Should I take out a career development loan to fund further studies ?

[lizzie479]

I am a single mum on benefits. Have been offered a place at a local uni to do a masters degree. Its a subject I am passionate about but in all likelihood is not going to earn me much more money. I have very little financial support, an old banger of a car, and a rented property, plus two little kids. Am I being silly even thinking of taking out a Career development loan? Would you do it? Has anyone done it? I desperately need something for me and to try and get out of this rut x

There is something else you may need to consider that has not been mentioned yet: if you are receiving tax credits, they may stop while you are studying, so it's agood idea to check.

A part time master will require you a minimum of 14 hrs a week of independant study, twice as much for full time.
DS was born in the middle of my master studies and I'm happy to say that I survived and even managed to get a distinction BUT (and this is a huge but) I had a lot of support from my ex who took my son from my hands between 7pm and 9 am for the two years I was studying so I could study from 8 pm to 4 am every night.

It was a time when I remember feeling that I was not making the best of the master due to my family commitments and also a time when I felt I didn't have the time to enjoy my son's developments because I was always either too busy or too tired.

Would I go back to study now that I'm a single parent, with no family support, raising a child single handedly? Not in a million years, sorry, as pasionate as I feel about my subject I am not putting myself or my son through the same ordeal, as I'm not sure I would be able to allocate so many hours to study when my hands are already so full, which may result in coming out of the experience with no degree and even far more debt and financial pressures :-(