To think being forced to get a job when a student is ridiculous?

[onedaybabywelbeold]

I am a 29 year old single mum, I have just finished my 3rd year at uni and going into my honours year. I worked for 10 years full time before going back to education. During the term year I receive student loan which is topped up by universal credit. I have about 1100 pounds to do me for the month so it's doable but tight.

Now that uni is finished for the summer I am obviously getting more universal credit to see me through. However, today I had to meet with my work coach and he told me I should be job hunting for a job over the summer and should treat job hunting as a full time job.

I told him that I might struggle to get a job as I can only work during the hours my daughter is in school, I have no one to help me and she finished school for the summer end of June. Also I told him it would be hard to get a job as I would be leaving again in September, to which he suggested I stay in a job whilst at uni as 'you don't really have to do much work until the end of the year'.

To be honest I don't really want to work when at uni, I mean I wouldn't be any better off than I would be on universal credit yet running with a substantial decrease in time so why would I? Honesty I don't understand the point in this, surely it's just wasting employers time as I'm not very serious about getting a job as I don't have the childcare. However, I'm worried that if I don't get a job they'll start reducing my payment.

AIBU to think the system is absolutely fucked?

@christinarossetti19

Yes, quite. It's a full time activity for lone parents.

Sure. But it doesn't make it impossible to work. I'm a single parent and I work.

Why don’t you use childcare (like the rest of us parents) during the summer holidays whilst you work? It’s one thing saying I’ve tried to find a summer job but simple applied for everything and can’t get one, another deciding the tax payer should support you?

OP is a lone parent who has worked full time for 10 years and is now doing a full time degree to improve her work prospects and her family's future.

I've worked full time for 20 years and wouldn't dream of going back to do a four year degree if I could support myself and my children whilst doing it. Sorry, but that's my opinion.

*couldn't

I'm not sure if this is the intention but you are coming off as entitled.

I am a 28 year old parent, and student, working 30 hours per week plus placement. No family nearby so all childcare is paid for.

I don't think the fact you won't enjoy the type of job you'd need to work, or the fact your degree is going to be something you will enjoy, is valid reasoning for everyone else's taxes supporting you and your child.

Yes the cost of childcare is crap, and the job is a pain in the arse, but I just don't see it as reasonable to claim universal credit for my life choices. Pretty much everyone else on my course is in the same boat

It's a joke. I'd stand firm and not agree to any of their ridiculous expectations! Uni and your children come first. Bare in mind their main priority is getting the totally jobless into work, it's highly unlikely you will ever get sanctioned.

Overthebow- was you also a single parent at 18??

I dont know any single mums at uni that also had the ability to work. Some of you are clearly not single parents at uni so have no idea

@moynomore

*couldn't

Eh? OP is supporting her child. She explains in her first post that money is tight but she's managing.

Waxon OP is doing a full time degree.

Yes there longer holidays, but IMVHE, the workload during the term is way more than a full time job.

And one more thing to put her children in childcare over the summer holidays she would need to pay that up front, I know this because I am in the same situation and you do not get financial help to pay it, you get a percentage paid back a month after you've paid it. Your caught between a rock and hard place. I cannot put my child into summer care because I don't have the 700 pound upfront to pay.

@MissMaple82

I dont know any single mums at uni that also had the ability to work. Some of you are clearly not single parents at uni so have no idea

No but lots of my students are/have been. They typically work alongside studying.

Sorry I agree you do sound entitled much OP

Eh? OP is supporting her child. She explains in her first post that money is tight but she's managing.

She is relying 100% on UC to support herself and her child though. Maybe she won't find a summer job that works, but she should at least be open to it and look for one and not shut down the idea that she work as representative of a system that is "absolutely fucked"

And I am referring to the summer and the period where she is relying 100% on UC. I acknowledge she has loans for term time with top ups.

Those who think that they were better students by doing part-time (or even full-time) paid work during your student years - sorry, but you must be kidding.

