Benefits for a single teenage mother student?

Iheart

Many childcare providers will not take a baby for the first 6 weeks and many universities will want you to finish your studies a few weeks before your due date.

It is possible, but it will be very, very hard. There are many variables, such as a traumatic birth or a poorly newborn.

Why not defer a year. If you this determined to succeed then a year wont harm your enthusiasm, and you can return with a 6 month old baby rather than trying to juggle a tiny baby and a demanding degree.

FBaby

If the first baby had been like the second baby, the story would have been quite different.

Absolutely, but no one knows what her baby will be like, so no need to let her assume her plans are doom to fail before she even gives it a chance. She might very well cope with her current plan.

The OP wants to make something of her life but she's also going to be responsible for her baby and needs to factor in which option is going to be best for a new born - a mother who has time to be her child or a stressed-out student struggling to keep up her grades.

It probably isn't intended to be, but I find this quite judgmental. It is assuming that her newborn will be a mess if she choses uni and a happy contented baby if she doesn't. We have no idea what it will be like for her and her baby. We don't know if her mum won't change her mind once baby is born and decides that she does want to help (amazing how holding your grandchild can change how you feel about them), she might find that 'taking her mind of looking after her baby by studying is helping her', or alternatively, she might find that she can't do both, or even that she doesn't want to do both because she wants to be a mum 24h.

However, she should not plan her life after the birth of her baby assuming that she won't cope if what she wants to do is do her first year at uni.

Mojisola

FBaby wrote: »

Absolutely, but no one knows what her baby will be like, so no need to let her assume her plans are doom to fail before she even gives it a chance. She might very well cope with her current plan.

It probably isn't intended to be, but I find this quite judgmental. It is assuming that her newborn will be a mess if she choses uni and a happy contented baby if she doesn't.

No, it's knowing that by deferring she will have time to deal with whatever type of pregnancy, birth and baby she has.

If everything goes smoothly, she will have plenty of time to get some work experience and get ahead in reading and research needed for the uni course and get managing a home and baby care sorted.

However, she should not plan her life after the birth of her baby assuming that she won't cope if what she wants to do is do her first year at uni.

Iheart wrote: »

Why not defer a year. If you this determined to succeed then a year wont harm your enthusiasm, and you can return with a 6 month old baby rather than trying to juggle a tiny baby and a demanding degree.

As Iheart says - no-one is suggesting that her plans are thrown out for life, just that she gives herself a better of succeeding by deferring for a year.

FBaby

The problem is, and what I think worries OP, is that if she stops for a year, she might get stuck in her life being a single mum at home and not find the energy/positivism/incentive to get back to Uni. Personally, I agree that might is something to consider, as sometimes, the one thing that keeps you going is to finish what you've started, whereas otherwise knowing what it is like, you might not start at all.

In the end, no one, not even OP will know what it will be like, how she will feel if she takes a year off but if she believes that she can give it a go, then why not do so.

sammyjammy

But accepting a place and deferring entry for a year (if possible) limits the chances of her getting caught up in motherhood and not taking up the opportunity. It gives plenty of time for planning, she could even get recommendations from her Uni of choice as to what reading/studying she could do part-time in that year.

Mrs_Soup

I agre it is possible to go through university with a baby/child BUT your baby is due when you will have completed only one term of your studies. Without any other support you will find it near impossible to complete the year. I would strongly suggest you defer your chosen place for one year and start Year 1 when your baby is about 9 months old. Also go to to a university with childcare facilities.

BillJones

Mrs_Soup wrote: »

I agre it is possible to go through university with a baby/child BUT your baby is due when you will have completed only one term of your studies. Without any other support you will find it near impossible to complete the year. I would strongly suggest you defer your chosen place for one year and start Year 1 when your baby is about 9 months old. Also go to to a university with childcare facilities.

Yes, the chance of passing the first year if she has to give birth during it is slim.

lovehackney

From a practical point of view, won't you have exams in January? I thought nearly every university course had mid years. These will coincide with your due date - how will you cope? Your university might make special allowances but I imagine you'll have to sit them at some point, and if that's a month after the birth, how will you revise with a newborn?

dktreesea

When I went to uni there were plenty of mums and couples who had their children whilst at uni. The uni had a great creche. You could leave your child for a couple of hours to go to your lecture. Okay, it did dampen down their social lives a bit, because they would always be rushing off to feed the baby whilst we were all adjourning to one of the various cafeterias dotted around the campus. And night times were a bit of a pain. We'd usually stay back to study in one of the libraries, whereas they tended to rush off back to their flats and study at home.

Our uni up here seems no different. A good quality creche and plenty of people seem to be wandering about with their babies and/or toddlers in tow. There is also family accommodation in the halls of residence and the students union even have a childcare fund. I would think most good quality Russell Group universities operate on the same basis.

OP, you mentioned planning to study in London - a great place to study imho (:-) I'm from London). Not sure if you are thinking of studying at LSE, but this page could be worth a read. All the other good quality universities should have similar set ups:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/students/supportServices/studentsWithChildren.aspx

northerntwo1

dktreesea wrote: »

When I went to uni there were plenty of mums and couples who had their children whilst at uni. The uni had a great creche. You could leave your child for a couple of hours to go to your lecture. Okay, it did dampen down their social lives a bit, because they would always be rushing off to feed the baby whilst we were all adjourning to one of the various cafeterias dotted around the campus. And night times were a bit of a pain. We'd usually stay back to study in one of the libraries, whereas they tended to rush off back to their flats and study at home.

Our uni up here seems no different. A good quality creche and plenty of people seem to be wandering about with their babies and/or toddlers in tow. There is also family accommodation in the halls of residence and the students union even have a childcare fund. I would think most good quality Russell Group universities operate on the same basis.

OP, you mentioned planning to study in London - a great place to study imho (:-) I'm from London). Not sure if you are thinking of studying at LSE, but this page could be worth a read. All the other good quality universities should have similar set ups:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/students/supportServices/studentsWithChildren.aspx

I think crèches have a 3 month age limit, certainly my local ones do.