Help again please :)

Hello all, tis me again.

Anyways, so, I'm back on track now. I've decided this it what I'm going to do, I will not let anyone change my mind, this is my goal and I'll achieve it. I sent in an application to a college (that's right, not university, a college), and they recently got back to me. Before I get into that, let me explain my full situation so you can understand why I applied to a college instead of a uni and why my case is a bit... unique I guess? Unique in a bad way, lol. And therefore kind of more of a pain in the ars* to do things (as if it wasn't hard enough already, right?).

Anyways, I'm home-schooled, as I have said before. I was taken out of regular school in the 6th grade. What I haven't yet informed everyone about is, it's fair to say my parents didn't really follow the set rules of the government and actually, you know, teach me things. My real education came to a stop at the 6th grade. So.. basically I've been out of school for the past 6 years, with no "formal" education. Which is why I do not support anyone teaching home-school now. I think it's a horrible idea, look what happened to my educational career because no one seriously monitors it.

So, I recently came across something in my research called 'Access to Higher Education,' also known as HE. I don't believe we have anything in the US like it, or at least not that I have come across. (If you do know a US equivalent please let me know, I'd be interested!) So far, this looks like my only hope with someone in my situation, to study there. It's something for people with little or no schooling, or for people that have dropped out of school to get access to higher education obviously. I jumped with joy when I saw that internationals can actually do it as well. I have lost so many years already and I don't want to wait anymore. I feel as if I've been cheated. I know I'm going to get into a large amount of debt, but you know, it'd be the exact same here. As far as 'I'd still be getting into debt' goes anyways.

The fee would be £4,995 for the course, which is cheaper then a LOT of other places I've looked. And when you do the conversion into dollars, it'd be about the same of a college that I'd go to here in NY (Unless it was a community college, then it'd be less obviously). Only trouble is they require an interview. I got asked in an email if I intended to relocate prior to the course so they can set up an interview. I think they must assume I'm rolling around in money? I don't have that kind of dough to just take a plane ride over there whenever, get assessed for the course, taking a chance on not even getting in. The last time I went, the ticket there was $735.00, there's no way I could afford to do that before the course started unless I got a loan for it. Then they went on to say that "international students face a certain degree of legal ramifications if their entry hasn’t been validated. Securing the right visa. Therefore this will be something that you will have to research and gain in order to secure a place on one of our courses."

And they'd like to know how I'd like to proceed with my application. I'm a bit confused on what exactly to do next.. do I just tell them I don't have the money to come over for an interview? So, Thought I'd come here for some help.

It sounds like this school wants you to sort out your own visa before they will admit you.  It's possible that hey may not be able to sponsor student visas.  Did you check to see if they could?  The fact that they asked you if you would be relocating first leads me to think that they expect you to be on some other sort of visa and not depending on getting a student one, as it is not possible to get a student visa before being accepted to a course.  I'd suggest being straight with them.  Tell them your situation and that you can't move unless they sponsor you for a student visa, and see what they say. 

I have to say, it might be better to get this sort of thing sorted out in the US.  There are Adult Basic Education and GED courses you can take to catch up with your education and for a lot less money.  Or there might be a community college that has a similar programme to the Access to Higher Education thing.  You'd be surprised with what you might find available.

In terms of moving to the UK, it's not a matter of saying "You'll never be able to do this", but it's really a matter of "It may take you some time to be able to do this."  As someone with a crapload of student loan debt, I would honestly, seriously save piling loads of debt onto yourself until you're at a point when you can get yourself into a really fantastic course in the UK at a fantastic university. It's really a blow and a bummer of a reality check when you realize you have to pay back $50,000-$100,000 (if not more), but knowing that it went toward a really great educational experience, rather than just toward a means of jumping the pond, makes it a bit more bearable...a bit.

But that's just my 2p and you obviously don't have to heed any of my advice.  Good luck with whatever you do! 

The 'college' does not sound like they are Tier 4 approved sponsors. So you would never be able to get a student visa. Also with the changes upcoming to the Tier 4 Student Visas anyway you wouldn't be able to get a Tier 4 to go to 'college' in the UK since it is not a University Degree level course.

