Single Mother Beggining School in 2016

augurey · Nov 5, 2015

Do you have family / friends close by? I would really start by getting a good support system in place. Will someone be able to help you out if your child is sick and you have class? Child care? Even if it's not support for your child, but emotional/mental support. It can be a tough road and it's nice to know that you have people in your corner.

If you don't have family / friend close by, definitely make a plan regarding child care, if your child is sick, etc. I think having those kinds of things in place would be really helpful so if something does come up, you're not scrambling around trying to figure out what you need to do.

I know of other single, working moms on here that either have done this or are currently doing this. Hopefully some of them will come in here and offer some encourage words and advice, but it is possible!

Wishing you the best of luck!

LoveMyBugs, BSN, CNA, RN · Nov 5, 2015

I went through nursing school as a single mom with two kids, it can be done.

I started out doing my pre/reqs one class at a time and then slowly reduced my work hours as I picked up more classes each term until I was doing pre-reqs full time and working part-time

While in the nursing program

I worked part-time, school full time and took my son to most soccer and baseball games (granted I carried a textbook with to study when he wasn't on the field)

Have a back up babysitter, and then have a back up for your back up.

Have a plan on what you would do if your car breaks down

Take as much as you can in student loans and grants.

I didn't apply for a lot of loans right away and ended up using a credit card ( guess which one has a higher interest rate)

Apply for government assistance

I am not ashamed to say my boys and I had food stamps and they got free lunch at school, while I was going through nursing school ( they are getting it back with my taxes I pay now)

Basically apply to the low income programs that you as a single parent would qualify for.

I worked every other weekend 12 HR shifts so my weekdays were for classes and clinical

Build a large support network

KThurmond · Nov 6, 2015

I'm kinda in the same boat. Apply to local scholarships so you can use that for tuition and get a larger Pell grant refund check at the end of the semester. Hospitals sometimes have them. Most colleges have foundation scholarships they dont advertise so a trip to the financial aid office to ask for everything you can apply for might be worth it. If you need a loan in GA theres a loan with a 1% interest rate called SALT loan. Check within your community for other possible scholarships.

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Nov 7, 2015

Love My Bugs had some great advice! I wasn't single when I started prereqs, but became single before they were done. And completed LVN school and now am in RN school as a single mom! You can do it!!

I received welfare (food stamps and cash aid) and worked on call as a CNA while taking prereqs.

As far as working a lot, I can't give advice on that, as I worked on call. I could say yes or no to work if I was too busy. I could take on full time hours if I wanted or not work at all. The work I did didn't pay a lot, but it was perfect for me at the time. I worked as a CNA doing 1:1 work in an acute hospital. This allowed me to see how hospital nursing works and provided lots of down time for homework. I worked a lot of nocs when my kid was at his dad's for the weekend.

Later on, when I was almost done with LVN school, I was able to get our divorce finished and he was ordered to pay child support and alimony. That really helped!!

Yes, have a back up to your back up for child care. Use someone who is flexible enough for the hours you may need. While in nursing school, my son and I had to get up at 0300/0400 for clinicals!!

Develop a study schedule/routine. I had certain tasks I could do with him at my side and other studying I had to do in peace and quiet.

Try to line up enough child care hours so that you have some alone study time. I know that we hate to spend time away from our kids, but if you want to be successful in prereqs and nursing school, you have to put in a lot of work!

My son was 4 when I started prereqs. I used to take him to McDonald's play area after I dropped my older ones at school so I could study for 6 hrs while he played before I picked up the other kids from school. I did this 2 days per week.

I also had a standing study date for around 6 hrs on the weekend with a classmate. I did this for at least 2 semesters. Sometimes, I'd schedule these study sessions for between my classes if there was a gap. At least 1 semester, I did that.

If your school offers tutoring for the sciences, I'd say to do it. I did. And I earned all As in my prereqs (except 1, lol!)

One way I used to study with my kid was to teach him what I was learning. To this day, he knows quite a bit about how to take gloves off the right way, he knows about veins vs arteries, he can also draw viruses and bacteria!!