Aibu to think this is impossible (uni related)

[UrbanDecay]

I don't want to say what the degree is but it's something I've always wanted to do , have the necessary entry requirements and will lead into a career .

I'm a single parent of 4 and would need to move some 250 miles away to the uni I've been accepted to . I have no family support where I am and where I would be living there would be a few relatives who would possibly help out with childcare occasionally. I live up north atm where housing is cheap and we'd be moving to a much more expensive area .
Would this be madness ? I'm currently unemployed and could only ever work in minimum wage jobs if I don't do this degree - I've studied hard at college as a mature student to meet the entry requirements.

I want to create a better life for me and my kids but I know there's going to be a hard few years of scrimping and saving even more than now , plus the whole upheaval of moving down the country alone with four children is a scary prospect . Would it be madness to accept the offer from uni and go for it ??

I suppose the aibu is am I being unreasonable in being worried about whether this would be the right thing to do or not ?

Congratulations on your offer!

Does the degree involve any placements?

I did my degree as a mature student, with 4 kids and a DH. I didn't apply to do the subject I really wanted to do because we would have had to move, and I didn't think it was fair to the children.

Looking back 20 years later I wish I had gone for it. I enjoyed the course I studied, but it really wouldn't have been that bad for us to have moved, and I might have gone into the career I wanted to pursue instead of playing safe.

You are unemployed, the degree may lead to a decent job and you will have family nearby. Go for it. What have you got to lose?

Is the area you’re moving to already on universal credit? You’d need to find out because lots of people are worse off on it than tax credits. Also, I’m not sure how universal credits works out for students. Definitely investigate that.

@Screamish yes it does !
That's another reason I'm concerned about how doable it'd be because placements are clinical and would be in shifts .
It's a bit disheartening , when I went back to college I was in an entirely different situation and would've been able to afford childcare to do this plus I had a husband .

It sounds like a good move but I'd check out the or further training thing too. One reason that graduates go into further training is because they can't get jobs.

The clinical shift placements could be tricky.
Have you investigated childcare at the uni or broader area?

I get housing benefit atm , not sure if I'd still get that so that's something to investigate

The rent would have to come out of your student loan first, unfortunately.

@UrbanDecay assuming it's an NHS/AHP course employment chances are about the best you can get!

I'm in the first year of an AHP degree (Radiography) so if you have any questions on placements please feel free to ask on here or PM me
It's tough going (my kids are teens/young adult) but plenty of young mums on my course who are managing

Yes it's an NHS course ! Thank you , I might take you up on that . I'll need to log into the full site because I can't figure out how to do
it on the app .

I think it sounds hard but not impossible. Will your family help out with childcare to cover unsociable hours both before and after you qualify? I think that if not, it will be almost impossible, regardless of where you live.

You need to get advice about what benefits you could still get if in receipt of a student loan. I get child tax credits, but I was on these before, and I believe that if you're on UC things are more difficult as they take the loan into account, which they don't with CTCs.

As a parent, you can get a higher maintenance loan, it's around £1600 p/a more than the max amount that's mentioned generally. Is it a healthcare course? If so, you can get a £1k Child Dependents Allowance from the NHS. Check your university for any bursaries they offer. Mine give a bursary of between £500 and £1500 to all students each year (amount depends on family income). So there may be more available to you than what Student Finance information suggests, but you need to dig around a bit to find it.

I think money is going to be your biggest issue. I'm mortgage-free, if I had rent to pay things would obviously be a lot tighter, but not impossible... Get all the advice you can so you know exactly what you would have to live on and figure it out from there. If rents are too high where you've been accepted, it might be worth deferring that place if possible then applying again this year for the local university?

Ask the uni for a copy of this year's timetable so you can see how easy/difficult it would be to work around your DCs' school/nursery hours.

It's hard work and it'll be lots of juggling with 4 DC! But if you can make it work financially, then it's got to be worth a go.

I would get further clarification on those statistics before you decide. How many of those 95% go onto further study, and will you possibly need to do a masters to get a good job (so you can factor the cost of that in)? How many of those that go into "employment" go into the job you are training for? Are they counting jobs in other fields or less qualified roles in those statistics?

Other than that, good luck!

Congratulations on your offer, that's a great achievement!

I don't want be negative but I would say consider this very carefully. I speak as someone who did an AHP degree as a mum of one young one with a two hour commute. I had a husband financially helping me and a mum nearby. At times It was incredibly HARD. I can't imagine coping with four DC and no support. Also NHS bursaries are no more so you will have to pay your fees and won't be given financial support from the nhs. Clinical placements are often long and you are not guaranteed to be placed near to home despite your circumstances. People often stay in hospital accommodation near to their placement. This combined with settling the DC into new schools / nurseries will be incredibly difficult.

I would really consider trying to get something closer to home even if you have to wait a year. That said anything is possible and I wish you well if you go for it! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Do the stats tell you what industries/ jobs the graduates did ? A degree is not necessarily a guarantee of a job, but it also depends on your personality too

I'm not on UC , I get tax credits atm but I think moving to another area would be a change that would require me to move onto universal credit.
From my brief investigations this morning it seems that nobody will be able to tell me how things would stand financially until Friday because until then people with more than two kids can't claim UC so people seem to be unsure of the amount that would be awarded for three children (I'm not entitled to anything for the 4th as he was born after 2017) .
Thanks for all the help!

Tread carefully OP. Whilst a great achievement for you to get an offer, you have 4 DC to factor in which isn't going to be logistically easy or cheap. My concern would be shifts on placement, is that likely? There is a thread by a midwife who feels she is being forced out due to new shift patterns and not being able to afford the required childcare.

One thing I'm struggling to understand is how, if you're unemployed, you get everything paid for you via government! That's crazy.

Anyways,

You need to factor in your kids here, if you also receive a student loan and maintenance you won't be eligible for UC and in turn, housing benefit or help with rent so keep that in mind.
(I receive UC atm as a single person and I'm going to uni in sept and they've explained you don't receive anything if you're a student)

Also the maximum maintenance loan is £8000 around about, not sure you can feed and house 4 kids on that...

Do it! I did a healthcare degree 20 years ago as single mum of 3 primary aged dc one with SEN. It was very hard but I did it, worked in that field for 15 yrs and am now a lecturer. It got us out of poverty, we are not well off now but have a car and holidays etc. and I'm proud of my career.

@coldweather I receive help from the government because my husband suddenly upped and left me out of the blue with four small children. I used to be employed in a minimum wage job and he was the main earner , I gave that job up in order to study and the plan was to live off his wages which would have been affordable.

As far as UC goes I think I'd be entitled to some alongside student finance because I have dependents but I'm not sure how much .

@DarthLipgloss it's lovely to hear how well things worked out for you ! That's exactly what I'm hoping I can do for my children.

Cold weather: it might seem crazy, but the OP has a reason for it. It’s not like she left school and has never worked a day in her life.

I think the government should help people like you, urban decay, as much as they can. You are wanting to make a career for yourself and they should be supporting you back into work.

Some unis have family accomadation

@coldweather my little sister is in the exact same position as you. Parents who earn too much but refuse to help her. Funnily enough though it's her parents she's angry at and not the government.

I'm not a huge amount older than you myself. I didn't think I'd be left alone with the children , I really didn't (then again , who does?). But I also don't think that i and my kids should have to live in poverty until they're all teens/adults when the reasonable alternative to that is that I get some help for a few years at uni then support myself and family after that.

The uni says that 95% of graduates from this course go onto employment or further training

Flipping burgers type employment or something else?