To All SINGLE Mothers....

dst4ever · Oct 30, 2009

It will be hard but it can be done if you can get financial aid and student loans. You might also look into tuition deferral programs offered at the hospital. To be successful you must restructure your life so that you can study on a regular basis. I have seen people fall by the way side because they don't restructure their lives. I am a single mother of two teenagers and it is hard but I have one year to graduation and I use that as my encouragement. Good luck to you.

CandyGyrl1985 · Oct 30, 2009

Make a list!!!! List ALL OF YOUR OPTIONS! That is what I did. For example, when my husband left me high and dry while I was in school, I had to scrambled to figure out what to do.

Here are a few options:

Welfare system - child care - they will give you discounted or free daycare while you attend school. (Some states wont allow you to use this if it is for school, but a lot do... Worse comes to worse you could at least use that while you work.)

Find a church... Dont disregard this suggestion. I went to my church a few years back and told the pastor I was having a hardship. Needless to say, they found a family that I could move in with for 6 months, so I could work and save money to get back on my feet. This was awesome! They have also found people in the church that volunteered to help with childcare in their homes - most for free. You will be surprised how many people want to serve God by serving others. This would be a great avenue to seek help.

Look on Craigslist childcare. See if you could find someone to exchange daycare with or even move in as a live in nanny in exchange for daycare.

Go to your school counselor and seek advice - they often times have resources for single low income mommies.

As for working and school and having kiddos - you can do it... but you have to REALLY REALLY WANT IT. Its hard and its a struggle but in the end it will be worth it.

Final suggestion - if you try it and you just cant make it work - try something else. For example - if you are not a CNA - go for CNA - that is 1 semester... Or do a 1 year LPN school.... I had to get my CNA while I waited for my kids to get older... Now that my oldest is in 1st grade - I am going for LPN... Then when all 3 of them are in school I will bridge to RN.

Good Luck! Make that list of possible resources and options... Bills you can cut back on... People you know or could meet that might help... Places you can go and seek help... etc...

starmickey03, MSN, RN · Oct 30, 2009

Thanks CandyGyrl! I never would have thought of some of those options...as soon as I figure out which state Ill be moving to Ill start making that list!

peytonsmom · Oct 30, 2009

Make sure to check w/ the school you are going to be attending as well. Our student lounge has a bulletin board w/ a special place on it where students swap child care. So someone watches your kids while your in class and then you watch their while there in class. Obviously you just have to get to know the people a bit, don't want crazy people watching your kids lol. We also have a dept at our school called "Student Support Services" that always have a lot of great resource info for us for a plethora of different issues.

Also check into the local YMCA/YWCA/JCC's. They have child care avaliable from 6am-midnight in my area and usually offer sliding fee scale. That might make it easier to work a night job if you have to. I don't know what area of Ohio you're moving to (I'm in the Toledo area) but you might want to see if you can find a school that has a nights/weekend program. I have to work FT days so this program is awesome for me. Our clinicals are e/o weekend. Are you moving very far away from your family/support system? Maybe if you found a program like that and it's not too awfully far from where you used to live, the kids could sleep over w/ family on those weekends so you wouldn't have to run back and forth?

Just a few ideas. I'm not a single mom but I applaud all of you that are. I know how tough things are for me working FT and having a family and going to school, so I can only imagine that it's 10X more difficult for you ladies on your own.

starmickey03, MSN, RN · Oct 30, 2009

Make sure to check w/ the school you are going to be attending as well. Our student lounge has a bulletin board w/ a special place on it where students swap child care. So someone watches your kids while your in class and then you watch their while there in class. Obviously you just have to get to know the people a bit, don't want crazy people watching your kids lol. We also have a dept at our school called "Student Support Services" that always have a lot of great resource info for us for a plethora of different issues.
Also check into the local YMCA/YWCA/JCC's. They have child care avaliable from 6am-midnight in my area and usually offer sliding fee scale. That might make it easier to work a night job if you have to. I don't know what area of Ohio you're moving to (I'm in the Toledo area) but you might want to see if you can find a school that has a nights/weekend program. I have to work FT days so this program is awesome for me. Our clinicals are e/o weekend. Are you moving very far away from your family/support system? Maybe if you found a program like that and it's not too awfully far from where you used to live, the kids could sleep over w/ family on those weekends so you wouldn't have to run back and forth?
Just a few ideas. I'm not a single mom but I applaud all of you that are. I know how tough things are for me working FT and having a family and going to school, so I can only imagine that it's 10X more difficult for you ladies on your own.