I have to agree with historyenne & Nose, look at your local Community College, get your AA in General Education/Transfer, this will prepare you to go to University either in the UK or in the US and it is quite inexpensive as well. My local CC charges $15 per unit and most people qualify for a fee waiver as well so the only expense really is books and sometimes you can qualify for financial aid to cover that cost too. In addition to that you can explore areas of interest to you and find your 'calling' so to say.

Community colleges are very similar to HE colleges in the UK. And plenty of them have study abroad programs. So you might get to the UK after all (for awhile anyway.)

Since it is unlikely that you would be able to stay in the UK long term, unless you were planning to go to a UK university, you'd want something that would be of use in the US.

I don't think an HE college in the UK would be anything in the US.  It might be able to get you into a US university, but it would depend on the place.

I like what Weby wrote. 

Also, when I was in the Navy I vaguely remember that they had a program for people who didn't finish their secondary education to more or less 'catch up'.  They got books and classes and what-not.   You could go all the way through from getting an HS diploma straight through to an appointment at the Naval Academy.  Is that still going on now?

Yes, you can do GED courses. 

Thanks very much for all the info everyone.   

Ok, so I used historyenne's advice and sent them a message asking if they do sponsor student visas. I looked on the UK border agency site and they are a highly trusted college. So, yeeey. Anyways, so I just got an email back from them yesterday. This is what they said..

"We, the education provider, must assign a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) to you. This confirms that you have been given an unconditional offer of a place on a course of study. The CAS reference will help with your visa progression as well as meeting the Border Agency’s other requirements. Therefore in the mean time, you can begin your visa application and we will progress your application onto the next stage. Thank you for your interest. We will be in touch with you again in the near future regarding your application status."

I was VERY happy yesterday when I read that. Now I'm kind of confused. Don't I need CAS before I can even start to apply for a student visa? Ughh, went from being sooooo excited to confused and frustrated again. >:C

You'll have to be accepted into the school first, you need to accept their offer and then they'll issue you a CAS. Once you have your funds together for the specific time frame required then you can apply for a Tier 4 Student Visa.

They're advising you to get your money set now and work on your visa application so once the CAS is issued then you can submit your visa application without having to wait longer because you don't have all your ducks in a row first.

I literally "OOOOhhh"ed out loud. Thank you very much for the information! Helpful.

Just be aware though that you don't want to do things too early in terms of applying for the visa. You can only apply a maximum of 3 months before the course starts, so if the course doesn't start until September (for example, as most courses do start around September time), then you can't apply for the visa until around June, even if you get the CAS before that. However, you can enter the UK up to 1 month before the start date of the course, so you may be able to apply for the visa 3 months before the '1 month earlier' date, rather than before actual the course start date (I'm not entirely sure of the exact stipulation on it though).

The CAS itself will only be valid for 6 months from the date it's issued (i.e. it must have been issued no more than 6 months before you apply), so you also need to make sure it's still in date when you apply. However, this shouldn't be an issue if you will be applying for the Tier 4 visa this summer, because even if the CAS was issued right now, it would be valid until late-August, by which time you should have been able to apply for the visa anyway.

Oh, thank you! I didn't know that. I would've really messed things up since I figured I should do it as early as possible as far as the visa went. I would have really been out of luck if I had. But I will definitely keep that in mind now. The course I'm applying for, you're right, doesn't start until September of this year. Thanks again for the information, very helpful. The issue now is how they are planning on going about interviewing me for the course. I asked if possibly it could be done over the phone, still waiting on that reply. :c

Oh, thank you! I didn't know that. I would've really messed things up since I figured I should do it as early as possible as far as the visa went. I would have really been out of luck if I had. But I will definitely keep that in mind now. The course I'm applying for, you're right, doesn't start until September of this year. Thanks again for the information, very helpful. The issue now is how they are planning on going about interviewing me for the course. I asked if possibly it could be done over the phone, still waiting on that reply. :c

Also make sure, if you plan on funding your course through student loans, that this school processes American student loans.  If not, you're really going to have some trouble because you'll need all the money up front in the bank or you'll need to take out private loans (which are loans that you REALLY REALLY don't want for funding an education).