Can a single mother survive on less than 20,000 per year?

[ladyruth18]

[color=#333333]a full time student, working as a cna, child in daycare at the college, small car, takes bus to school daily, one bedroom apartment or an apartment shared with a roommate, a infant son, no child support, medicaid as child's insurance, high school graduate etc. ambitious and will to make this work. is it possible for my infant son and i to live okay on a cna salary while i attend school to become an rn with an associates degree and a bsn rn immediately after? i"m so scared i won't be able to and that i will end up below the poverty line and stuck with family who don't want me around.

[h=2]additional details[/h][color=#333333]i will be living in texas around dallas, attending a community college, i don't currently live on that as yet. i'm still pregnant and still currently live a home with parent. don't have a car as yet because my "father' used my pregnancy as an excuse for not wanting pay for things like buying a car (i'm guessing its too much money to spend on the bastard daughter) so i'm not sure if i will buy one or what will happen there. im trying to map out my future is all. no credit cards unless its prepaid. and maybe if i can't help it i would apply for snap benefits but i don't believe in using government help just to be above comfortable when some other family needs it just to survive. i'm young i can work, pick up extra hours if i need to. right now all i want to take is medicaid for my son. and when it comes to child support the man i was seeing lied to me about everything pertaining to his life. i don't know his real name, address or anything. i found out he lied about basically everything after i got pregnant and he started to worry about me putting him on child support so the most i can do is pick him out of a line up and give his cell phone number. either way i don't want such influence in my son's life anyways. he says he has 3 other children so if he didn't man up for them he won't for mine. all i receive is empty promises. filled out fafsa already so hopefully that and scholarships will take care of school. they said they don't expect me to pay anything since i have a dependent.

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[mazy]

I admire the fact that you want to make a better life for your family. But I am going to throw in some realism here and tell you that the job market for new nurses -- for all nurses-- is very, very bad right now.

There are new grad nurses who are a year out of school and haven't found a job.

So before you throw everything you have into this, I hope you will do some research on the job market and have a back up plan if you get out of school and can't find a job.

I know the media keeps going on and on about the nursing shortage but I suggest you look around this site at some of the stories about the reality of what nurses are encountering in the job market.

Have you considered going to school part time? That would give you a chance to have some stability at home and financially, and also extend the time you are in school so that when you graduate, hopefully the job market will be better.

Wishing you the best of luck.

[hudabelle]

It's hard to believe that 20,000 isn't already below the poverty line... I think once you have your son it will be below the poverty line (in a 2 person household). I know Dallas is cheaper than where I live (Seattle area) but it's not incredibly cheaper (from what I see available on craigslist rentals. Depending, of course, on how safe you want to feel in your home). You will qualify for WIC.. definitely do this!!! It is a God-send when you need formula. We were sent to the WIC office as soon as we were pregnant by our commanders (in the Army) because we all qualified.

With you being a sinlge mother only making ~20,000 you should qualify for full pell grants - I did but this was a number of years ago when the gov't actually had money hehehe. Hopefully you qualify for that (you don't have to pay back) or a really low interest loan.

You will need a car to get to your clinicals at the times and places they require, which could be miles away at off hours.

You should qualify for childcare coverage too. If not, it will be REALLY hard. Childcare is exactly like a 2nd mortgage. It is expensive but you don't want your son going to the cheapest person you don't know. To have full-time child care for my son here in WA state it was almost 850.00 a month. It is ridiculous since I barely made that in one full check, let alone paying for apt, car, ins, water, garbage, sewer, renter's ins, phone, and the ever needed cable bill :).

If you want it though, you can do it. You will have to suck it up for a while and it will be hard and tragic and wonderful all at the same time. Just don't get yourself in to monster debt and you will end up fine. Also know it may take a while to find a job after you graduate but if you hang in there something is bound to come around.