Does anybody know about open university and benefits as a lone parent

[mumofboys24]

Hi, I am hoping to start an open university degree this coming academic year. I am currently a lone parent of four children. The youngest is 4 and oldest 10. I am on the old system at the moment but could be changed to universal credit anytime since I am in a full service area.

Does anybody have any knowledge about how this could affect my benefits and whether I would be required to look for work alongside the studying?

I believe you have to do less than 20 hours.

Thank you for your reply. I'm assuming you mean less than 20 hours study. The part time option is 16 to 18 hours, so that should be OK.

When I looked into this a few years ago I was expected to be able to study 'after hours' ie it couldn't interfere with time I could spend working or searching for work. If you decline work because of the OU course your benefits can (and should rightly) be stopped.

In other words, yes you will be required to be seeking work or employed alongside studying. 16 hours studying a week is a really challenging schedule, have you considered how you can fit it in with work, kids, family etc? Do you have a lot of support?

It's doable without support but you need to be very organised and work late at night when the children are in bed.

Will you be taking out any loans to fund it?

Tuition fee loans are not considered 'income' but maintenance loans are so that could reduce any means tested benefits you receive.

I only needed tuition fee loan so this wasn't an issue for me.

I thought it might be the case that I would also need to search for work. I have some support, I can be very organised. I was studying something else last year which was quite intensive and I managed. It was hard and I did a lot of work at night when my children were in bed, but I believe I could do it again.

I would take out a tuition fee loan and if there are any other grants or loans I would be open to them. It all depends what works best. I am planning to look into this a lot more and maybe even postpone to next year if I don't feel prepared. Thanks for all the information anyway. It all helps.