Can I get a student loan for myself as adult?

[wilsontennis]

Ten years ago I went to uni and dropped out in first year. I’m currently stuck at home looking after 5 yo who is at school but I can’t afford childcare and unless I get a term time job I can’t see myself being able to go back to work as dh works long hours/is away a lot with work and summer holidays pretty much wiped out any possibility of me having a job without great difficulty...

I’m really down being at home all the time so was thinking perhaps I could apply for a university course as I failed to get a degree previously and possibly use a student loan to help bridge me over financially until dc old enough for summer holiday camps etc at which point I hope I can have a qualification that will get me back to works. I have great work experience prior to dc and am employable but cannot figure out how to go back to work right now and afford childcare not to mention when dc gets sick etc it’s just too difficult to sort it out.

Can I get a ‘second’ student loan. I had one in the year I was at uni. I paid it all off when I dropped off but I’m not sure if I can apply for a second one these days. I’ve lost so much confidence being at home I don’t even know where to start!

Student loans are to pay your fees and support you while you study. They're not an alternative to unemployment benefit - you'd have to actually study, turn up to lectures, submit coursework etc.

If you genuinely want to study then you'll be entitled to loans as long as you've only done one year of university previously. To get an offer though you'd need evidence of recent study, eg an Access course.

Thanks @titchy sorry my op probably wasn’t clear. I am not entitled to benefits due to dh income but we live to our means and have little left over at the end of each month.

My salary wasn’t enough to cover childcare costs so im now at home and thought maybe with a student maintenance loan I might actually have some money to myself until dc able to go into cheaper childcare options such as summer camps etc.

Your second post still isn't clear. Do you actually want to do a degree, or do you just want the maintenance loan?

Most summer camps take 5 year olds btw - mine were certainly in one at that age.

As far as I know, a student loan barely covers the £27k fees you'd have to pay for the degree, so it might be a massive false economy....

@SilverHairedCat This isn't correct- you can get a fees loan to cover your fees and a loan for living expenses on top of that.

OP, you would be entitled to a second round of student funding- however, as others have said, you would need to attend the course to stay enrolled and if your attendance was too low/you failed exams, you would be asked to leave and not be able to fund any future degree. Unfortunately, uni hours often don't match to school hours, so you may still need childcare.

The amount of loan you received would be means tested based on your household income.

Bloody hell, that's some serious debt people are getting into these days, and I thought my £15k was bad enough!

OP if you can do it, go for it, but it's a lot of money to pay back...

Have you considered the Open University?

Thanks all, yes sorry I think this is exactly why I need to do something,^^ I can’t even string a sentence together atm can I!
Yes my plan is to get a degree in a different field so that while I’m sat stuck at home with no childcare I can at least be contributing to my future somehow. I have trained and qualified in a profession (vocational) but I want to retrain into something else as I don’t enjoy it at all (finance!)

I’m 31 so I suppose I should have thought about this earlier on, ive worked until last year when dc started school I couldn’t find the wrap around care I needed to not do school runs but with a small top up I could send them to school later and being in London one can hope I get into a localish uni.

Also I’ve asked dh to request flexible hours (massive company can’t see them refusing) so he can help with school run but he won’t atm as he can’t understand why he would as I’m here. At least this might force the matter. He wfh a lot so can’t see it being a massive issue but his calls magically appear during the school runs.
I would hope uni was a little more flexible than a job and also I can’t work in the school holidays as again have no childcare.

Student finance will fund upto 5 years of study for a bachlers I believe. So even with your previous 1 year you should be fine.

Does it have to be a degree? What is it you want to do? Is a degree required?

What about college courses or even on the job training? TA work? Get your NVQ for that kind of work, and have fewer concerns about school holidays (alignment of the dates between DC school and yours may not be perfect though).

Well in my game I was finding it harder and harder to gain ‘higher’ up roles without one despite 10 years solid work experience plus being a manager which when I started it was enough to just gain the vocational qualification. I am hoping that at least with a degree it will look like I haven’t just stayed at home twiddling my thumbs (that’s basically what I feel like I’m doing now!) and I will gain better long term prospects.

If I was looking for short term prospects I’d look to be a TA or something and I haven’t written that off but at the same time I’m thinking perhaps there’s a chance I might be able to salvage some form of a new career from this ripe old age onwards! And worst case at least if I’m forced back into finance I will hopefully be able to tick the ‘degree box’ on my CV.
I could of course simply be fantasising about one day being able to push through a good career and earn enough money I’m not trailing behind my dh.

I wouldn't rely on uni being more flexible than a job. If a lecture is timetabled from 3-5pm it's not going to be changed to suit one student.