19, at uni & pregnant.

[Mmmaa]

Hi,

I'm 19 years old and in my first year of a University degree, I'm also 9 weeks pregnant.

I have so much that I'm worried about.

Baby is due end of may/beginning of june, so around the time of my exams, I'm hoping i'll be able to hold out until my exams are over and that I won't be overly stressed and end up giving birth early!
I'm also worried that I'll find it very hard being at uni duriing the last few months. I know I can start my maternity leave from work 11 weeks before the due date which should help, but I'm curious as to whether anyone has been in a similar situation and how you coped?

Also, the whole benfits thing - I think we will be entitle to benefits even though myself and my partner are both students, I'm just worried that if we're both earning as well that will have an impact on how much we get - if anything.

Will uni or government help out with childcare costs? I don't want to take any time off, I just want to get my degree done with.

Any info or advice would be much appreciated!

I'm in the same position....just started my foundation degree and found out I'm pregnant. I'm there 4 days a week (some half days) and work 12 hours (3 days a week).

When I asked for advice about private renting I was told I basically won't get any help with that unless I drop out of uni...but the only reason I would drop out of uni would be to work full time, and if I do that I still won't get any help.

I'm stressing because I feel like I should put uni on hold, even though the baby's not due until around july and I could get my exams and everything out the way before then. But I feel like I should work full time so I can move out, pay rent and save money etc. but I would like to kno what help you can get if you are a full time student and have a part time job?x

I'm finding it really hard to get advice, I even contacted the University thinking they would be able to give me some information, as I'm sure I'm not the first student there in this situation, but they just gave me the links to the same websites that I found myself, which don't offer much information for Students.

i did this. i got no benefits, nothing available for student parents apparantley (3yrs ago) but they would have given me everything - house, rent, etc etc etc if i had dropped out. i worked part time too, so basically lived off my maternity pay (a pittance) and student loan which was full amount as i was responsible for a minor but still got to pay it back)

i didnt drop out of uni, had my baby on the last day of term of 3rd year of 4, and had some of my work deferred for extenuating circumstances lol ("was giving birth")
i went back in the septmeber as mummy to a 5month old and finished the degree with the people i started with.

i got no benefits, it was super super hard, but im so proud of what ive achieved, and at my graduation i didnt just get a degree, i had my child too which was better than anything else!! :)

the lecturers were fab and i had my pram at the back of lectures quite a few times at the beginning when i just had a little baby - i think i got some help towards childcare costs as dc got older, but that was because i was working, rather than student-related help. (although i wasnt working as such, i was on mat leave!)

i got no advice from uni-they were rubbish! so all i can advise is what i did, try as hard as you can to finish the academic year as you do have a very valid reason for deferrment of assignment due dates etc and it IS possible! oh, and work as long as you can too, i finished working (in a call centre) only 2 weeks before my due date. as the earlier you leave, the earlier you go back, and i wanted to have as much time as a non-working mummy as possible, rather than a non-working pregnant lady lol

all the luck in the world x

Aww I bet it feels so much better knowing you've managed all of that with a baby as well.

I'm thinking of leaving work as soon as I can simply so I can get all of my revision and everything done so it's out of the way.

I might have to go donw to the CAB for mor advice :/

I was a mature student when I had my baby. I took a year out and then went back. With hindsight I wish I had not and wish I had kept going as the older my baby got the more difficult it was. But I did it and graduated with a first and went on to do post grad with the second baby! I wish I had kept going though and not taken a year out.

Keep working for as long as you can as this may help you get maternity allowance. I think if you have 13 weeks when you earn at least £160 then this will qualify you for the max maternity allowance for 39 weeks.

Working Families 0800 013 0313 are very good at pointing you in the right direction re what benefits you will be able to get.

You can do it. Don't give up on your degrees.

Ooh thanks for that Wollstone, I'll give them a call.

I think I'll get 90% of my wage from the company I work for which isn't really that big a drop really it only works out at about £30 a month but they haven't even got a proper maternity policy yet which is very poor IMO as there have been about 5 people this year that are needing info from the company that they can't get.

