i’ll try and give as much info here as possible so not to drip feed but I also don’t want to be outing!
I left a well paid job at the beginning of the year within finance, to pursue a career I have always wanted to but always thought I wasn’t clever enough. For context, I am young and have a degree in an unrelated subject. Further context is that I took a huge pay cut for this job, now working minimum wage, with the expectation that it was worth the few shit years for the graft.
I got offered an entry level position in the field I want to work, with the promise of progression over time etc. The main favoured route for my employer is via an apprenticeship as obviously they get the government funding for this.
As some may have recently seen, the government is now stopping funding for over 21s for such apprenticeships. This means that it’s no longer an option for me (employer won’t just pay for it).
I just feel really stuck and upset with my options.
As I have a non related degree, I’d have to do a conversion course (no funding) or a masters that is also conversion. I could get postgraduate funding for the masters but it wouldn’t cover the full amount and I don’t have the spare money to cover the difference. It’s not as simple as saving as now I’m on minimum wage I literally have nothing spare. I can’t do any of the ‘traditional’ options as I have used up my undergrad funding already.
alongside this, I will also have to sit exams to fully qualify, which get no funding no matter which option I did and cost £5000 approx. So even if for arguments sake I could scrimp the difference for the conversion, it wouldn’t matter as I couldn’t afford the exams.
a colleague suggested asking if work would pay for the exams and I could repay from my wages, but as I’m on minimum wage i don’t know if that’s even possible? And even so I don’t have the spare money to do so.
I just feel so disheartened as the apprenticeship felt like my way in, it was perfect to go alongside work and I didn’t have to pay into it. I don’t know where to go from here. I can’t afford anything on my wage, but I have to keep this position to keep gaining the experience needed to do the career at the end.
i just feel all in a mess and like it’s all going wrong! I felt as though I’d finally figured out what I wanted to do in life and now it’s all down the drain. My finance job made me miserable but at least I had money, I’m now thinking should I have just stayed? I love my current role but the pay is unsustainable and it’s designed as a role no one does for long as they progress into a higher position.
any help and advice welcomed!!!