To ditch real life and go to University

[quietmoon]

Quick backstory - I am in my late 30's with a 19 year old. I've been a single mother all of my adult life and had numerous convenient and necessary minimum wage jobs (that I have hated) and needless to say I am very unfulfilled and not content with my lot in life.
Going to University has always been a dream of mine but felt it just wasn't doable for one reason or another.
I cannot fathom spending the next 35 years in a job I hate with wages that barely get me from one month to the next. But at the same time it seems too far fetched to be able to quit my job and do something I love

Are there any mature students on here with success stories? Do you work on top of your full time degree? Will I still be entitled to student loans etc? I am so clueless on the ins and outs of the process but very much determined to make this dream a reality and carve out a better future for my family. Any advice appreciated :)

We treated them as if they were one of us

That sounds a bit patronising!

Just adding to the chorus of go for its.

Even if you don't get something directly related to your degree, having one opens up the ability to apply to graduate job schemes.

When people talk about being too old to start something I always think of a quote I heard that I really like: "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is right now."

Def go for it. Both my degrees had mature students on- I was a mature student on the second one.

Go for history if that’s what you love then go for it. Just be mindful it may not get you a ‘better’ job, career or wages. 4 friends done history. One went on to do a PGCE, one works in a shop, one in a call centre and one had children and has stayed at home. Where we live, there was just not any jobs that fitted their degrees, apart from teaching. They actually found it harder when applying for some minimum wage jobs, as they were told in feedback they were over qualified. Which is laughable in its self. Unfortunately the one in the call centre looks as though she’s going to be made redundant as they move their calls elsewhere (somewhere cheaper not UK based).
But go for it. It will be worth it!!

Ps. Look into scholarships for mature students. Someone I know got fees waived and a year's minimum wage bursary because they applied for a mature students' access scholarship that their university provided (this was for a master's). Email admissions at the places you're interested in and ask outright what financial and social support they offer for mature students. Often info is hidden away on university websites.

I am 35 and I started university in September, I'm doing an education studies degree with a view to becoming an educational psychologist. I can hand on heart say it was the best thing I have ever done.

I am the oldest in the class however, the younger students are all perfectly friendly and I get included in group study etc, but I can't really socialize and am left out of that side of uni life.

Like you I was stuck in a series of dead end minimum wage jobs and I wanted better for myself. Do it and don't look back.

I really very strongly would advise against choosing and doing a degree with no idea of what you want to do afterwards.

The whole point of you doing this is that you want to get a better job and not be stuck in the job you're currently in. You say you hate your job and want to change that. So you need a very clear plan in mind. Why not go to a careers centre, look up graduate advice, look up what people do after a History degree. Speak openly with them. It's three years, it's a lot of money, it has to be right for you.

I'm not saying you need to decide your career but you need to at least have some sort of plan and a few options that you're looking at. Otherwise it's a possibility you could end up in the same job, or something very similar, just with a degree and a lot of debt. And one thing I'll say is it's harder to get those sort of jobs with a degree - I've been turned down for food service jobs for example purely because I had a degree and they thought I wouldn't stay. It was only when I left my degree off my CV that I got a job. I just put my GCSEs and A Levels on and then I got employed.

Doe student loan debt still get wiped out at age 50? Awesome for you if so!

I went to university in my late twenties. I didn't work during my degree but had some savings, which helped, and I chose a local university with lots of mature students. I loved it, got a First, and went on to a funded Masters degree at Cambridge. I'm now planning for a PhD and academic career, which, considering that I had been working for just above minimum wage before, is really life-changing.

The social aspect at my first university was difficult as while I got along with most of the other students, there were a minority of the 18-year-olds who treated it like secondary school and were like badly-behaved kids in lectures. It was frustrating but eventually I just ignored them. This is probably subject/university dependent - there's nothing like that going on in Cambridge!

If it's your dream, OP, then go for it - if you don't, you'll always be left wondering what might have happened if you had.

Plenty of students do non-vocational courses like English, History, Philosophy and so on and do extremely well, esp if they are at good unis. I agree with BittyCharleston and cory though, the students who do well tend to be proactive in all areas, do internships, volunteering, engage a lot with the careers service and do not wait til the end of their degree course to wonder 'what shall I do?'

Having a degree opens up a lot of jobs that simply aren't available for someone without a degree, so having a degree naturally does advantage most people. Now, because some people then go on to do min wage jobs or work in a call centre doesn't invalidate that general rule- many women in particular who take part-time jobs in such places do so deliberately because they are not the main wage earner, want to work around their kids and their husbands won't move for their jobs or careers. If the OP is prepared to travel about, this will be a huge advantage.

The OP has her head screwed on in terms of finances, I would do this because life is for living and she will regret it if she doesn't. I don't think she will end up in the same place she started, and even if she did, she would have had a fascinating four years of studying out of it as well.

It sounds like you're really giving this some thought. I'm not sure where you are in the UK but I think student fees and support varies in each of the countries, so that might be worth checking out.
I see you mentioned history, and I wondered if you'd seen any of the courses offered by Uhi.ac.uk?

Thing is, even if OP does end up in another low paid, dead end job, taking a history degree has the potential to enable her continued personal development and improve her quality of life in other ways. She can pursue independent study and research (a huge amount of historical research these days can be done from home, online), publish articles, teach adult ed classes, give talks to local societies, go to conferences and meet people with similar interests.

Snape - I'm sure you realise this - you've taken a very long route if you're wanting to be an Ed psych...
You would have to do a psychology conversion /unless your degree gives you gbr equivalent?? Then complete a doctorate in educational psychology

www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/educational-psychologist