Student and Universal Credit Woes

[Kefte123]

I'm currently a full-time university student and a single mum with two children. I ended up splitting up with my partner of over a decade, partly because he didn't want to move closer to university with us.

So I found my own house to rent and I sorted my student finance and applied for universal credit. I thought I'd be okay, because I had someone do an assessment of my entitlements from a charity prior to moving in and I've had single friends who have done the same and I spoke to them about finances (they were on tax credits). I really felt I'd be okay.

Today after several weeks of waiting I got my Universal credits award of £88. If my eldest child wasn't disabled it would have been £0.

Basically, I'm now living on student finance, child benefit and £88....and my son's DLA. I don't get much more than a single mother out of work or student without dependents, except I have books, transport (fuel, parking, insurance, upkeep), school dinners and 15% childcare costs (approx £500 per month , that's if my car doesn't need major repairs). So I'm worse off than them. I've searched for help with bursaries and financial aid, and I don't know where to turn.

It doesn't help that student finance isn't paid in a regular sum. It is paid in smaller increments at the start of the two semesters (get just over half in that period), then a larger sum towards the end of the second semester. Which means my actual time at university for 9 months is only about £700 month. How is a mother with 2 children supposed to live off that?

So now I feel terrible: I've broken my relationship down, I've moved my children into a different home and new schools and I'm now just poor and verging on quitting everything. I don't think I have enough money to survive over the course of the Christmas period, I have just around £600 - that's for rent/car payments/fuel/food/electricity. On top of that my house was rented with no carpets or flooring. I have barely any furniture. This is poverty.

I have a very intensive degree on a foundation programme for medicine, which means there is no time to work around the degree as a single parent and I could only work Sundays (and I would have to rely on my partner for childcare). My ex-partner does give some support, but it's not enough to fill that gap as he doesn't earn much more than minimum wage himself and has a mortgage to pay.

I'm desperately trying all avenues for help, checking if the universal credits is correct. The helpline was unsympathetic and saying I should just budget and how I get £10,000 a year in student finance and anyone can survive fine on just that. I keep breaking down my basic outgoings and how they don't cover my income, they don't care. I'm losing the will to live and I have two summative essays of 2000 words to hand in by Thursday and I can't concentrate. I'm so close to failure.

I think it is extremely hard to do a degree and look after kids at the same time. Especially hard if you also need to work (As many students do). What is the situation with the kids father? Would it be possible for him to have full custody of the children until you get your degree and become more settled in a job to take some pressure off?

Please read the thread, star, no, the father is not fit to have full custody of the kids, nor was she asking about that.

RoboticMary

Why did you leave your partner? I wouldn’t have put my children in this situation to be honest. Seems unfair to them.

really not helpful

Universal credit sucks for students. I did a big study of this for my MA. It is worth investing in people. Someone who studies now and betters their income has a future of paying tax, not needing housing benefit, maybe leaving an inheritance for their kids or helping them in other ways, not being socially excluded etc. Someone who is condemned to a lifetime of minimum wage and zero hours in the interests of "paying their way", "supporting their kids" blah blah will never have that and will rely on benefits forever. If it's done right (big emphasis on this part) the first person ends up a net contributor over their life, the second doesn't. The current government are loving UC as it shows the peasants their place but it's wrong.

Stick at it OP. I am a mature student too. Not in a UC position yet but its coming. I feel sick to my stomach reading your troubles. I logged on to entitledto to try and find out what the figures for students would be and it said it couldn't give a calculation at present. So I'm keeping going hoping that I can make it through my degree. I WILL make it. I'm just trying to save as much as possible to get through this.

See if you can get any help with furnishings from your council. They often have hardship funds etc.
Go to student funding advisor. I knew a girl years ago who applied for lots of little bursaries as her circumstances stopped her getting a grant and help with fees. I'm imagine there will be some help for single mothers.
We need more doctors. There is a massive shortage and we cannot train enough for our need. Medicine should not be only accessible to the already privileged. I admire your ambition and dedication and think that you are an amazing role model for your children. I hope you are able to sort this out and achieve your dream.

Can I just say I would NEVER NEVER ask for money off here. I am not here to ask for any money, and £10 here and there is not going to go far over the next 6-years of university (I'm afraid). My post is not here to tell a sob story; it's here for me to get advice on what to do next. I am confused by how universal credit is worked out for students.

Can I point out, I started this decision over 4 years ago, I'd intended to start university 2 years ago, at that time tax credits was the benefit to assist alongside student finance - this legacy benefit as other posters have pointed out supported students through university. It took me 4-years to do 5 A-levels and EPQ because I struggled to find a local college that did chemistry A-level, and medicine is pedantic that you do 3 A-levels in 2 years, so it took me longer. Do you know how MANY exams and hardship I have endured to get this far? And you're telling me I'm selfish and I should just give up?

I am coping very well with the work demands of university and so are my children. IF tax credits was the benefit and NOT universal credits I would be FINE. IMO this is poor foresight on the government that single parent students are worse off than unemployed single parents. If I quit university and went solely on Universal credits I would be £100s of better off. THIS IS NOT MY FAULT.

