I want to go to college full time to be able to make a good life for me and my son, since I am the ONLY person supporting him. I dont get any child support, and wont. I would have to work full time to be able to pay for an apartment or house. And I want to be able to spend time with my son, hes only a month old. COuld i be able to just work part time and get student loans? or will i end up so far in debt. What should I do?

Hey,

Check out some of my posts about this. I've been a full time student two times (for 3 degrees). It is possible, but understand you're barely going to be scraping by and you will end up with debt (low interest rate, tax deductible federal student loans). If you pick your major right, however, you should end up making more to overcome the loans.

I can give you more details if you're interested. I don't have lots of time right now, however.

You can go to school full time during the day and work at night but you will have no time with your son. If you got o school at a University you can get grants and scholarships and loans if you need them. I found a way of scheduling my classes so I had three afternoons open to work for four hours.

If you go online you can get a pell grant if you qualify but you can say goodbye to any scholarships (unless you find them yourself which is very hard) and you can expect to HAVE to take loans (subsidized and unsubsidized). If you do the online thing you can work fulltime in the day and do your classwork at night but this is what you can be prepared for:

(my weekly course load online)
6 chapters per week
7 papers
2 tests

You will need to have DSL or cable for your internet access or you will be hating online school. Make sure you try to take all placement exams you can think of so you do not have to pay for any more classes than you have to.

Hey! I went to school full time and worked full time mostly during the day. I scheduled my classes around my work hours and both into my daycare hours. I did have to take an occasional night class. I took all the internet and telecourse classes I could. This gave me more time at home. I received a pell grant to pay for it and I also received a loan so you can get both. It depends on your major but there are alot of funds out there to help you just need to look into it. My favorite part was including my daugther in my schooling. When she started school we began doing our homework together. We set aside time each night, sat down at the table (no TV) and worked helping each other. When she was an infant I would wait till she went to sleep which was usually around 8 then I started giving her coloring books and/or little activties she could do while I worked and us still be together. Now she tells everyone how she fell asleep at mommy's graduation lol. I have a 2-year degree and am almost finished with my 4-year. It will be hard I promise you that but you have the right goal (making life better for you and your son) your determination and love for him and the good Lord will get you through. There will be many obstacle and more times than not you will want to quit but trust me WHEN you finish it will be worth it. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless you both.
Oh one more thing you might want to look into income-based housing (if you have that in your area) it is a hugh help with finances. They are not all 'crack houses' some are really nice. I have never received child support and my daugther is 10. We spent a couple years is subsidised housing and the rent was based on what I made at my job. I also had the security that if I lost my job we would still have somewhere to live because they didn't evict for that. Good Luck

Unfortunately I don't have experience. But I have a plan and right now that gives me total piece of mind. I said when I first got pregnant that I want my son to know that he was nothing but a gift to me. I'm still going to do everything I ever planned to do, because I want my son to know you really can do anything you put your mind to. My father to this day is trying to teach me that life is about things not going how you planned, it's how you deal with it and what you do that makes you who you are. Im due in December, and I start back to school in January. I only have class 2 nights a week for like three hours the rest is all online. I'm paying for it with pell grants. I don't want massive debt either so I'm only taking as many classes as my pell grants will cover. But I can still go full time like that. Of course later I wont have the luxury of this schedule so I'll either continue going all nights or all days. That way I'll have at least all nights or all days with my son. I plan to work on the weekends. I'm a server, so at a good resteraunt I can make 200-400 dollars working just weekends. Which will be more than enough. but for now, this way I have every day, and three or four nights with my baby.He will only be in child care 4 or 5 nights a week. when he is asleep I'll do work and as he gets older like mammysmom, I'll just incorporate him. I plan on continuing to get my masters. And I know I can do it, because I believe in myself and I know I can. So can you. Use your resources check into it, it can be done. tell yourself your gonna do it and make it happen. I hope you are able to work things out.

I'm going to medical billing and coding school 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. I work 20 hours and week and start classes at the University this fall. I was a stay at home mom for 5 years, until my X decided his 6 figure salary was to much stress. After helping him with his career for the last ten years. I was so used to spending every waking moment with my son. I thought, how can I possibly give him enough attention? It truely is about the quallity time you spend together, not the quantity. No matter how tired I am, or how much homework I have. No matter what laundry needs to be done, when I am at home, he is my number one. The time we spend together is so valuable. You should look into section 8 and food stamps. Also, in the state of Nevada, the government will pay a portion of the child care the baby's father should be paying. The state will then go after him. Also, if you go to school 20 hours a week and work 40, splitting some that time on the weekends, you'll be surprised how much time you have with your baby. Good luck. Remember, most school's have free or inexpensive child care.

