Partner wants to go to uni, worried about finances

[Bellfox95]

My partner is 37 and has decided he would like to go to university and study social work. I’m really happy for him he’s been stuck in a care role for the longest time and has struggled with deciding what he wants to do.

I am just slightly concerned how we are actually going to live for the next 3 years while he doesn’t have an income.
It’s just me and him at home, and his daughter who’s 17 is going to move in during the summer and go to a college near us.

I work full time and earn £25,500. We have about £6000 of debt, and our monthly outgoing are about £1050, not including food or clearing the debt at all.
Im also not really sure how student finances work or what he would actually be entitled too, I am presuming tuition fees and a maintenance loan?

When l did my Nurse training a couple of decades ago, we were either in Uni 9 - 5 M-F or working FT in the wards. So l worked bank every weekend

So it is completely realistic for him to work

No, with a Plan 5 total debt of £45K (the average per person in the UK after graduating) he'd be paying back £52 a month on a salary of £32K, £112 a month on a £40K salary.

And over 40 years.

studentfinancecalculator.co.uk

He isn’t going to be paying back large amounts of student loan as a social worker, so I wouldn’t let that be a deterrent. Good for him, wanting to do a degree and increase his earning potential. I think it is a case of you both accepting ( and being happy) with the fact that you will be subsidising him financially for three years. He can do bank work but not to the equivalent of a full time job. Quite often, this type of degree is intensive because there are less holidays and a lot more hours need to be put in, when compared to your average degree. Sit down together and work out the financial side of things and whether you can make it work.
I would absolutely support my dp if he wanted to do something like this.

Look at the student finance website as you can put in figures and work out how much loan he'd get roughly. I completed a degree last year, on that means I now work in the NHS and I got full maintenance loan and fees was also eligible for the NHS grant and my DH earns more than you do.

Yes he will have a load of student debt but that isn't the be all and end all (Martin Lewis has a lot to say about student debt which is worth reading) it really doesn't eat that much into your wages.

Just because there are no apprenticeships in your area don't completely discount this route.

Find out some of the apprenticeship provider companies that are being used in other areas and call them to see if they can advise on any options.
You can find a list of apprentiship providers online.

OP honestly, if he wants to do it he’ll find a way.

It’s ok saying he needs a solid plan - some unis have you on campus 4 days a week, some have one. I’ve just finished two modules and the next two are on completely different days, so you can’t have it all planned out. Care work is fab because it’s flexible, so if he can do bank work then he should definitely do that.

He could go to the uni open days and have a chat with the course staff? I wish him the best of luck, 3 years will fly by.

I think he is doing a marvellous thing. Good luck

Whose is the 6k debt?

Why is he paying towards the mortgage when he has no claim on the asset?

Who's is the £6k debt?

The debt is mine.
he pays half of everything, when he moved in we tried to work out what was fair, if he paid for all the bills he would have been paying about £250 more than I was, if he paid half of everything we worked out we’d both be better off than him going to rent ect. If he only paid for half the bills he would only be paying about £300 and I’d be paying the rest and he didn’t feel it was fair (although it would have been the technical correct thing to do)

When I was 28 husband totally supported me training as a social worker. No suggestion of me taking advantage etc financially. Good career and not bad pay. Several years later my husband wanted to retrain and did a degree. Obviously I totally supported him emotionally and financially as well. Some quite nasty comments on here. What's the problem with one person financially supporting the other whilst they re train which should lead to a better life for both?

I think you'd be best looking at the uni he would want to go to and see how they structure their years so he can get an idea of how he could work if he needed too.
I'm in year 2 of my social work degree - different unis do their years differently.
For example - my uni does

Year 1 - 3 days at uni (10am - 5pm)
Year 2 - 1.5 days at uni (10-5pm & 10-1pm) ... 3 days placement (9-5)
Year 3 - 1 day at uni (10-5pm) 4 days placement

Uni term times for mine are
Mid October - mid December
Mid Jan - mid March
Mid April - end June

Also, in year 2 you can apply for the NHS social work bursary which is about £5,000 I think - not 100% as it comes in sternly instalments.

Student finance
Disabled student allowance (if eligible)
UC (if eligible)
Inform council tax as he would not longer be counted for it

Presumably except when he's on placements, he can continue to work full time whilst studying. It's what lots of mature students do - I recently got my masters whilst still working 4/5 days a week in a professional role and being a mum. It was a busy time, but totally doable.

Just another point, I think the 17 year old daughter who is going to move in should have a job. I always worked from the age of 14 when I was at school then sixth form then University. There is no reason why she can't. Working whilst a student isn't a bad thing it's a good thing. And clearly her dad is not going to be able to financially support her even to give her pocket money as he will be on student loans.
Please don't think she should be protected from work, particularly at your expense.

Why this year, though, at the same time as moving his daughter in? One big life change at a time would seem more sensible. You could all save and adapt to having her wth you, and he could aim to retrain the following year.

in terms of logistics, he’ll get about £10.5k maintenance loan, paid in three chunks. This is definite.

he may also be about to get nearly 5k social work bursary, he needs to speak to his uni to confirm this: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/social-work-bursary-swb

he may also be able to get a bursary from university to support mature learners or low income students. At my institution (though we don’t do social work) that would give him another 3k.

So there’s a potential for him to be receiving in finance probably a similar amount to his wage in care work, but he needs to look into this in a lot more detail, plan out what he’d receive, is it feasible etc?

Some really nasty opinions here. He’s working in a really underpaid difficult job and wants to retrain and do a really worthwhile one where he can do some good in society (not that he isn’t already working in care). And £40k is not to be sniffed at, it’s not megwbucks but it’s above the average wage! How can people sit there and say it’s a rubbish wage/not worth the effort when it’s nearly double the ops? Working in care as you age must be really tough. It’s good he’s future proofing himself.

Also stupid to say he shouldn’t do it because he’ll have student loans afterwards. If he’s working in care he probably earns similar to op. Saying it’s not worth increasing his salary by £15k or so because he’ll pay £100 a month student loans is ridiculous.

Have you checked if you would be entitled to UC?

you should also get child benefit when his daughter moves in and presumably child maintenance from mum? If she stays past college she will need to get a job and contribute.

I think it’ll be tight and you will be living like you are both students for a few years but it’s definitely doable. Make sure he applies for every mature student grant and bursary he can find. I think a lot of unis have various schemes and funds to help with this sort of situation.

If the DD is at college would she not be in further education? If so your partner might be able to claim child benefit for her.

Has he looked at the Open University, He could probably study for his degree with them while still working.

He will be able to work around his study if he is motivated and organised. My dsis did a SW degree with 2 small children, and a few bits of care work on top.

There is some really crap advice on here. Please get some accurate advice firstly on what social work entails, I have family who are qualified social workers and it is not necessarily what the general public’s perception is.Speak to some social workers to gain an insight.Secondly advice on the structure of the course,has he got the qualifications to join the course?He may need to get some qualifications/top up prior to applying. Also it may be possible to do it part-time and continue to work. Finally what the financial situation could be, the comments about getting into student debt are not helpful, everyone who has qualified in any profession in recent years has student debt unless parents have funded which is rare.

Maybe suggest he should wait a couple of years, get the debt paid off and wait until his daughter has finished education.

I assume the daughter's mother will be paying child maintenance to him too as the daughter is only 17 and at college as well as him claiming child benefit so that is additional income while she is in further education. That plus likely maximum loan which isn't taxable may mean he isn't actually getting that much less than he earns now anyway.