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

Russe11

fabforty wrote: »

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.

you see to confsue your situation with the OP

AvaQuaver

DLC do access courses accepted by Uni's for Social Work. You work from home (so no probs with childcare) and you can pay the fees over 12 months. I think the course is around £900.

Put the - Distance Learning Centre - into Google for more info.
Good luck hon x

skint-mum-of-two

Yes my husbands wage is £35k but this is not take home money! He clears £1,900 a month. We live on the outskirts of London and our rent is £1,100 a month for a small 3 bedroom house with a shoe box garden. After bills, school lunch meals and petrol we have nothing. I'm happy with all that and I'm not expecting handouts as it was our choice to have our children but I was just sad that I couldn't find any help to get me to uni. As you know when I'm in uni it will be a bit easier as I will be able to get a loan to help with childcare etc but I don't have the grades and I've lost a lot of confidence since having my children so I need to do an access course for many reasons. It's only for a year so I will work part time alongside the access course to help pay for everything. I just want to better myself and for my children to be proud of me and maybe I worded my original message wrongly but I was just wondering if anyone had any knowledge or tips.

Thank you.

Tiddlywinks

skint-mum-of-two wrote: »

...... My husband does earn a good wage but we are not left with any spare money at the end of the month and sometimes some bills don't even get paid.

The harsh reality is that you need to get a job to tide you over until you and your OH can afford to meet all the bills at the end of each month - only then can you think about going back to college.

I can't stress enough how important it is for your OH (a police officer) to be able to demonstrate the correct management of personal finances - as I said before, it is part of the continuous assessment of holding a vetted post. No vetting = no job.

Googlewhacker

skint-mum-of-two wrote: »

Yes my husbands wage is £35k but this is not take home money! He clears £1,900 a month. We live on the outskirts of London and our rent is £1,100 a month for a small 3 bedroom house with a shoe box garden. After bills, school lunch meals and petrol we have nothing. I'm happy with all that and I'm not expecting handouts as it was our choice to have our children but I was just sad that I couldn't find any help to get me to uni. As you know when I'm in uni it will be a bit easier as I will be able to get a loan to help with childcare etc but I don't have the grades and I've lost a lot of confidence since having my children so I need to do an access course for many reasons. It's only for a year so I will work part time alongside the access course to help pay for everything. I just want to better myself and for my children to be proud of me and maybe I worded my original message wrongly but I was just wondering if anyone had any knowledge or tips.

Thank you.

Which is brilliant but you will need to accept some compromises...ie moving and your OH travelling further or you working part time at night whilst studying durign the day.

It won't be easy but if you want it you will do what is needed.

Russe11

35k is a monthly take home of nearer £2200, so is there £300 a month going missing elsewhere?

Renting and spending more than 50% of the household income on rent is not sustainble is it?

No child tax credits?

TrickyWicky

Russe11 wrote: »

Renting and spending more than 50% of the household income on rent is not sustainble is it?

No but plenty of people are stuck doing it.

t0rt0ise

Russe11 wrote: »

35k is a monthly take home of nearer £2200, so is there £300 a month going missing elsewhere?

It'll be pension contributions. And probably working on last year's tax code etc etc.

But seeing someone else's incomings and outgoings never works. Everyone has different expectations. What the OP thinks is little money is loads to some of us. But as others have said, if the OP wants to do it then they will. Do the research and it'll come good if you want it to.

Russe11

over £5000 a year of gross pay or over £415 a month into a civil service pension?

Thats 14% of gross pay!

Contributions are not that high are they?

Have the recent civil service pension reforms actually started to be realistic when it comes to contributions and pension value?

marybelle01

Russe11 wrote: »

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...

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.

These comments are wholly uncalled for and extremely offensive. We were not discussing your mother or her situation. Things change. We also used to send children up chimneys. That doesn't mean it was right nor fair. The fact that women once had fewer opportunities or the chance to fulfil their aspirations is absolutely nothing to celebrate. And nor is it appropriate to refer to them as "breeders ". In case you had not noticed, it takes two to tango … shall we now start an equally irrelevant debate about the men who leave a trail of families behind them and then whinge about having to pay for those families because they "can't afford " the CSA payments?

What you think of the benefits system has absolutely nothing to do with the OP, who isn't claiming benefits and there is utterly no reason to suggest that she and her employed, policeman, husband had children to claim benefits. And if other people, as you suggest, are having children to claim better benefits, perhaps it suggests that if single people or couples could actually live on their pittance of benefit, they wouldn't need to. It would be relatively easy to introduce a retrograde benefit that supports families with smaller numbers of children. Unless of course you want to be more proactive about it. I believe the last person to refer to people as breeders was Adolf Hitler, and he had quite a few proactive ideas to deal with them.