Hi, I was wondering if you think LPN is a good program to go into. I could get my degree in 1-1.5 years if I went full-time. Would I get too much debt and/or not make enough to pay off my loans? I haven't got any child support yet, so it's just me supporting my daughter. Thank you for the advice and support.
Jessica

quote:

Originally posted by BigBobby:
[qb] Hey,

Check out some of my posts about this. I've been a full time student two times (for 3 degrees). It is possible, but understand you're barely going to be scraping by and you will end up with debt (low interest rate, tax deductible federal student loans). If you pick your major right, however, you should end up making more to overcome the loans.

I can give you more details if you're interested. I don't have lots of time right now, however. [/qb]

Girl, it's gonna be tough and you have a lot to consider. For the first 2 years I did not work, but I went to school. Thankfully I have a really supportive family. I am now a 2nd year Master's student going for Marriage and Family Therapy. After the 2 years I started working as much as I could while going to school. Pell Grant paid for school (but it doesn't pay for grad school). Getting through school is great, being somewhat financially independent is great, but I missed a lot of time with my son. This is what I wished I did. I should have worked less and went to school full-time. I should have put my pride aside and applied for welfare. Most of all I should have filed for child support even though he didn't have a dime to his name at the time.

Thanks for the info and encouragement!

I go full time for well i have just completed a years worht of work and it took me two years but I did it thus far. I know its very hardand I feel for you. Did you try looking into Federal Financial Aid, FAFSA. I got approved for three loans although I did not accept I also got apporved for a pell grant in which I am blessed to get and that covers 80% of my school costs. You try on line classes? I know it takes and extra 100 for me but I do it at work either before or after so its not too much time away from home and take one in the evening. I know your son is young too its better to get what you can done now, while he is small all he needs is your love and they have no sense of time. Good luck!
~*~Dee~*~

I've been going to school for the past year as well as working. Taking online and evening classes helps alot, but now I am at the point where I have to take day classes. It's hard, but worth it in the long run. Definately look into Financial Aid, it really helps. Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by helena:
[qb] I want to go to college full time to be able to make a good life for me and my son, since I am the ONLY person supporting him. I dont get any child support, and wont. I would have to work full time to be able to pay for an apartment or house. And I want to be able to spend time with my son, hes only a month old. COuld i be able to just work part time and get student loans? or will i end up so far in debt. What should I do? [/qb]

Hi, I hope since this post you have decided what you were going to do about school and work. The dilemma that you are faced with is a hard one to say the least. I started off working full time when my son was about 3 months old and going to school part time. After working in a factory for 6 years, I decided it was time to go to school full time. It is hard being a single parent emotionally because we all want to do what is best for our children. I have never received child support either, but attending college is entirely possible. Although every situation is unique, I chose to eventually quit my full time job, work part time, and attend college full time. I only wish that I would have made this choice earlier in my son's life so that I could have enjoyed more of his early years. There are grants and loans that are available if you choose to go to college. I have racked up about $15,000 in loans, but aren't we always going to have bills? I think that I made the right decision in choosing to only work part time while attending college. I wish you the best and if I can be of any help just drop me a line and i'll try my best to be of some assistance. fulltimemom

I cant' go to school full time. I absolutely have to work full time. There is no way I can pay for rent, car expenses, after school child care (my son will be in K when I start school this fall), evening child care while I am in calss, food, gas, haircuts, laundry, etc., etc., unless I work full time. I honestly can't figure out how you ladies manage to make that work out!

Pell grant is max at areound $5000 per year and federal loans at about $5000 per semester. I can't get by for 6 months only $7000 dollars (minus tution and books and fees for school, mind you, so say, $2000 for 6 months).

Anyway, I've decided to continue working full time (I am blessed to have a wonderfully flexible job and patient boss), which will be M-F, the traditional 9-5. I will be in class 2 nights a week, part time.

I will have to juggle after school programs (one for the nights I'm not in school, one for the nights I am in school), figure out a way to cook for an entire week on Sunday (will have to pack dinners for my son during class nights), etc.

But, I'm going to find a way to make it work.

I'm in college fulltime and I work and I have an infant. I'm a nursing major and I'm in school about 25-30 hours/week. My parents help out a lot with childcare, but it's not free. Financially, it's all on me. I don't receive child support either. I have a good bit of it covered by scholarships and I got student loans to cover the rest. The left over money I use so I don't have to work as much. I usually work on the weekends so I can't remember the last time I had a true day off. It's hard but it isn't impossible. I heard about a scholarship for single moms. You can find more info on getting financial aid and stuff at www.singlemom.com
Goodluck.

Child care is such a big factor. It's so difficult to find appropriate and affordable child care, especially for the younger ones. It seems like a lot of women are luck enough to have family available to help with child care. That seems to be a big factor in who gets to go back to school and who doesn't. My family isn't around. If this school didn't offer child care, I wouldn't be able to go.