Part time work & University.. or just University?

[katieealexa1]

Hi all, hoping for some advice please.

I'm a single mum to two daughters who are 5 and 2 and have been offered a place at university for this September to study Law.

I currently work part time as a Paralegal in a city law firm. I am torn between going to University 'full time' so to speak and leaving my Paralegal job or to stay here and also study at the same time. My work have said they will accommodate me and I can work around my Uni schedule.

If I leave my job, it would mean I would need to sign up for Universal Credit (don't even know if I'd be eligible or how much I'd get!!) and would need to live off that. I'm in a good position in that I have a very low monthly payment on my mortgage as I have overpaid for years to bring it down so don't have massive expenditure each month.

Or my other option is to stay at work, which would mean full time 5 days a week nursery for my youngest daughter however I would still get a wage, have job security etc..

Please let me know what you would do if you were in my position!

@chesirecat99 thank you I will have a look into that

@katieealexa1 the fact that you don’t want to continue in that area of law in the future doesn’t mean you should leave the job.

For one thing, it pays your bills. You have children to provide for. The fact that you can do that with minimal reliance on benefits should make you really proud.

secondly, imagine yourself on the other side of the interview table. Are you more impressed by a candidate who has worked and studied, or just one who studied? Who will have better honed their skills in balancing competing priorities and delivering quality work in limited timeframes? Who has practical legal experience inside a firm, who knows what lawyers do (even if in a different area of law) and has transferable professional skills? Who took on a big challenge and who shied away from it?

I don’t know your grading system in the UK, but for arguments sake, most employers would rather hire a B student with work experience than an A student without.

And of course you can still be an A student while working - I was.

You can do this!

Why not trial 2 days a week working, 16 hours total and see how it goes. Part time uni might also be two days a week. This would give you a day with the youngest

Also bare in mind university is only 30 or so weeks out of the whole year