6th Form Vocational School Entry Sept 22

[MrsKrabz]

Hello,

 

I'm really just after some advice about the financial side of going to 6th form vocational school? How do the fees get paid? is it the same as going to Uni? and also whats the difference between say NBS fees and Central, also with student rent etc?

Just really confused with it all, any advice would be much appreciated 🥰

Edited November 4, 2021 by MrsKrabz

[Dancers Dad]

Basically, you pay the fees and you pay the accommodation. So obviously quite a big difference in rent between NBS and Central. Neither have their own accommodation so you'll need to go into general student accommodation.

 

But you can apply for a Dada grant, which can get you money off the fees - and off accommodation if you're on a very low income. See more here - https://www.gov.uk/dance-drama-awards

[Jan McNulty]

I've added a couple of tags.  You may find some useful information if you search on them.

[Pups_mum]

It depends on the course Mrs Krabz. There are a few courses that are degree courses - Central and Rambert spring to mind and in those cases, yes, your DC would be entitled to student finance and it is like going to University. However, just be a bit careful as degrees studied at private institutions eg London Studio Centre don't attract the full loan for fees and the fees may also be higher than regular University courses. It's quite a number of years since I was looking, but at the time the maximum loan available was £6k and the fees were something like £10k - you have to find the difference yourself. Also, be aware that if your DC uses their student finance up on a degree they start at 16, apart from in specific circumstances such as some healthcare degrees, they won't be eligible for funding for another degree at the same level if they later change direction. 

However, most courses are the Trinity Dioloma, which despite being a level 6 qualification is not a degree and therefore not eligible for student finance. As Dancers Dad mentioned earlier, you may be eligible to apply for a DADA but these are competitive and the number available at different schools and colleges varies. They are also means tested, and there is an upper earnings limit above which you are ineligible so make sure you read all the details. Most institutions do have some bursaries and scholarships of their own, but this varies a lot from place to place and are often quite limited. It's an expensive business I'm afraid.

Sorry, I know I'm making it sound bleak, but it's not my intention! It is very wise of you to think through the finances first though. I ruled out some courses as financially out of reach even of DD was lucky enough to get a place, and she didn't even go to open days to places I knew we couldn't afford. Different people have different views of course, but my personal opinion, which fortunately DD agreed with, is that there was no point in auditioning for some places as we'd have to turn them down if successful anyway, which would be upsetting  - or, possibly worse, we might have let pur hearts rule our heads and made some imprudent financial decisions if a "dream place" had become available.I don't think thereone right approach, but forewarned is definitely forearmed so look very carefully at all your options. Good luck!

Edited November 4, 2021 by Pups_mum

[Jewel]

Different schools/colleges offer different qualifications and the funding mechanisms are different for each.  I am assuming that applicants are UK residents eligible for UK based funding

 

Northern Ballet School are one of the schools who offer a Trinity Level 6 Diploma in Professional Dance.  The school set the tuition fees at approx £14,000 per year.  The school has a certain number of government Dance & Drama Award funding.  These are means tested according to parental income.  The parental contribution to fees ranges from £0 for families with an income of under £33,000 per year to having to pay full fees for families with an income of over £90,000.  The scale is here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dance-and-drama-awards-income-scales/dance-and-drama-awards-income-scales-2018-to-2019-academic-year  There is a small maintenance grant available as part of the DaDa scheme, but only to incomes of less than £30,000

 

Central offer a BA Hons degree and as they are part of Conservatoire for Dance & Drama they have the same funding system as UK universities in that fees are capped at just over £9,000.  A student loan to cover the fees can be taken out via SFE and there is also a Maintenance Loan, the amount you an borrow depends on family income.  The website Save the Student has details of the amounts and family incomes.

 

Some colleges offer a degree but are not their own awarding body and so they can (and do) set much higher fees and SFE sets a maximum loan amount of £6,500 per year towards those fees.  An example of that kind of college is London Studio Centre.  Full maintenance loans are still available.  