People take out loans everyday to start a business and that wouldn't be calculated as income in universal credit. Why can't I take out a loan to invest in myself? I will likely be paying this maintenance loan back with interest when I'm in employment.

I have been communicating with other students with children in a similar position. There is a petition to request that government looks into how UC is calculated for students. This is for both disabled and parent students. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/231042?fbclid=IwAR0pTGOkAlHDHWm3pCqwI5pWukE4JQ7BxSuY9j2uPQI10_OIPFWxsP54ZZo

Furthermore, the individual who started the petition has gone to the media. You can read about this on the below links.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-46452653?fbclid=IwAR3MQ2-RZ0tTSZaBSjzNFEn-lEZEsYBSOuNk4pF5bgK09TNnDcS3QFY8wpU

www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/fife/766997/thousands-of-students-dropping-out-due-to-universal-credit/?fbclid=IwAR08J4jNU3bfQPTVuWhoPGFiSqBMKAR-CN4L0rv5MWshj3m25_YNo9Ek_K4

Let me repeat. This is not my fault. I HAD made calculations before embarking on this route to university and I could afford this path on tax credits. Prior to this I was on a zero hour contract working anywhere from 0 to 60 hours per week and struggling to make ends meet. When I did the benefit calculation for student finance I was actually better off, but I did it on tax credits. I did anticipate how much different it would be for UC - it's £100s difference.

THIS system will impact 1000s of students across the UK and will result in many dropping out of university. This is not about ME, this is about the government from stopping access to university for individuals in the lowest income brackets.

• I can't work during weekdays as I don't have days off from lectures. It's medicine, not English or Law - it's a very full-on degree course and timetable changes are frequent.

• it's a foundation course for medicine on it's own. I have 3 interviews for medical schools though (2 of which I have already attended), and if I pass 70% or above here I am also considered onto medicine degree too. But it's not guaranteed.

• I would be around less if I stopped going to university as I would be back in my zero hour contract job working terrible hours and struggling. My children are more happy mummy is not working all hours god-sends anymore, like most weekends.

Have you checked your university website to see if they have a bursary for low income students?

Your kids are 11 and 12? They will never benefit from your potential higher earnings, and your dream of medicine means the rest of their childhood will be in poverty.

There are plenty of better, quicker, cheaper options.

If you even get them to 18, you could do graduate medicine then, depending on your age. Parenting well often means delaying or modifying your dreams.

I know how hard you've worked. But you're not even actually in medschool.

I'm not suggesting "giving up" what you've achieved. I'm suggesting modifying to goals that are more manageable. And, yes, less selfish. Your kids will gain as much if not more from you training to be a different profession. Why medicine? Even dentistry is shorter training, and shorter until quality of life improves.

Your kids are 11 and 12? They will never benefit from your potential higher earnings, and your dream of medicine means the rest of their childhood will be in poverty.

So they won't need her income any more after they're 18? Tosh! Her higher income means she might well be able to provide them with greater opportunities in life off her own income rather than the government, purchase private support to help allow her son with SEN achieve more in life, allow the other one to take up internships so he/she could possibly end up in a higher paying job, not to mention be a higher earner herself and also serving the public as a medic and also demonstrate a good ethic to them.

And the loans are not a drain on the system. She will have to pay them back.

Sounds like a lot of people on this thread just want to see you and your
children punished forever for your 'life choices' rather than play the long game and wind up in an excellent career you could potentially practice for the next 30 or 40 years, keft. Don't let them get you down!

What a load of bitter, nasty, spiteful haters.

@Shepherdspieisminging It’s been mentioned a number of times but for some reason OP isn’t saying whether or not she’s looked

Brilliant post, DrCoconut.

"Let me repeat. This is not my fault"

It's not your fault, the benefits system was clearly broken when you first looked at it, at least they seem to have fixed it a bit.

You chose to have a family, you should choose to support that family. Not rely on benefits to raise your children whilst chasing your dreams. People's sense of entitlement never ceases to amaze me.

OP won't have a higher income on graduating. Foundation years are hard work for ok money. Foundation doctors who are single parents are typically still heavily dependent on benefits through foundation, and beyond. They struggle to self fund the training, conferences and exams as a post graduate. Medicine is an expensive career. You can wish it wasn't all you like. I wish it wasn't. It is becoming the preserve of the wealthy. No, I don't think that's right. But it's the way it is, and OP cannot alone change the way the career operates. She can only choose what's best for her children, based on how things are, not how we wish they are.

Eventually, OP may pay off her debts, and have a decent income. When her kids are old enough to be earning and have families themselves, after a childhood of scraping by.

You don't leave medschool on £70k. And she's not even in medschool. Her kids are currently in poverty and hardship on a dream.

@Shepherdspieisminging See above. Allied health professionals are certainly not 9-5

You chose to have a family, you should choose to support that family. Not rely on benefits to raise your children whilst chasing your dreams. People's sense of entitlement never ceases to amaze me.

^I completely agree. OP is deluded