Mmmaa I would contact one of your tutors, who knows you, preferably your personal tutor, and ask them for advice on what to do. They would always rather know about these things sooner rather than later and then can do the most to help you.

I would say that if you're due in May/June, ie assessment period, I would ask for a deferral for those assessments so that you can hand them in at the August resit point but get the full credit as you are doing them for the first time. This should be possible - it certainly would be at my institution. Yours should be following their procedures for how to deal with a significant event that will impact on a student's work, that is known about in advance but will definitely happen (ie something like a planned surgery or even jury duty during an assessment period). You could ask them what would happen in either of those instances, and see where that gets you.

That would mean you would be doing some work when your baby is still very young, but if you plan carefully and do it in very small stages, a bit at a time, then it's probably doable. It's also worth remembering that you only have to pass your first year and your marks don't count towards your final degree result, so if the worst comes to the worst, all you have to do is scrape through to be able to go into the second year straight away. Sometimes it pays to be pragmatic about these things .Hope this helps.

Thanks EightiesChick
I never thought about that, hopefully I'll be able to do something like that - woould make life so much easier if I happen to pop mid exam period.

I'm a bit iffy about telling my tutor as I don't know him that well, but I suppose I will just have to do it asap, I know he'll do his best to help me out with info, procedures etc.

So glad I asked on here, I'm getting tonnes of helpful ideas!

Hi ya.

My best friend fell pregnant through the first year of Uni. She got a 2:1 at the end of her degree and retained her sanity.

Housing benefit is only available for student parents so when baby is here you may get some rent help. You could get a rough idea from CAB or a young persons advisory service. If your income is over the limits make sure you apply again when your Stat Maternity pay expires.

You would probably receive about £50 per week CTC and £20 ish Child Benefit per week.

You can get up to 85% of childcare costs via student finance and would probably get Parents Learning Allowane (1500 per year)

In respect of Income support...your income would take you over the limit but you may be able to apply at end of June until you return in Sept or partner claim JSA ( I cant remember which way round sorry!)

Dont forget Sure Start Maternity grant £500 when you apply for CTC.

Ahh thanks for that, it's reassuring to know there will be some financial help available.

Firstly, congratulations!!!

I don't have first hand experience, one of my friends got pregnant in her final year, the uni allowed her to take her final exams in the reset exams in September rather than the summer (when she was due) perhaps you can do that?

She found a lot of help through the student union, maybe talk to them - your SU membership is worth more than just cheap entry into clubs!!!! They helped her through the paperwork to get a council flat and all the benefits she was entitled too.

And definately talk to your personal tutor - they will want to keep you on the course.

Good luck!

hey congrats too op - i had dd in my final year of my degree and sat my last exams heavily pregnant. its wasn't much i'm not going to lie.

go and talk to as many staff at the uni as you can. i told my tutors early on (mostly because i was doing heavy lifting at placement) and they were very sympathetic but also able to help me plan ahead and assess what might be difficult for me to do later on in the pregnancy. if you don't know who to ask, pick a tutor/lecturer you get on well with and start there.

pregnancy on its own doesn't count as an extenuating circumstance (ext circs are formally submitted reasons why a piece of work/exam is either sub standard or late and usuallu give you a resit or extension) BUT side effects/illness caused by pregnancy do qualify. You can get a letter from your gp to support ext circs. my gp wrote me quite a few - it was that or i would cry in the surgery - you've never seen a doctor whip out a pad so fast! but seriously - a letter stating 'my patient, the op, is suffering exhaustion due to pregnancy, please give her an extension' will be accepted no questions asked.

go and chat to someone in the fiance offie at uni. you may be entitled to an access fund grant which is for students with extra expenses and they may also be able to advise about other money matters.

also the student union may be able to help with regard to your rights a a pregnant student. also most unis have some kind of pastoral care system you could look into.

good luck x

i had dd1 in final year - deferred dissertation and finished it during night feeds lol. if i was up feeding i might as well be one handed typing.

That was me last year!

Congrats you'll have the most amazing/scary/hectic year of your life.