 

 

[meadowblythe]

 

It's worth researching accommodation costs at the same time as courses.  In some cases these would be quite eye-watering and may outweigh differences in course costs.  You probably want to know the total cost ie course fees paid by yourselves and accommodation costs you would need to cover.

 

 

[Mummy twinkle toes]

Student finance will also depend on which country of the U.K. you live in for degrees. For example; we live in Wales so we were able to get better student finance for my Dd than her friends living in England. It depends on course, course duration (we got extra maintenance loan due to it being longer than standard term) and your income.

Do always check accommodation costs too as these can raise what you need to pay as Meadowblythe states. Central London student halls are very expensive.

[Ballet4Boyz]

Yes ….. its so important to look into accommodation costs as they will differ significantly depending on where your DC decides to study/train.

Our DS is in his first year (degree course) at Central School of Ballet - he has a student loan to cover the cost of tuition fees which are just over £9k per year and a maintenance loan which covers around half of his accommodation costs per year. He pays £229 per week for a shared en-suite room in a nice halls of residence (in a nice area) . There are cheaper halls available but not significantly cheaper if you want a reasonable area. Failing that - you have to live further out of the city for cheaper rental deals . On top of this he needs money for food/toiletries/travel/laundry which we have to fund. He tends to work during the summer to save up for his ‘socialising costs’ 

 

It’s all very costly when you then add in medical insurance and dance uniform every year ! 
Best to be forewarned though x

[glissade]

13 hours ago, Ballet4Boyz said:

Yes ….. its so important to look into accommodation costs as they will differ significantly depending on where your DC decides to study/train.

Our DS is in his first year (degree course) at Central School of Ballet - he has a student loan to cover the cost of tuition fees which are just over £9k per year and a maintenance loan which covers around half of his accommodation costs per year. He pays £229 per week for a shared en-suite room in a nice halls of residence (in a nice area) . There are cheaper halls available but not significantly cheaper if you want a reasonable area. Failing that - you have to live further out of the city for cheaper rental deals . On top of this he needs money for food/toiletries/travel/laundry which we have to fund. He tends to work during the summer to save up for his ‘socialising costs’ 

 

It’s all very costly when you then add in medical insurance and dance uniform every year ! 
Best to be forewarned though x

Just for info ... does he pay the weekly cost for accommodation in the holidays too (so paying 52 weeks per year), or just in term time? 

[MrsKrabz]

Thank you to everyone who has replied 🥰

 

 

[NJH]

On 04/11/2021 at 14:07, meadowblythe said:

 

It's worth researching accommodation costs at the same time as courses.  In some cases these would be quite eye-watering and may outweigh differences in course costs.  You probably want to know the total cost ie course fees paid by yourselves and accommodation costs you would need to cover.

 

 

wasn't this the case with   that place  north of the border which we do not mention ?

[NJH]

10 hours ago, glissade said:

Just for info ... does he pay the weekly cost for accommodation in the holidays too (so paying 52 weeks per year), or just in term time? 

depends on the  accomodation contract same  as  any other Student accomodation... 

[glissade]

7 hours ago, NJH said:

depends on the  accomodation contract same  as  any other Student accomodation... 

Yh, I know - that's why I was asking Ballet4Boyz if they'd mind sharing info about their specific example of how it works for them 🙂

[Dancers Dad]

20 hours ago, glissade said:

Just for info ... does he pay the weekly cost for accommodation in the holidays too (so paying 52 weeks per year), or just in term time? 

Not sure if this was a London-specific question, but if not - when we researched accommodation for our daughter in Manchester, there were options to rent for 51 weeks or 38 (? or thereabouts) weeks but it was a considerably higher price for the lower number of weeks, which meant that you were paying pretty much the same anyway (in fact, a touch more I think) over the year! So always worth checking the two costs.

