whats available......

[lolliepops]

looking for some basic help and guidence from anyone out there, i have a 2yr old dd i am a single parent with a morgage to pay, i currently work 24hrs a week and dd goes to private nursary. i currently get working tax and child tax. i was enquiring about a degree i want to do i was thinking of starting next year but the uni rang yesterday and have places left to start this year, so i now have a interview on wednesday. i realy neeed to know the basics. how do you pay your bills, morgage ect, do most of you still work, is everyone entitled to a student loan what am i ebtitled to advise for anyone who has been there or is in a similar position would be greatly appreciated.

i guess all you students must be working hard!

I am doing a degree also, i get Child tax credit, student loans and a dependants grant for dd. The best place to go and seek help is CAB, the student support dept in your uni and the lone parents advisor at the Jobcentre.
I am doing a ITT course so my fee's are paid, because you are single parent, you could enquire about having these paid for you ( i think they do) and i also have a vague memory of a friend of mine who has a mortgage and the government paid the interest on her mortgage for her for a certain amount of time, not too sure about that one though. Also get in touch with your local benefits agency and LEA. Good luck.

i am getting quit nervous about the whole thing now, but i know i need to be brave and make the move. i will go to the interview on wednesday and see if the tutor can tell me if there is anyone in the uni and thanxs for the advise i will contact the local benifits ofice.

i got working tax credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit, child benefit and student loan. was better off at uni than on income support. hth

this might sound realy dumb but can you get housing benifit if you own the propity. did you manage to work aswell study and be a mummy? how hard was it

sorry, dont know if you can get housing benefit if you own it. and having just reread my post, that should be child tax credit, not working tax credit (still worth about £60 per week tho). i didnt even attempt to work at the same time as studying but a friend of mine did 16 hours and didnt want to stop. it is possible!

I worked for the first 2 years and got wftc and child tax credit and student grant and loan. You wont pay council tax as a full time student and you may be able to get help with your mortgage.

The benefits office will tell you about the mortgage payments and if you can recv help.

thanxs for the info gg can i be realy cheek and ask about the loans do you just say how much want to borrow or do they say you can lend a certain amount? do they give you it at the start and it has to last you 3 year? forgive me for being sooo thick but uni was just something was always i asumed i would never do so never took any intres in.

In terms of whether you can work it depends a lot on your course. With my English degree I was only in uni 8 hours a week (taught contact time) and so I managed to work 24hours a week quite easily. However with the nursing degree I am about to start I will have less time to work.

thanxs nixz i will ring the benfits office tomorow. i am so pleased i asked now what would any of us do without mn

The loans are normally 2 different types, income assessed or non income assessed. The first allows you to find out if you are also eligable for a grant. They offer you a certain amount for a loan, eg maximum of £6,000 for the academic year and you say how much you want to take (be aware that if you dont take the full amount and apply for any benefits, the benefits agency will count every penny of the loan amount which was OFFERED to you to assess wether your eligable for benefits rather than how much you ACTUALLY took). They give you your loan and/or grant in installments throughout the year eg Sept, Jan, march, and you have to reapply for the next academic year.