Katespade I was a student last year, training to be primary school teacher. When I was training I was convinced I would get a joband avoid being poor permanently.
What actually happened was this -
I did find a teaching job, but in Suffolk. I spent a thousand pounds on going to interviews right across th country, petrol money and over night stays as they were in places like Cornwall, Hampshire etc and I was living in north Wales. DP and I would never have been able to actually afford to move to Suffolk because although he worked full time and I had a pretty much full time summer job, these things are expensive. I took out a graduate loan of 4k and used 1.5k of it to go back to Suffolk, stay over night, house hunt, put a deposit down, while also paying a bit towards the rent in Wales because I had to have time off fr my summer job to do it.
Bear in mind as well that to train as a teacher you have to do placements. Unlike on NHS courses, you don't get your travel fees reimbursed and because I am not fluent welsh, my placements were often quite far away and obviously I could t work while on them. Although I had a summer job and another job during lectures, petrol and food costs have spiralled in the last three years and me and DP live on our own, not with our parents, so I eventually racked up a 1.5k overdraft.
So, last August, I had a 1.5k overdraft and had sort 1.5k of a loan, but it was ok because we had a house to go to in Ipswich and I had a teaching job, brilliant. We packed the house up, hired a van, handed in my notice.
The day before we were meant to leave, I found out I was pregnant. We panicked. I've always been desperate for a family and had a miscarriage nearly nine moths previous, so I was worried about the stress of a move and of a new job. We didn't know anyone in Ipswich and don't know how far along I was, so wasn't sure if I would qualify for maternity leave. We have a support system in Wales and DP had a job and it is always where we intended to return to to start our family. We chose to stay.
DP kept his job and my summer job boss took me back on a SE basis so he wouldn't have to pay maternity. I lost the baby. I am paying back £120 a month for the loan and it is quite crippling.
We moved in together over five years ago when the recession hadn't started, or at least when it hadn't started making such an impact. If we had not done that and stayed with our parents, perhaps we would have more money. The year I started the teaching course we were still being told there were plenty of jobs. I chose to keep my baby instead of start my career because abortions are not for me and I was worried we would be in a horrendous situation if ER continued with the move to Ipswich.
DP and I are in the situation we are now because of a combination of bad luck, the economy as a whole and bad decisions, however well intentioned. The weeks during and after my miscarriage were extremely dark - I had to keep going in to work because I couldn't afford to stay a home and I was in a very bad place. All through my training I had one or two jobs, even if I didn't work during placement. We are both hard working, we both didn't want our lives to be like this, but here we are. All we can do is make the best of it and hope for a change in fortune.
What are you studying? Are you guaranteed a job at the end of it?