As a teacher, I see many students working practically full-time in a full-time degree and, hard as they try, they achieve only a fraction of what they would if they only had the one job of actually being a student. It’s the harsh reality of today’s education system after the introduction of fees, but this system is nothing to be proud of.

Time and time again I see my students admitting that they only spent few hours on projects that needed many days because they had to work - and I believe them - but of course the work would have benefitted from more time actually spent on it! You need time to research, time to ruminate, time to write/make drafts and tests and final versions, and if you have several other jobs going, you simply can’t make the most of what’s offered study-wise.

The English education system treats the students as paying customers rather than nurturing them in the optimal learning circumstances.

Those of you with full-time professional jobs, would you also choose to have a number of part-time, irrelevant and badly paid gigs on the side to make your main job better? Probably not.

I have been a full-time student with no fees and only had to do holiday/weekend work in order to earn. Worked very well.

I have also been a full-time mature student while working part-time jobs and with small kids. Much, much harder, even though my partner also supports the family, so entirely different scenario to the OP.

Nothing about wanting to retrain with a small kid as a single parent is entitled or spoilt or sponging off. The language of these posts drips with tabloid venom.

@moynomore

Eh? OP is supporting her child. She explains in her first post that money is tight but she's managing.

She is relying 100% on UC to support herself and her child though. Maybe she won't find a summer job that works, but she should at least be open to it and look for one and not shut down the idea that she work as representative of a system that is "absolutely fucked"

Um, if you read OP's posts, she says that she is looking for work and will attend interviews but that childcare will be an issue as will the fact that she will need to be back in college full time in September.

Given that she's worked for 10 years full time and is planning to work for up to another 40 years full time when she's qualified, I can't see that few months of her not doing work that just pays enough for childcare is going to sink the economy.

@MissMaple82

And one more thing to put her children in childcare over the summer holidays she would need to pay that up front, I know this because I am in the same situation and you do not get financial help to pay it, you get a percentage paid back a month after you've paid it. Your caught between a rock and hard place. I cannot put my child into summer care because I don't have the 700 pound upfront to pay.

If you are starting work and are on UC then you can ask your work coach for help from the flexible fund for up front childcare costs.

Some degree course do actually ask you to restrict any employment hours due to placement and needing time to do the allocated work. So you're not completely off track with what you're saying. Plus your childcare issue. And you do have a point with employers thinking what was the point in hiring you for a short period of time. Maybe just some short term temp work would be best?

Look at it this way, even if you work a couple of days a week and pay for childcare and break even money wise. You will be able to add that job to your CV when applying for graduate jobs which may make you stand out more than other applicants.

I am watching my child balance a creative university course that needs hundreds of hours work to produce really high quality output with the requirement that DC pays for the social bit. We pay for accommodation and food. Beyond that, DC is paying tuition fees, but no living cost loans, and works two-three shifts weekly in term time as a chef, to pay for clothes and social life. Said child had two years solid experience as a junior chef in a five star hotel before starting uni, so is very very employable right now.

@XingMing
I can’t work out what that’s got to do with anything on this thread.

I worked 24-36 hours a week for 3 years while I was doing my full time degree (nursing, so pretty intensive - a lot of unpaid hours on top on my job). It was fine and I still graduated with high marks. So to answer the question in your thread title, no I don't think its rediculous for students to have to get a job. Literally everyone in my class worked throughout their degree.

Those who think that they were better students by doing part-time (or even full-time) paid work during your student years - sorry, but you must be kidding.

2:1 from a RG uni here and worked all through uni as did my friends on the course, who also got 2:1s. Working gave us a head start in the over saturdated grad job market and instilled good work ethic and time management.

You don't want to its not that you can't.there are a lot of temporary jobs.just be honest and say you don't want to work as you have studies and a dc to prioritise.

Nothing about wanting to retrain with a small kid as a single parent is entitled or spoilt or sponging off. The language of these posts drips with tabloid venom.

No, but the OP's increducility and reluctance to work during the holidays - with help to cover childcare costs - is. Saying 'the system is fucked'. Really?