If physical or mental health issues or personal reasons mean that you need more time for studying or completing daily activities, it may be worth looking into part-time courses so that you can balance your learning and your health. At many universities part-time study is also available for financial reasons, for students working alongside their degrees.
Check out Anna’s experience of part-time studies at Cambridge here.
How it works
It depends on the university, but ‘part-time’ doesn’t necessarily mean taking twice as long (i.e. 6 years rather than 3), although this is most common. Some universities offer you the flexibility to take between 4½ years (50% longer) and 9 years (3 times longer, so your workload would be one third compared to a standard degree). At certain universities, you can pick and vary how many modules you take per term. In each of these scenarios, you will usually study alongside full-time students.
Some students start on a full-time course but find themselves not coping with the workload or that their conditions worsens during their time at university and so then choose to change to part-time. If you are struggling with a full-time course, it may be worth exploring your options of studying part-time - it doesn’t matter what year you are already in to change.
Finance
The student finance rules for PT students are slightly different. 6 year courses with a 50% workload may charge simply half of the standard tuition fee, whereas other universities charge per module, as you go. The maximum tuition fee per year for PT students is £6,935, a cap imposed by the government.
As long as this is your first degree, you can still get a tuition fee loan from Student Finance (for any amount up to the fee you are charged per year). Maintenance loans are based on where you live while studying, your household income & your course intensity. To be eligible for a maintenance loan your course intensity (your % workload compared to the standard course) must be at least 25%. As this would only exclude you if you take more than 12 years to complete your degree, it’s unlikely that you will not meet this criterion.
N.B. If you believe that your ill-health or reason for considering part-time study will be temporary, a better option for you may be taking ‘time out’; see our guide to this here.
The process at Cambridge
Part-time: a.k.a. ‘Double time’
Cambridge loves its unique slang & prefers the term ‘double time’ to talk about part-time studies. The difference is that ‘double time’ refers to undergraduates who, for medical or personal reasons (e.g. caring responsibilities), are granted permission to study over a longer period of time.
‘Part-time’ courses at Cambridge are for postgraduate students only, who can choose to study part-time, e.g. alongside a job; they don’t need to have medical reasons for their choice.
It is worth noting that students cannot apply to study ‘double time’ at Cambridge in advance of starting their course, i.e. you must apply to the full-time course & later apply to change.
Other universities let you apply for part-time courses via UCAS.
Cambridge Students’ Union has a great Double Time Guide with more information.