Single Parent- How to get thru clinicals while in Nursing School?

1. Child support

2. Use parents as a resource. Can you move in with them? Can they take care of your child while you are in school?

3. If you are low income, you may qualify for a few government programs.

4. Loans

5. Some schools may have a reduced-fee daycare centers.

Problem is my folks live in the midwest and near their city there is only one program- which I didn't get accepted to!

Thanks for the advice- I just don't feel comfortable with non family care takers spending the nights with my child.

Can you then consider a part-time, or weekend RN program?

I got through nursing school as a single parent but I waited until my child was old enough to go to school and applied to a weekday program so that she was in school and being cared for/learning during the bulk of our time apart. My mom would take her in the morning for an hour or so and put her on the bus, and generally I would be done with school/clinical in plenty of time to get her off the bus. If my mom wasn't available, I did have a network of other moms that I made friends with at the school who were happy to help as needed.

I know that people out there do get through school with toddlers, but it seems like they always have family around to help or the resources to afford childcare. For me, I could have never gotten through it with a toddler on my hands - too much work. My child was 7 when I started nursing school and she was definitely the perfect age for it, I think 7 is a real sweet spot in terms of your child having a fair level of independence as well as a pleasant attitude. Plus, at that age they understand that school is something that requires work. We would have homework sessions where we both sat down quietly and worked on our homework together, it was nice.

I hired a nanny - well sort of. I had a spare carriage house that I exchanged for nanny duties. I wasn't in nursing school at the time but I was managing a restaurant. When she was "working", she would stay in my house with my daughter, but when she was "off" the carriage house was her private space. Money did not exchange hands, just a lot of trust and respect from both of us.