mature student with kids what can i get?

mummy2three_2

hi hope this is the right place to put his post up.

I am a single parent with 3 children 12, 9, and 4 years old.

have currently been on income support and doing a 2 year access to nursing course. I have been offered a university place for nursing in september :jand just trying to work out what i am entitled to so any help, advice or info would be much appreciated.

I believe i am entitled to the following although correct me if i am wrong

• council tax exemption (as I am only adult in household)
• nhs bursary consisting of parental learning allowance+dependents allowance
• student maintenance loan only
• child care grant- not sure (hope so!!):o

cant think of anything else

is this everything i would be entitled to?

please bear in mind i would be in receipt of nhs bursury therefore tuition and fees are free and dont think im entitled to anything else from student finance

is this correct and has anyone else lived off this is it doable etc, extremely concerned with possibilty of child care allowance as nursing degree menas you attend 46 weeks of the year no half term holidays etc like traditional uni course. also the play scheme that runs in school holidays at the uni is £24 per day per child which is a scary amoutn of money

:eek:arrrrggg this student finance thing is scary !!

any help or advice is much appreciated

thanx x x

LL30

Hiya,

Congrats on the course! I'm starting my MA (NHS funded too) in Sept and I'm just dealing with the bursary forms now Only other thing I can think of is do you rent? HB is an option if so. My daughter's childcare is £165 a week :O which I'm claiming for - just getting the forms signed by the nursery. They cover the full 52 weeks of the year, but it's 85% of the costs, not the full 100 (won't complain though!). The uni have said that they have a different fund that I can apply for to cover the 15% if I want to.

Obviously you still get CB and CTC too, and I'm also applying for the students disability allowance unfortunately. There's also the hardship fund (well, that's what it was called back in my old uni days!) which can help out if you're in a spot of bother (and tbh, they basically said that as a single mother, we're a 'priority group'). Vaguely embarrassed by the amount that's available! But, I need to do the course so that I can make headway in my career and start ploughing those taxes back into the system xxx

olgadapolga

The NHS bursary scheme used to cover some of the childcare costs, not sure if they still so, you'd need to look into this.

Access to learning fund (was hardship fund) can help out to a maximum of £3500 but you need to apply as soon as you start the course as there is only so much money.

Child benefit, child tax credits - Tax credits never used to take bursary etc as income but you'd need to check with them as it may have changed. I qualified three years ago and a lot can happen in three years!

It is "do-able"; I have three children so my husband stayed at home to look after the children whilst I did my training. Didn't have student loan but we didn't have rent/mortgage as we'd paid it off before I started the course. Had full NHS bursary, council tax reduction of 25%, access to learning fund, we managed okay.

Only thing I would be worried about as a single parent would be the shift work on placements; if you've got that covered then you'll be fine.

liney

You would probably get more help on the 'Student' section of this forum where there are some resident experts.

mummy2three_2

thanks everyone all of the above is very helpful.

LL30 thanx for advice on housing benefit i am renting £420/mth and was concerned i would have to pay this out of my bursary etc so will definately look into how i go about claiming as a student and what i am entitled to etc.

i will also be claiming the disability allowance although i think that will just be in the shape of equipment, do you know if this is claimed through student finance or through my bursary? as cant seem to work it out.

also with regards to childcare are my costs averaged out over the 52 weeks? this is due to having alot of support from family and friends during term time after school etc but i really need full time child care in the holidays but the cost would be £360 a week for all 3 children but low costs during term time due to the school having break fast clubs from 7.30 at just £1/day/child and my mum being able to collect them from school 2/3 nights a week. as there is a maximum child care allowance of £187 per week do you think that my costs would be averaged out over 52 weeks as this would then mean i could claim most of my child care costs. if not im not sure what will happen in the school holidays, just have to bring them to uni i guess lol

thankx again

LL30

Yes, as a single parent student, you can get HB, so that will help you out loads - they'll need all your bursary info to be able to do the calculations, or you can ask your Uni to do some prelim calcs for you (we have a student finance dept with someone dedicated to working out benefits + bursaries/loans, very useful, so worth enquiring)

DSA seems to be equipment and helper funding, with a small proportion going towards personal stuff (internet fees, some additional travel if applicable). So although you won't be 'money rich' from it, the help will be invaluable - I'm hoping to have my assessment soon as I'd like my package in place for when I start.

Childcare - my form asks me week by week for the entire year, and you have to get the childcare provider/s to sign to authorise it. It's in 3 sections for each term, so if yours is the same, you'll get it in 3 instalments and the amount will vary according to your needs. And, if yours is like mine, you won't get the first instalment until 6-8 weeks post enrolment! THAT is giving me a headache - no bursary or childcare fees until Nov for me

My bursary form, childcare form and DSA form are all downloaded from the NHS bursary website - everything is claimed through NHS, I have nothing to do with SF at all, I would presume this would be the same for you? Have you printed off your main bursary form yet? On mine, it directly asks about whether you want to apply for DSA and childcare and tells you where to download it from.

My lo will be in nursery full time But I'm hoping I'll be able to have some time with her during the hols (although I know the workload if horrific!) but it's for the best long term. Hope that's helped a little, let me know how you get on xxx

mynameistallulah

olgadapolga wrote: »

Access to learning fund (was hardship fund) can help out to a maximum of £3500 but you need to apply as soon as you start the course as there is only so much money.

The ALF should be applied for in times of unexpected hardship, not as a top up you usual funding. Universities are extremely reluctant to give to those that apply on day one, and will ask why the student undertook a course that they could not afford.

OP, leave applying to the ALF until you have a genuine emergency - car breaking down when you need to get to a placement etc.

paulwellerfan

i was a single parent, at uni and i only got hb in the holidays.
NOT TERM TIME

LL30

That's interesting - both the council and the uni have confirmed that I'm entitled for the full 2 years, nothing to do with holidays etc.

And yes, sorry, I wasn't saying apply for the ALF for no reason, but the NHS bursaries are tardy to say the least - no money until November, and when you've got £600 a month nursery fees to pay, plus the usual living costs, it is going to be tough :S

olgadapolga

mynameistallulah wrote: »

The ALF should be applied for in times of unexpected hardship, not as a top up you usual funding. Universities are extremely reluctant to give to those that apply on day one, and will ask why the student undertook a course that they could not afford.

OP, leave applying to the ALF until you have a genuine emergency - car breaking down when you need to get to a placement etc.

Funnily enough, it was my university that gave me the advice to apply for ALF asap (at the start of the autumn term), especially if i knew that the money I had access to wasn't going to last the entire year. Their reasoning was that the fund would run out well before the academic year was out.

BTW, I found out that the Tax Credits people do not take your bursary/student loan into account when calculating your Tax Credit award.

futurenurse

Hi, I am a student nurse and my husband is working 24-30 hours per week. I know that we will be eligible for childcare allowance from the tax credit, though we have never applied for one, unknowingly.I also know that i will be eligible for the childcare allowance of NHS bursary.Can i apply for both? If not, which one can I apply to?Is anyone of them better?Pls help cos these nurseries are so so expensive!