Open University course price

grind gremlin

I'm currently teaching but I'm thinking about returning to college to do a psych degree and have been looking at the OU course. I can't believe the difference in price for courses between the UK and here. Its 680 pound sterling for the initial course I would be taking but 1405 euro for the same course in Ireland. I cannot understand the difference between the two!!! Really going to have to do a lot of saving if i can afford this.

Ickle Magoo

The UK government subsidises fees for residents of the UK - without that subsidy as a resident of ROI, you have to pay more.

grind gremlin

I see, thanks for that. Was very tempted to try and use my bf home address to apply but I'm guessing that won't work

Ickle Magoo

Tempting but risky, depending on your course. The address you provide will be where they will send all your course material and you also have to give a contact number, my tutor calls from time to time - he might just notice if my address was in the UK and my tel. no in Eire - not to mention the added costs of having to attend lectures and so on at the centre nearest to the postal address I gave rather than my actual address. :eek:

grind gremlin

Never even thought of that I suppose this just means i've gotta start saving if I wanna go back
Thanks again for your help

romperstomper

AFAIK its EU citizens that are subsidized. if it was UK only, could a uk postal code work? a la shipping from amazon

so

1 main st
ballygobackwards
co. anyoneof26ulike
BT11aa

??

Ickle Magoo

EU citizens, yes, but only those residing in the UK. The UK government won't pay subsidies for the education of non-UK residents, regardless of where they are from.

Again, you have to give a contact telephone phone number and tutors may phone to talk to you, it's going to look very suss that you are never in or have an irish international dialling code and depending on the course, you may have to attend lectures or study days in a college near the address you gave so having a UK address could end up being more hassle than it is worth.

I would also be concerned that if the OU was ever to put two-and-two together it could well refuse to give you any qualification until the outstanding is paid or stop you studying with them altogether as way of thanks for trying to rip them off...I also don't know if the subsidy provided is cross-checked with any other proofs of address or residency so although I have no doubt it is possible, as I say, it's risky.

Pablo Sanchez

Ha ha thought of this when i started with the OU in May, wanted to use a mates UK address but the lady in the Dublin office advised that you need to have the equivalent to the Irish PPS number for it to be subsidised...if the OU was an irish organisation i dare say they would have left at least a few loop holes open:D

grind gremlin

Can you claim back any of the fees paid to OU through the tax system?

Ickle Magoo

I don't think so, the tax is going into a different countries coffers, unless you have a national insurance number with the UK tax office, I'm not sure how you go about claiming anything...as a non-uk resident paying for a service from the UK, I don't think your entitled not to pay tax, the whole tax rebate is dealt with at source for UK residents in the the form of the subsidy. The UK doesn't have the same tax claim system as Eire anyway, sorry.

Odysseus

grind gremlin wrote: »

Can you claim back any of the fees paid to OU through the tax system?

Yes I did in the pst for a bit of study I did with them, but it took a lot of letters and calls to the tax office, so unless it's changed yes.

Ickle Magoo

Thanks for clarifying Odysseus, I'm going to get onto the tax office pronto! :cool:

hotspur

You can claim a tax rebate for fees paid to an accredited university in an EU state. Read this:
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it31.html

stuf

hotspur wrote: »

You can claim a tax rebate for fees paid to an accredited university in an EU state. Read this:
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it31.html

Yep - tax rebate is to do with the fact that you're paying for approved education fees with your already taxed income and not anything to do with the recipients tax situation. The only requirement for the recipient is that they're a bona fide educational institution providing an approved course.

As an aside, I would imagine the OU is VAT registered here given the amount of business they do they would be well over the threshold.