Mature students- How did you survive?!

[Wigglywagglyworm]

My dh needs to do a full time degree (no part time options). I’ve worked out that the max maintainence loan he can have is 8k. We have a mortgage and a child. The loan is just not enough (I earn 27k). We would lose his 21k salary and it’s not the kind of course where part time work is doable. I have read he might be entitled to another grant of 1k but I am so stressed out about it as that won’t help hugely either.

I want him to study and improve his working life. I want to support him financially and have a career. We don’t have an expensive house or lifestyle but the loans will leave us short about £200 a month. Only a small amount in savings.

Am I missing something? I know of some mature students who are single mums and study full time...how?! Is there more help out there than I can see?

If it comes to it he will try to do part time work but I don’t want this to kill him off and for him to fail his degree.

Is there anyone out there who has done this and managed to have some kind of balance? Any advice?

Thanks

What degree?

Because if it's healthcare it's fairly easy to get a bank hcsw job and do shifts when you're not too busy with assignments. You're under no obligation to work regular hours.

When I was a mature student dh supported me, I wasn't entitled to anything. Can he go and talk to the finance office at the uni and ask them if they know if he'd be entitled to anything? But to be honest I don't think he would be. One of my current friends is a mature student and has to work 2 days a week in Tesco to manage and it's a real struggle for her, both finance wise and time wise.

Yes the advice they gave was just the loans as mentioned above. We asked them how much contact time the degree would be and they said the class time plus experience/lab work (it’s a science degree but not for healthcare) would make it pretty much 9-5 Monday-Friday.

Thank you, I suspect he will have to work the weekends and we will need to grit our teeth as a family. I think we will have to put it off for a year and save more towards it! Just don’t see how many people do it. I wouldn’t say I’m on a poor wage but I can’t afford to support us all on it.

Good luck. If you can manage it with him working part time then do it if you think there's a good chance of him improving his job prospects afterwards. He may well have to get a weekend job and he might end up doing uni work late at night and having hardly any life for 3 years. Which was pretty much how it was for me for 3 years to be honest but it was worth it.

In my case, I worked at a bar 2 nights midweek plus Saturday and Sunday. I also did freelance work every half term and summer holidays in my old line of work. I received no type of loan and managed to continue living in London throughout with no partner to support me. A friend of mine recently did the same thing but just working weekends and holidays but her degree was free.

It's actually not that hard to make ends meet if you have a part-time income coming in. It just depends how much of his free time he's willing to spend working.

He would be willing to work part time to get the money but doesn’t want to never see our daughter. His old line of work isn’t open weekends otherwise he would definitely try to keep his hand in there.
Agatha- I just don’t understand how you had no form of loan, only worked part time AND managed to live in London? Did you pay rent or mortgage? Or was your part time work hugely well paid?!

I’m a single mum and completed my degree whilst pregnant and then with a newborn, I got by with loans and letting out 3 spare rooms to fellow students. Another mature student did the same, also a parent. Others worked around the degree.

I had to support DH when he went back full time. It was only for a year and we didn't have kids but it was still very tight.

Villanelle- I take my hat off to you!

Ok so the overall message is it can be done but will be tight and stressful. I can handle that (I think). He is getting nowhere in the job he is in (been there 10years), has always wanted to study but never had the confidence. I can’t bare the idea of him being unhappy for the next 30years until retirement.

Those of you that did it...was it worth it??

Did you pay rent or mortgage? Or was your part time work hugely well paid?!

I had one flatmate at the time and my share of the rent was around £400 per month (this was a while ago!). I've just added up my hours and I think I must have worked about 25 a week at the bar (2 nights plus weekends) so that was maybe £200-250 per week. Then I earned around £1000 (gross) per half term for freelancing. It really wasn't that tiring because it was a change of scene.

I meant to say my friend got by (also London) only working Saturdays and holidays (not weekends as mentioned above). She also managed to save while studying! Neither of us have DCs though.

Do you think your DH could work in his old line of work in the holidays?

Just to let you know if he needs the maintence loan he can't do open uni.
Also, have a look if he applies for any bursarys (first person in family to go to uni, etc).
If he goes to a uni in london the maintenance loan will be higher than if he went to a non-london uni.
You can get part time jobs at the uni as well, which tend to pay fairly well (think £10 an hour, may be more at a london uni) and have hours which work well with studying.

The first point is because you aren't entitled to maintenace loan if you do open uni

I’m sending him to work next week with a list of questions but I don’t think they would allow him to do holidays only. I think he needs to find out what the lowest contract they would do is and then hopefully do that with a view to potentially increasing hours in holidays. That really wouldn’t be guaranteed though. It’s the insurance industry, they don’t do holiday work or take students on etc. Just doesn’t work that way where he is. Would be amazing if it did!

