute , your supposed to be job seeking your not , your in college , and a full time course , so your not entitled to J.S.A And were cutting you off ! If they told me now that my application for BTEA failed and that I was not going to get it ... then I would say , o.k I accept that . I'll stay on J.S.A and look for another minimum wage menial job, in which I am overworked an underpaid !

And stay out of college , since I wont even be able to cover travel costs without a basic welfare payment. let alone ... Materials and food ... !

I contacted the office in Dublin which deals with BTEA . and Am feeling more positive now. Its just a case of remaining positive !

LegacyUser

To the poster who reckons there will be grants for BTEA recipients to cover Tuition Fees, there will not. Where do you think the government is going to find the money to cover the cost of every BTEA recipient's fees? Fees cost thousands per year and there are going to be a hell of a lot of candidates eligible for BTEA by the time mandatory fees roll around, especially given the high rates of unemployment and the number of job losers legging it back to college. Fees are intended to generate revenue, not consume it.

I am currently in receipt of the BTEA and am paying over 5k per year of my course in Tuition Fees. It would be naive to assume welfare recipients will be immune to fee paying.

LegacyUser

I never said there were grants for BETA???Social welfare people I said, NOT Beta recipients....ie People who qualify for maintenance grants, this can also include lower income families. If you qualify for FULL MAINTENANCE GRANTS you have all your fees paid because you are entitled to it. You DO NOT automatically get your fees paid if you are on BETA as you already know hence you are paying 5k. They are removing free fees for all and introducing full fees. They will have to have a system in place to accommodate the lower income brackets ie social welfare dependant/lower income earners who qualify for full grants, naive or not, better to begin college anyway, until you know for definite what is happening rather than go on an interpretation of what may happen. Yes fees are coming in but as of yet it is speculation as to the system they will implement whether it be students loans/means testing etc.
To qualify for BETA you have to be on a social welfare payment for a certain length of time, this has nothing to do with the payment of fees. If you qualify for full grants, you are eligble to have registration fees paid etc aswell as your grant for the year, just to clear that up for you.
Just so you know also,Beta will continue next year but will be included in reckonable income for ALL candidates, which will make a huge number not elligable for grants. Therefore despite the increase in social welfare dependant candidates you may find that with this introduction a lot more people will not be getting grants next year. Also BETA is an incentive to get people back into education, they are getting this money anyway from the state so those "legging it back to college" as you say, are actually very smart in doing so and adding to our country rather than taking from it!