Open University

I agree with Suebailey1. I pay £755 for a year as I'm on transitional arrangements. Next year I will be on reduced income so will hopefully have financial support. I think the new fees (and other university fees) are extortionate especially there has recently been a problem with a new loan company demanding repayments when the ex-student has not been earning enough. I can't imagine how some of these young people are going to repay the loans they have taken out.
HE college courses are pretty steep too! Makes me very cross as education should be available to all at a reasonable cost, if not free as it used to be.

I have a BSc(Hons) and did several MBA and BA courses with the OU. I looked recently and was shocked at the fees. The OU was supposed to be for people who couldn't access university in conventional ways either through lack of qualification, fees, time, opportunity - where do these people go now? My last course in 2011 was £600 its £2500 now!

Just signed up for A218, Medicine and Society 1500-1930. I'm half way through a history BA and hoping this module will be as exciting as the description suggests.

Yes let's chat and compare notes

It'll be interesting to talk when the course gets going. It does sound interesting.

noodles lovely to have another Gransnetter going along the same path. It sounds rather interesting doesn't it?

Granny1951 Snap. I've just done the same.

Just finished Futurelearn Causes of War. A first-class experience. Good luck with your course, Granny1951.

I've just signed up for Literature of the English Country House with FutureLearn. Sounds good and it't free . Anyone else signed up?

Nearly finished the Science of Everyday Thinking course, it's been a real challenge but thoroughly enjoyable. Mentally it has also really stretched me, but that's what it's all about, keep the old brain cells working. I have just started a Stress and Resilience course, and a Start Writing Fiction course, which are keeping me so busy, I am loving them.

Gosh I am glad I did mine in the nineties and had a bursary as I was on income support

Just completed a six-week online Free University course on the Causes of War, courtesy of Futurelearn and OU. Brilliant! Really stretched the mental elastic. Well recommended and I shall be taking more of their courses.

DD started doing the occasional OU course out of interest and one thing led to another, like lower fees if she signed up for a degree course before the new fee structure came in. She is now doing a degree in physics and engineering and talking about possibly doing a postgraduate qualification somewhere.

This is the girl who insisted on leaving a very good school at 16 to follow a career in acting. She did a degree in acting, decided not to act but has made a career in back office media work.

Advert, me thinks or an attempt to hack anyone who follows the link.

Also [confused ] from me!

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Wow, that sounds challenging to say the least, but extremely suited to your particular interests... good luck with it when you start. I found this last week, week 3 more difficult as I am not university trained and certainly knowing nothing about psychology. I had to really concentrate, and as it will possibly get even more complex as we progress, I hope I will not be too out of my depth. I intend to stick with it regardless as I am not a quitter. I am sure I will learn a great deal, also am still enjoying it immensely, which is of course, important.

Glad to hear it's going more smoothly, Caz. I'm about to finish the Web Sciences course (interesting, thought-provoking but served to confirm my view of the web and my relationship with it) and I think I'm down to do a forensic science and criminal detection MOOC next! As I like to read and write detective fiction I thought this one might be interesting.

Just finished week 2 of the "Science of Everyday Thinking" course with Edx and it was most interesting. It really makes you think about how we use our brains, about memory and about reality compared to illusion, fascinating stuff. It all went smoothly, a lot of videos to watch, interaction via posts with others, (from all around the world) and a test at the end. No hiccups this week. I think the first week there was an overload of log ins and it crashed for a while, but it has all settled down now and am looking forward to participating in week 3. What are you going to do next Mollie?

As I posted before, the OU are now hamstrung by government demands for vocational degrees. The Gov will no longer fund 'liberal' education. Shame!

I agree totally ayse. When I began studying with the OU in the early 90s they had lots of small, interesting courses to attract people (and income presumably) and even the modules for the degree courses were interesting. I keep going back in hope something more interesting will crop up but I've been very disappointed in recent years. It seems to lack the imagination the OU had when it first opened...shame!

I started doing the OU 2 years ago, on transitional fees - that is about £725 for a 60 credit course. I'm finding it a bit of a struggle at the moment as I don't find the tutor very approachable, the course books for this particular module are rather confusing and the tutorials not very engaging - I'm doing history, by the way.
Still I need to keep plodding on as if I want to take a break the course fees as has been said before will go up to £3000. My youngest daughter said that a student loan won't have to be paid back as I'll never earn above the payback floor.
The regional office is very supportive, however so I'll probably go on for the time being.
I'm looking forward to trying some of the other free courses that are available and U3A a bit later on.
It does seem rather a shame that the OU like loads of other organisations are not what they used to be and the cost of courses is extortionate. I can't for the life of me see how they justify the increased costs. It will also put loads of people off from study - just what this country doesn't need at the moment

Cazthebookworm how's the course going? Is it back on track?

My web sciences course is almost over. It's been well organised, is very interesting and I'm looking forward to sampling another subject soon. I don't think it's inspired me towards using the web/internet any more, quite the opposite...