Pregnant postgrad student: please help!

[Beth91811]

Hello,

I am in the first week of a masters degree after completing my 3 year undergrad at the same university.
I am 32 years old and recently found out I’m pregnant.
Can anyone shed some light on my financial situation? I haven’t worked while I’ve been studying, apart from a summer stint in my first year of my undergrad.

I’m not sure if I’m eligible for any type of maternity allowance or benefits, so I’m not sure how I’ll be able to manage!
All of the information on the gov website relates to being employed or unemployed, and there’s nothing regarding students. I’m getting both a grant and a student loan, so does this count as income?

Please please please! Any advice is welcome, I’m hoping someone has been through something similar 🙂

Presumably you'll have you post grad loan to live off until you stop studying ? then I guess you'll need to claim Universal credit as you wont be eligible for any contributions based benefits. Once the baby is born you can claim child benefit and child maintenance ( if you aren't with the dad) and the child element of Universal credit.

Congratulations! I would speak to the student welfare team at your university, they should know what you’ll be entitled to and be able to signpost you to other services etc. Plus the sooner the university knows, the better, as you might need time off or other adjustments along the way.