Benefits for a single teenage mother student?

Sharna

bloolagoon wrote: »

Is this your savings?

They are my savings and was written in her will but I do not have access to them, my dad does. He gave my sisters share to her when she started university and will give me my share. He knows I'm pregnant and is ok with it and is telling me I should still go to uni if it's what I want. Him and my mum split up when I was 7 and he lives in wales (3 hours away) he's already said that if my mum kicks me out then I'm always welcome there but university wise i haven't applied up there.

bloolagoon

Sharna wrote: »

They are my savings and was written in her will but I do not have access to them, my dad does. He gave my sisters share to her when she started university and will give me my share. He knows I'm pregnant and is ok with it and is telling me I should still go to uni if it's what I want. Him and my mum split up when I was 7 and he lives in wales (3 hours away) he's already said that if my mum kicks me out then I'm always welcome there but university wise i haven't applied up there.

You need advice on how this affects you as written in the will you should have access, I'm not sure but it could impact any means tested benefits. If not willed it wouldn't affect anything but as willed it could.

BillJones

Sharna wrote: »

Again, I understand what everyone is saying but I am prepared to give my every effort to make this work.

Well, I wish you luck, but it's one hell of a gamble to take with a new baby, to walk away from paid employment and take on debt that you have no way to repay.

If you drop out halfway through your degree, you'll have no degree, a young child, no job, and vast debts.

Without wishing to sound presumptious, you do seem very keen to assume that you can manage this despite having what sounds like zero evidence that this will be the case. Do you have detailed information about how child care will work, what time your lectures are, what grades you need to continue after the first year, and so on?

It's one thing to know, fully, what a gamble you want to take, and then taking it. It's something else entirely to make the decision based on a naive assumption that you'll muddle through somehow.

FBaby

You sound incredibly mature for your age. You have thought it through and your plans don't sound unreasonable at all. You know what you want to do and you seem extremely strong minded, so even though things might not turn out exactly how you might have planned, it sounds like you have the intelligence and strong-mindness to deal with whatever you'll be face with.

My only commment would be that you might not want to assume your grand mother or auntie will be happy to take on the childcare as being available and wanting to look full-time (or almost) after a baby is two different things but you will have the option of childcare.

There is no doubt at all that it will be very hard work, but there is nothing like wanting to prove to people that you can accomplish what they tell you you won't to keep you going. I wish you all the luck.

PlymouthMaid

I admire your determination and the fact you are keeping your child in these circumstances. It will be far from easy. I do think that you might be sensible to postpone the course for one year as apart from the financial and housing stress, your head will be all over the place after having a baby and it will definitely affect your studies as will trying to work when a baby needs constant attention. I also think it possible that your family will come round a bit as I expect they are in a form of shock right now.

I fell pregnant in my final year (a long time ago now) and that was hard enough so I really cannot imagine starting a course pregnant or with a very young baby. Remember it will also set you very apart from the other students and maybe make it difficult for you to make friends. When they are out and about you will be home with baby. You will also have a huge conflict between spending time with your child and gettign your studies done. Childcare will be tricky as most unis love to give you lectures at 9am and then again at 4pm with independent study in the middle. I hate to be negative but I don't want you start uni and have to drop out as you are so motivated. Go into this in a controlled way with as much support as you can (including regular support from the Father even if it is only in money form - he needs to help even if you want to go it alone). I really wish you luck, please come back and discuss plans etc.

fizz

I have no practical advice to give you OP, but I would like to say that you seem like a remarkable young woman who is determined to get the best out of life for yourself and your baby. I truly wish you well. Good luck.

fizz.x

RAS

Sharna wrote: »

They are my savings and was written in her will but I do not have access to them, my dad does. He gave my sisters share to her when she started university and will give me my share. He knows I'm pregnant and is ok with it and is telling me I should still go to uni if it's what I want. Him and my mum split up when I was 7 and he lives in wales (3 hours away) he's already said that if my mum kicks me out then I'm always welcome there but university wise i haven't applied up there.

OP

Savings over £6K can affect your entitlement to benefits so you need to think that through.

You would be able to claim hb (local housing allowance) to cover the cost of your baby's accomodation but are expected to pay for your own from your maintenance grant and loan.

Your sister went to university with a 5 month old baby and a partner.

Your universities will tell you that they will make reasonable adjustments to help you as they are required to do by law but in practice that might mean 2 weeks maternity leave and permission to submit some assessments late.

If you delay going until September 2015 your baby will be old enough to leave for longer periods, you can spend time bonding and doing things like breast feeding.

That is much more likely to result in your being able to succeed.

What worries me if you go this September is that you do not pass the whole first year first time. That makes things very messy as you must be enrolled at university to take assessments; you cannot claim benefits for yourself if you are enrolled at university and you may not be entitled to student loans and grants (if you only fail a small amount of the course).

Which leaves you in complete limbo between SFE, benefits and university regulations.

Add to which, you would not get the money you have identified until the baby was born and so would not get help to rent the larger flat/house.

Poppie68

I think you are totally under estimating how hard it is being a single mu,m providing a home for the baby, and attending uni. Babies are seriously hard work and demand 100% of your time, you dance to their tune not the other way round...your sister may of managed but it sounds if her situation was completly different to yours, she had an established home and a husband who could take some of the burden.
You would be very wise to establish your own household and routine first and look at uni next year.

Mojisola

Poppie68 wrote: »

I think you are totally under estimating how hard it is being a single mu,m providing a home for the baby, and attending uni. Babies are seriously hard work and demand 100% of your time, you dance to their tune not the other way round...your sister may of managed but it sounds if her situation was completly different to yours, she had an established home and a husband who could take some of the burden.
You would be very wise to establish your own household and routine first and look at uni next year.

Her baby was also five months old.

Even assuming that you sail through the pregnancy and have an easy delivery and a healthy baby, trying to do uni work when you've had very little sleep for nights on end will be a nightmare. There's a good reason why sleep deprivation is used as a method of torture.

Putting uni off for one year won't turn you into a benefit dependent Waynetta Slob!

whitewing

How passionate are you about law? You are about to undergo a monumentally life changing situation, maybe deferring will change your mind about exactly what degree you want to do.