Fees, Funding and Other Costs

All OCA undergraduate degree courses are listed with Student Finance England, Wales, and Northern Ireland allowing eligible students to apply for a part-time Student Loan towards the cost of course fees. Unfortunately, OCA courses are not eligible for Student Awards Agency For Scotland (SAAS).

You will usually be eligible for student finance if you are doing your first higher education qualification, even if your previous course was self-funded. There is no upper age limit, and you can apply if you are a UK national, have ‘settled status’ or normally live in the UK.

Please check your eligibility with the appropriate Student Finance website.

No. OCA can only accept part time tuition fee loan applications from Student Finance, as we only offer part-time study. Be sure to check out our degree times frames information.

OCA accepts enrolments all year round and as Student Finance applications take between 4 – 6 weeks to process, to help keep your study plans on track we recommend applying at least six weeks before your preferred start date. Don’t worry if your funding application isn’t approved in time. We will keep your enrolment pending until you receive your outcome and then get you enrolled straight away.

22/23 OCA Student Finance Application Guidance

No. OCA do not use UCAS, therefore there is no code to provide.

Once a year. Like campus-based students, your funding application once approved is available for 12 months. For instance, if you received your funding approval outcome in October, you would need to apply for your next lot of funding in time for the following October. You will need to do this for as long as you study with OCA, and we recommend applying for the full amount available each time to give you the maximum flexibility. 

OCA only claims for the cost of your degree course on a unit by unit basis, and so Student Finance notify you of this reduced claim, however you still have the maximum amount that you applied for available.

As per OCA’s Conditions of Enrolment, funded students are liable for any fees not covered by their funding body, even if they withdraw.  Full fees are due for all courses 14 days after enrolment.

Student Finance England offers maintenance loans for students who are studying through distance learning due to a disability only.

Student Finance Wales offers maintenance loans depending on your intensity of study.

Student Finance Northern Ireland offers different maintenance loans/grants dependent on your circumstances and study intensity.

For further information and guidance, please visit the respective Student Finance website or speak directly to their Customer Service team who can advise on your eligibility.

Study intensity may affect the amount you receive from your maintenance loan. At a minimum, you need to study at 25% intensity, which is the minimum study intensity with OCA.

We confirm all new students as studying 40 credits. We can confirm a additional units studies within a once students have completed their first course unit and enrolled to another. If you apply for a maintenance loan at specific study intensity, you will need to keep this to this study intensity throughout your course, otherwise it would reflect in your maintenance loan.

OCA will need to confirm your registration with Student Finance to release your maintenance loan. OCA confirms your registration 14 days from the date you receive your welcome email. We cannot confirm your registration prior to beginning the course.