Help for working student mum

WOWICANDOIT

I am on a NHS funded course attracting a bursary of £8000 which is made up of basic bursary dependants allowance and PLA. I have also applied for the student loan which will be £2265 (approved just not through yet). I also work which i receive £4300 per annum I work 16 hours a week. I also gert working families tax credit £199 a week. . This totals about £28000 when family allowance is included. Yes this is a lot and despite having very high personal debts I can just manage ,I am single mum to 3 kids. My dilema is that i am in the second week of my course and have not yet moved into the clinical placement which make up 60% of my course. Whilst at college I am putting in 25 hours so can manage to work for 16 hours but come placement time i will be unable to work as much thus having a drop in wages and also loosing the working tax credit . My placements are 9-5 monday to friday. I will still work but I need to spend some time with the kids. I estimate drop in wages and tax credits will loose £100 a week.
My question is does anyone think i will be eligibe to apply for the ALF and if so will they take into consideration the drop in wages and working tax credits.Any advice would be great.

Gemmzie

How long are your placements? It's just that the 16 hours needs to be the average over the year, so if you were full-time working in the summer, you might be able to even it out. Just a thought

WOWICANDOIT

Thanks for the reply the placements make up 65% of the course and the course is 43 weeks per year. This will give me 9 weeks to work full time if i never have any time off. I want to do well on the course and dont want to burn out , I have always worked and would miss it if I gave it up totally. I worked extra in the summer to make up any shortfall in any weeks where i could not work so have some hours banked so to speak. This is my first year and think it is hard to do it all now and worry about what would happen in year 2 and 3. To be honest I cant afford to the the drop in income and just hope someone will be able to advise me with regars to ALF

bestpud

You can certainly apply for the ALF and they would not expect you to be working with three children and a full time placement to juggle.

However, they will not take into account your existing debts as far as I am aware and you would still have an income, so you may not get that much and you should never rely on it tbh.

I'm not sure but wouldn't you still get ctc for the children, on top of the £12k grant/bursery?

Single parents can get IS and HB during the summer when on non-NHS courses (when they would be relying on loans/grants only). May be worth asking a single parent advisor about it?

mummytofour

Do you get any help with housing costs? If not look into it.

lilysgarden

If you want to do it, then you can manage the placements and work. I've had to do 100 days placement for the last 2 years for my social work degree and coped while still having 2 jobs. Both placements were 9-5 type hours, but this years, I needed to be more flexible (had to take over a support group that didn't end til 9.30pm so wasn't home til 10.30pm). Both placements required a portfolio, which when completed, came to the region of 80000 odd words. During both placements, I've had a minimum of a one hour commute to the placement and held down a permanent 16 a week job. The second job was sessional but again I was doing around 16 hours a week.

I won't deny it's hard, but it is possible if you keep focusing on what you get in the long run. I'm fortunate that I don't have children, but many of my fellow students on the course do, and they also worked a minimum of 16 hours a week on top of placement. By all means apply for the ALF, and good luck if you get it, but just remember that being a mature student means putting in far more effort than those going straight from school, simply because of commitments before the start of your studies!

WOWICANDOIT

Thanks for both replies. I will apply to the ALF the worst they can say is no but I wont have lost anythng, of course they could offer me some help which will be great. I am not eligible for HB but will still be eligible for CTC so at least I have some money.
I have always worked so not afraid of putting in the hard work and I knew it would be hard both physically and financialy, but it wont be forever and the long term positives outweigh the short term negatives.
Any other views are welcomed