Does anyone know of any grants or finacial support available for taking courses at further education?

Hey! I don't want to overload you, but I found some more info (looking for courses for myself now! :) that your son could be interested in:

1. To do free online computer courses in Word, Excel, Powerpoint and web design, try Home and Learn. This site offers free online tuition and you can register to take online tests ? if you pass they even send you a framed certificate.

2. IT website Beginners charges for most of its courses and course materials, but helpfully they also have links to many free online IT tutorials. These range from Microsoft Word to Java programming.
Their 'free tutorials page' allows you to enter your chosen IT topic in the box marked 'Search Our Other Tutorials' and click the 'Search' button. The results will display lots of links at the bottom of the page to free online tutorials.

3. The Email College offers access to over 200 free online courses covering business, personal development, information skills, health and writing.

4. Many Universities are now broadcasting their lectures as podcasts and mp3 recordings and allowing anyone to download and listen to them ? for free.
These universities use something called OpenCourseWare (OCW) to allow access to lectures and learning materials to anyone with an Internet connection.
You can view the institutions that participate in this initiative here (education-portal.com/articles/Universities_with_the_Best_Free_Online_Courses), and view the lectures grouped by subject area here (www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses)
There are no course credits provided and you won't be able to ask any questions but it's still a great way to expand your knowledge in your chosen field or supplement your existing course. The courses cover both undergraduate and graduate level.
So, now you can hear what professors at Oxford, Harvard and Yale have to say about everything from political philosophy to genetics ? for free.

Hope it is helpful!

Do you mean like a university? Doing part time courses?? If so, every university does do some sort of grant, as an incentive to go there. When I was looking around, the figure depended totally on what subject it was and where you were studying. I ended up at hull which pays a grant of upto £500 to every student. I think it is means tested, but the high end families still get something, as it is an incentive for the student, not for the family. There are also scholarships that can be obtained by getting the right grades ready for university. One of my friends has done 4 years at college now. She has now just got what she needs for her place at sheffield uni. Each uni will give a certain number of grades or UCAS points and if the student acheives it, then they are entitled to a scholarship. The one at my uni is upto £1500 every year which I think is really good, but other places do £250, £500 a year etc, so have a look around. =)

Am I along the right lines, or were you expecting something other than University, and I have just rambled on about something completely useless to you?? =)

My nephew has been looking at apprenticeship-type courses where over the course of two or three years you do a certain number of weeks at college then several weeks working at an appropriate related company. I don't know whether or how you get paid, but this might be worth investigating.

You'll probably want to look at the adult learning grant. See:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/AdultLearning/FinancialHelpForAdultLearners/Adultlearninggrant/index.htm

Most Adult Education Courses are grant aided but unfortunately these grants are means tested. Try contacting your Local Education Authority or look on www.directgov.uk/education

if you are in scotland ILA, also open university depending on your income will pay for your fees and they do a variety of qualifications.

Has he considered asking his employer if they would help towards the cost? Maybe there's something different that he might be interested but that would offer value to the company. Companies can use this as a tax break as well.

The info here could be useful - http://www.nus.org.uk/Student-Life/Money-And-Funding/Financial-support-for-further-education-students-19/

And my company paid for a course for me as it was expanding my skills and could be useful for the company. It was in line with the role that I was doing but it also re-trained other employees that wanted to change departments instead of hiring outside. So that could be another option.

If your son wants to continue in his current job whilst he furthers his opportunities via courses he could maybe have a look at the Open Learning courses which are provided free of charge by the Open University. It would also be worth checking out his local college to see what courses are available to him to study at night school. It may well be that he would get some financial assistance towards the cost of the course depending on his income.

Yeah, the free courses are a good option, definitely. Look at some options below:

1. Vision2Learn
This site offers courses including computer skills, sports coaching, money skills and business skills and can lead to a recognised NVQ qualification.

Vision2Learn courses are funded by the Learning and Skills Council which means that the courses are normally free of charge to anyone who:

- Is over the age of 16
- Currently lives in England
- Has been ordinarily resident in the EU/UK for 3 years or more, as long as this residency has been for purposes other than full-time study.

If your son meets these criteria, you can usually study for free.

He'll also receive help from an online tutor employed by a college in your local area, once he has logged on to your study area, he can contact his tutor by using V-mail, vision2Learn's own internal messaging system.

2. BBC Online
The BBC offers free online courses on a huge range of subjects, from horticulture to Welsh language.

Their language section includes games, videos, dictionaries and online tests to help you gauge your level. You can even follow the BBC's own online soap operas in different languages.

For many of their courses the BBC provides extensive links to its news, documentaries and radio programs to help you on your way.