I was in my first term of my first year of a degree, 6 weeks in, just moved into halls and made lots of new friends when I found out I was pregnant. I decided to leave at the end of the term as I wanted to work while pg and save up money. Also coming to terms with becoming a mum was already a lot for me to handle so I decided to put my degree on hold otherwise I don't think I would of been able to manage.

For me this was the right thing to do and now with a 4 month old DD I am applying to start uni sept 2011.

I did consider staying on though and when I told my tutor he was very supportive. He gave me extensions on all my work, referred me to the counsellor and nurse. They also made it clear if I wanted to stay at uni I could have some time out and there was a nursery available. So don't feel anxious about telling your tutor.

I can't offer you any advice on financial support, i'm trying to figure that out myself. During pregnancy though I did get the £500 maternity grant and the £190 health in pregnancy grant. I was working so didn't get or need anything else.

Let us know how it all goes!

Good luck with the baby.

The only other thing I can think of is looking at nurseries now and finding out if thre are waiting lists, if you don't have childcare available for your wee 'un.

congrats!!

im in the exact same position! im 25 weeks now so im due late march (missing ALL the important deadlines, revision, final lectures etc!)

ive been advised by the uni to deffer and take a gap year. theyve also managed to deffer my exams til august (maybe yours can do the same?)

about the benefits-ive been told by everyone (job centre, uni etc) that i cant get anything while im a student except a slight increase in student loan and some help with nursery fees (although not all unis do this)
so ive decided to take a gap year so i can have benefits for 18 months and scrimp and save all i can so i can afford to go back to uni

advice and helps for students is pretty much non existant so im so glad ive found these threads for us :D

hope you get on ok x

I don't know anything about what you'll get if you take a year out, when you go back (assuming the tories haven't got rid of any of it, which is very possible) you'll get

• the same grants and loans you get now

• parent's learning allowance £1500 each

IMPORTANT - the muppets who answer the phone at student finance will probably tell you only one parent can apply for this - that's not true, you're both eligible for it

• child benefit: £80 every 4 weeks

• child tax credit - I don't know how much you'll get, it depends on your income, but we get £40 a week at the moment

• 85% of childcare costs paid if you're using an Ofsted registered CM / nursery

A word of caution - Student Finance (as you may well know) aren't always great at paying up on time - we're still waiting for some money we should have had in Sept, which we haven;t received because we followed the duff advice they gave us

Studying with a little one is possible - but you need to be mega organised about your time. I'm not naturally an organised person but I'm managing . I tried to work from home when DS was 5 months (doing a bit of freelance work for DP) but I found it was impossible to look after him and work at the same time, I got really stressed out trying.

Now I'm at uni I don't even try to work when I'm with DS. For me to work he needs to be with DP, or in childcare. When I'm in college I work all the free time I can in the library / computer room. I have no social life! (But I know it won't be like this forever). I was about to go into detail about how our week works but maybe that's too much details?! If you're actually interested and want to know how we manage our time let us know, I'd be happy to share

Congratulations BTW

hiya i had my first child in my first year and uni and my second child during my final year. Dont worry you will be fine, try and get all your work out of the way before baby arrives. Apply for extenuating circumstances to give you until the end of summer to finnish off any oustanding work. The first year of uni is very easy, try not to concentrate on 1sts just get the work in and finished.

You will be entitled to housing benefit as both of you are students but they do take your student loan as income (if it were a bank loan it would be seen as debt not income but not the same for student loans, go figure). My partner and I were on full student loans and our 500 a month rent was half paid for by the council in a private rental (we lived up north at uni).

Make sure you apply for the parents learning allowance. you wont get income support of jsa while in your student term.
you will not pay council tax as you are students. Try to stay as full time students as it all starts to go wrong if you are part time without work.

You are going to have the best of both worlds, youl get to me a student and then come home and be a mum. a great break from both worlds that will enhance each other.

Also your local education authority will pay up to 85% of your child care costs no matter how long you put them in nursery even if it extends your uni contact time. I would reccomend sharing watching baby and then have one day a week when you have no classes and baby in nursery to concentrate on essays/sleep/pub!