[NJH]

1 hour ago, Dancers Dad said:

Not sure if this was a London-specific question, but if not - when we researched accommodation for our daughter in Manchester, there were options to rent for 51 weeks or 38 (? or thereabouts) weeks but it was a considerably higher price for the lower number of weeks, which meant that you were paying pretty much the same anyway (in fact, a touch more I think) over the year! So always worth checking the two costs.

exactly  this , with  conventional' Unis   the waters tend to get muddied somewhat  as different  sites  within the the HEI's estate  will offer different contract lengths , where  for  smaller  institutions that's not the case - also i doubt the smaller institutions  get the 'alternative' use  of the short contract accomodation some of the other Institutions do ( especially  those where the 38  week accomodation are required ot clear their room over the Vacs so it can be used for conference / toursits  B+B purposes)

[glissade]

1 hour ago, Dancers Dad said:

Not sure if this was a London-specific question, but if not - when we researched accommodation for our daughter in Manchester, there were options to rent for 51 weeks or 38 (? or thereabouts) weeks but it was a considerably higher price for the lower number of weeks, which meant that you were paying pretty much the same anyway (in fact, a touch more I think) over the year! So always worth checking the two costs.

Thanks - that's really helpful. Simple examples are a lot easier to picture than abstract possibilities!

[Ballet4Boyz]

On 06/11/2021 at 13:20, glissade said:

Just for info ... does he pay the weekly cost for accommodation in the holidays too (so paying 52 weeks per year), or just in term time? 

Hi Glissade - yes he pays it in the holidays too…. so 52 weeks. You can get term time contracts with the accommodation company (unite students) but that doesn’t always fit with Centrals calendar so we’ve found that we have to book 52 weeks. 
The bonus is - if our DS wanted to stay in London during the holidays to work - then he’s got the ability to stay there. With the managers permission - we as parents could also use his room if his roommate was not in residence ! x

[glissade]

1 hour ago, Ballet4Boyz said:

Hi Glissade - yes he pays it in the holidays too…. so 52 weeks. You can get term time contracts with the accommodation company (unite students) but that doesn’t always fit with Centrals calendar so we’ve found that we have to book 52 weeks. 
The bonus is - if our DS wanted to stay in London during the holidays to work - then he’s got the ability to stay there. With the managers permission - we as parents could also use his room if his roommate was not in residence ! x

Thanks, that's really helpful 🙂

[balletbean]

To help anyone researching prices 

Many of the NBS students stay in Unite Students accommodation. Prices available on their website. Both buildings are literally a stones throw from the ‘Dance House’. So no additional travel costs to be considered. Prices vary for New Medlock House, Parkway Gate is closed this year for refurbishment but could be reopened by next yr & Artisan House. The latter was a brand new ‘Halls’ opening for the first time this Sept, prices reflect the new build but still less than London I believe. 

Over the three yrs we probably paid on average £146pw which was an en-suite room. There are plenty of options on offer which can suit many budgets but obviously not all. Dwell also offer accommodation. More ‘compact’ so prices reflect the reduced facilities. Whilst Manchester isn’t the cheapest city but it will certainly be less expensive than London. The city offers many discounts for students at both hospitality and retail outlets. 
Whilst the above named properties also cater for the vast number of Uni students they don’t mix Uni and NBS students in a flat unless requested. 
 

Just to conclude, like Dancers Dad has mentioned, check the small print. Invariably the terms of the Unite tenancy agreement don’t tie in with NBS year, (they all commence on the 1st Sept) however in previous years staff on site have been flexible as pupils don’t occupy the flats from the 1st Sept so they have been known to tag on an extra week in the summer at no additional charge but don’t quote me on that one. Keeping it all in-house can have it’s advantages  😉

 

Oh one other point to consider . End of each yr and that dreaded packing up and moving out scenario.  There are multiple lockup storage units in Manchester offering special deals for students over the summer hols. Some companies offer a pack up and/or collect and redeliver services if required. Especially helpful for those without suitable size vehicles or those requiring a flight home and not knowing what to do with their belongings over the summer. 

Edited November 13, 2021 by balletbean