Yes we looked at OU but ruled it out because it didn’t do exactly what he wanted. So would have to be at our local uni

Those of you that did it...was it worth it??

I actually studied again later on with the OU and fit it around working full time. It was for pleasure so didn't have any real professional ramifications but both times I studied were so worth it!

The first time because it was a practical course and I learnt things I still use now and I look back at that time of my life so fondly; learning by day and meeting interesting people at the bar by night. The second time was my biggest achievement ever and my graduation day was the proudest day of my whole life! It was bloody hard but that makes it so much more worthwhile!

There are many options beyond stay in current job for 30 years and be miserable or chuck it and study full time for 3 years. Is the degree he’s considering a vocational qualification that leads to a clear career path? I’d be much more likely to support that than a general degree with no career at the end.

In my case, I’ve worked full time and studied throughout my career, it’s bloody hard work but it’s proved worth it because I have lots of choice about where and how I work and have just been headhunted into a new role which is perfect for me. That’s after 12+ years of work and study at the same time.

It’s hard to say whether it would be worth it for your husband because it massively depends on what he’s studying, whether he’s done any kind of study in the interim to know whether uni will suit him and what kind of job he wants at the end of it. Having a degree doesn’t automatically open doors any more and there may be another route in to what he wants to do which might place less pressure on you as a family.

In all honesty, I’d be reluctant to support him in giving up work unless a) I knew he had the capacity to study at degree level (not everyone does) and b) there was a very clear career pathway at the end of it.

I very much doubt he will get the full maintenance loan if you’re working though. my friend got barely anything because his wife worked part time and they had 2 kids. They had to take out a load of credit cards.

Don't forget summer work options too. A good place to look is cleaning companies as they will have summer work cleaning student accommodation.
You'll get 25 % off your council tax too.
I'm doing a degree and because I picked a good one I'll treble my earning potential. So yes, it is worth it.

What degree is it?

my first degree was with the OU so I could work around study. Took me 7 years but was worth it.

Post grad I worked 24 hours a week with a 2 year old and dad not involved. It's doable.

Your DH and you have options it's just you don't like what they are. Unfortunately to make it work you are both going to need to make compromises and make one of the options that you don't like work for you all.

My dp earnt a similar amount to you and I received a similar amount in loans (though my undergrad was a few years ago and so I was one of the last people to receive a grant as part of my loan). Atyer my undergrad I did a Masters. I'm afraid we just went hugely into debt, which is probably not what you want to hear. Absolutely no regrets though and was very worth it.

Hi OP, I’m in year 2 of a 4 year degree, 40hrs per week including contact time and self-guided study....previously earning about 25k. With the full maintenance loan plus an average of 20 hours per week at £10 per hour (so less during term time maybe 10-15 as I can pick up 40-50hrs per week in hols) I don’t hit the personal earnings allowance for tax so my take home pay is similar to what it was before. Also don’t forget the council tax allowance, as a ft student he won’t be counted as an adult in the household. DH earns about 25K, no kids here though. It is hard work, particularly when assignments are due but hopefully it will be worth it!

Weekend working and feeling pulled in far too many directions to be effective is pretty par for the course ime. It was worth it though as we’re now pretty comfortable but looking back it was bloody hard. Good luck.

Thanks all! I had no idea about the council tax so that is also a bonus! I don’t think we will need to get into debt as such and I wouldn’t do it if that were the case.

As to whether he will have a job at the end, he wants to work in biological science so that it the degree he will be doing. The city he will do this in is very much near the top of the field for research jobs etc. I don’t understand a lot of it.

He had an abusive childhood so left school with only English GCSE. His mother basically took him out of school and isolated him from high school up. He is non contact with her now but in terms of education he wasn’t encouraged.

He retook some GCSEs last year and got B’s. Didn’t even attend college just studied in the evening himself. So I think in terms of being able to do this he can.

He will need to do an access course first, which he can do part time and work part time. So that’s ok. Then the degree.

I totally hear that a degree isn’t a ticket to a better life. I have an English degree and bounced around for a few years after before settling in my career.

He has moved departments and roles many times but it comes back to...Science! And Science jobs seem to need qualifications and degrees.

Your DH and you have options it's just you don't like what they are. Unfortunately to make it work you are both going to need to make compromises and make one of the options that you don't like work for you all.

Absolutely agree with you! We have just reached a time where we could think about 2 holidays a year or spending more money...so that is where my reluctance comes in. But I do firmly believe that education gives options and as he was denied a chance at this when he was young I will support him with it now.

I am doing it now. I am halfway through my engineering degree. We had to take a harsh look at our outgoings and economise where possible, and I found a low hours position at my school (that way there is an expectation that I can not miss class time). I work as a shop technician - essentially teaching assistant - as well as tutoring.

It is not easy by any stretch, but it is possible.