How am I supposed to afford college at 30 with 2 children?

Russe11

why don't we create a new benefit, call it somthing like Breeders Education Allowance (BEA), say if the course is fulltime(over 16 hours a week) it could be set at say £75 a week plus an extra £10 per child. Getting this benefit could then passport to free childcare, HB, CTB etc. it would be valid for those with kids between 5-11 years old, where one or more child qualifies(to incentivise them to keep reproducing and qualifying).

Would create far more childminder jobs, plug the gap in education funding, must be the solution, only down side is where does the money come from to pay for it, suppose because the claimant will of produced a few offspring, they can pay for it in future taxation.

Hang on a moment...

Spendless

Hiya. I returned to college when my children were 2 (almost 3) and 5. How old is your youngest? There is non-means tested nursery funding the term after child's 3rd birthday.

We used a combination of that and childcare vouchers, which you could also look into. Unlike childcare help via tax credits, childcare vouchers do not require both parents to be working 16+ hours. I wasn't working at all. My husband claimed the vouchers from his employer. Both these helped reduced DD's nursery fees. She needed to attend nursery 3 days per week. My eldest was at f-time school, a relative could help out 1 day a week with drop offs, I could do 1 day and the 3rd day I used and paid for breakfast club. I couldn't use vouchers for this as my daughter's nursery fees took up the full whack of the allowance and since they were the most expensive it made sense to reduce the amount on that bill. I finished in time to pick DS up twice a week and the 3rd day which finished later, there was an after scool activity running which DS went to, and at £2 to give me that extra hour which was all I needed it was cheaper than a session in the after school club.

Have a look at the times and days you would need to do for the course you wish to go on and see where you'd need childcare for in order to work out if it's feasible. Hope any of that is of some help to you.

Dunroamin

TrickyWicky wrote: »

Erm, go click that link I provided and take a look for yourself. If you're on £25k you repay £30 per month as I stated previously.

I'm not going to bother refuting your very silly post except on this one point.

Firstly, you didn't provide a link and secondly the Sun is hardly a reliable source of information. The fact is,if someone had taken out a PCDL to become a pilot, this would be for a maximum of £10,000 and repayments would be around a couple of hundred pounds a month, regardless of your earnings.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/AdultLearning/FinancialHelpForAdultLearners/CareerDevelopmentLoans/DG_10033237

ETA

I've now found the article and it actually says nothing about her loan or the repayments - you're just making it up!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article4298467.ece

elisebutt65

I was a 'jumper' straight onto an HND course for the 1st year. Don't forget HND's are classed as HE and qualify for the full range of student loans, childcare & maintenance grants. This then qualified me to start my degree and then my PGCE.

I am a single mum of 2,(1 at primary and 1 pre-school back then) and managed on just student finance for those 5 years so I'm pretty sure you could manage finances with £35K coming in as well.

TrickyWicky

Dunroamin wrote: »

I'm not going to bother refuting your very silly post except on this one point.

Because you can't. Everything I've said was truthful and you can't defend your wrongful attack against me.

Dunroamin wrote: »

Firstly, you didn't provide a link and secondly the Sun is hardly a reliable source of information. The fact is,if someone had taken out a PCDL to become a pilot, this would be for a maximum of £10,000 and repayments would be around a couple of hundred pounds a month, regardless of your earnings.

Now you're getting confused. Yes I did mention this woman but only as an example that perhaps being afraid to take on debt for education isn't always a bad thing. I never meant it to be used in the context you are suggesting or attacking me for.

What I have noticed however, is that you've attacked me on everything possible, even making up things about maintenance loans, I've defended everything and so you've shifted your angle of attack around to the pilot and her loans.

Dunroamin wrote: »

I've now found the article and it actually says nothing about her loan or the repayments - you're just making it up!

I've made nothing up. She IS in debt to the tune of £80k.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article4298467.ece

Kate went on to rack up a £80,000 debt learning to fly — including 14 months at aviation school in Spain.

Have I made that up?

What I originally said was this:

TrickyWicky wrote: »

On the suns website the other day they featured a 25 year old lady who is £80k in debt after all her training. In reality she's never going to easily pay it all off but at least she's doing her dream job and earning fairly decent money in the process. If she's paying that lot off at £30 per month then she's never going to repay the entire amount anyway is she? (although that may not be student loans she's used as you don't exactly go to uni to learn to fly a commercial airliner!).

Again, you've taken it out of context. The point of the paragraph was to show that plenty of people get into debt with large amounts of money owing for their education these days however most people aren't aware of it. They just seem to think that everyone has a pot of gold from somewhere. I then used that amount of money as an example by saying 'IF' she's paying it off at £30 per month... etc. Thats all it was, an EXAMPLE not fact. The point was to show the op that student loans while sounding expensive and scary are probably a better idea than a debt with a bank or other lender.

I never claimed to be 100% correct however you've since been unable to disput the rest of my defence because you're an idiot..

fabforty

Russe11 wrote: »

why don't we create a new benefit, call it somthing like Breeders Education Allowance (BEA),

How rude. We're mothers, not breeders! Suggest you save that term for your own dear mum.

And no, I am not on benefits either.

OP - as others have said, with a household income of £35k, it should be manageable. Otherwise you will need to wait until your youngest starts school, work part-time/study part-time, or cut back on your spending.

Russe11

fabforty wrote: »

How rude. We're mothers, not breeders! Suggest you save that term for your own dear mum.

And no, I am not on benefits.

If you don't claim any benefit from the state then i'm afraid to say its unlikely you will qualify under the criteria I have set.

My dear mum, unfortunately made sacrifices to bring me in this world, there where no tax credits or mirage of other benefits, she had to go out and earn the money and pay for childcare out of her earnings. She had no incentive to have more children by increasing her income through benefits and tax credits, furthermore she did not because she could not afford to.

hcb42

OU offers plenty of choice, I have done two degrees with them, paid up monthly. Does mean you graduate with no debt, although I believe now they offer the student loans as per the rest of the country, in England anyway

fabforty

Russe11 wrote: »

If you don't claim any benefit from the state then i'm afraid to say its unlikely you will qualify under the criteria I have set.

My dear mum, unfortunately made sacrifices to bring me in this world, there where no tax credits or mirage of other benefits, she had to go out and earn the money and pay for childcare out of her earnings. She had no incentive to have more children by increasing her income through benefits and tax credits, furthermore she did not because she could not afford to.

I am a mother and a lawyer. I work hard and I save. However, I do work in the public sector.

I don't claim benefits, but if I lost my job tomorrow and was unable to find another job quickly or before my savings ran out, then I would claim. Would that make me a 'breeder' instead of a hardworking professional and mother?

I don't agree with the sense of entitlement that seems to be prevalent on this site at times, especially from those with children, but I hate your terminology.

jackyann

If you WANT to do something like social work or nursing (as opposed to another kind of degree) then begin by volunteering in something allied. From there, you will be well placed to apply for a part-time / casual job as an assistant (using the term vaguely as you haven't specified what kind of career you are considering). You may be able to get a NVQ type qualification, get some Open College credits, or at least build a good CV.
Many authorities, even if these times, consider seconding a good social work / nursing assistant to do their professional training.
It will also give you a good insight, so you won't waste time/money/effort on a degree in a profession that won't suit you. And any experience in the caring field is useful in any kind of future work.
The, if need be, consider a Career Development Loan (see DirectGov)