Thanks you seriously had some good info! I currently live in MI so my support system wont be too close. I plan on either going to Columbus or Cincinnati, not sure yet. Im in my senior year at Michigan State right now and my family has been GREAT! My kids grandparents offered to let the kids live with them so that I can finish my senior year strong. So you can see why Im having such a hard time with this. I have always had the best support system in the world so I think I'll be lost w/o them.

Can I ask what school youre at (if your in nursing school)? Hopefully I can find programs like that in the area I move to!

peytonsmom · Oct 30, 2009

I'm currently at Mercy of NWO in Toledo. Have you checked out the Ohio boards here on Allnurses? I see a lot of Columbus area schools mentioned quite a bit on there.

morningland · Oct 30, 2009

i would first suggest that you try for welfare/food stamps. times are really tight here in michigan as you know, but their had better be some funds for single mothers like yourself. also, fill out your fafsa so you can get financial aid through grants (which you don't have to pay back) and loans (with relatively low intrest rates). how it works is you fill out your fafsa, the government how much money you need for tuition, books, housing, food, ect and they dertermine this as you "financial need" then they subtract what they expect you to pay (for you it may be 0$, for me it was only 400$ and i am single and live with my folks). here is an important tip: if you want money for the fall '10 semester... fill out your fafsa form as close to jan, 01 201o as possable. some grants and scholarships are on a first come first served basis so they people who fill out their fafsa closer to the jan first, will be the first in line to get certain grants. i got an extra 800$ just for filling mine out in jan as opposed to march or april.

also, start looking for a co-signer, so you will have a fall back plan incase your financial aid falls through or you don't get enough, that way you can get private bank loans if they are still giving them out. also, if you know you want to start school, try squirrling away as much money as you can.

many people, work and go to school. it can be done but i don't think it's a good idea (many who do it dissagree though)... my logic is this, in most nursing schools you fail if you get below an 80% and, in my program, if you fail you have to wait a whole year until you can re-take the class and they you only have one more chance and if you fail again, you are kicked out. so to me, it is a huge risk to start off working in nursing school. again, many people do it and succeed but not everyone is a super student and i would reccommend starting your first semester with as little outside work as possable, and if you have a solid 90% or above, consider a job at that point.

hope this helps!

starmickey03, MSN, RN · Oct 30, 2009

i would first suggest that you try for welfare/food stamps. times are really tight here in michigan as you know, but their had better be some funds for single mothers like yourself. also, fill out your fafsa so you can get financial aid through grants (which you don't have to pay back) and loans (with relatively low intrest rates). how it works is you fill out your fafsa, the government how much money you need for tuition, books, housing, food, ect and they dertermine this as you "financial need" then they subtract what they expect you to pay (for you it may be 0$, for me it was only 400$ and i am single and live with my folks). here is an important tip: if you want money for the fall '10 semester... fill out your fafsa form as close to jan, 01 201o as possable. some grants and scholarships are on a first come first served basis so they people who fill out their fafsa closer to the jan first, will be the first in line to get certain grants. i got an extra 800$ just for filling mine out in jan as opposed to march or april.
hope this helps!

thanks for the info morningland!

but im unsure of whether or not i will be able to get anything other than loans when i fill out my fafsa. in may i will be graduating from michigan state with a bs and i've heard that after you receive you first bachelors degree all the grants and good fin aid packages that you got during undergrad are out the window. do you know how true this is? if its true then im going to be struggling more than i anticipated for. while ive been at msu i have been living off of my refund check because i got so many different types of grants from federal, the state, and the school just because i had dependents. with the refund checks i get now i can afford to pay $766/month for rent, sent my daughter to daycare for $660/month and take care of other personal expenses. so my necessities are covered through financial aid.

i know how the food stamps work but do you know anything about cash assistance?

morningland · Oct 30, 2009

To the OP....

I thought that financial aid is restricted by the number of credits you have but this may only be the case with certain school, I am unsure on that. I still think the best thing to do is to fill out the FAFSA, that way you will really know for sure what you are able to get. I am not sure about cash assistance. When I lived in california it was VERY easy to get but Michigan is a lot more tight with their money but, then again, as a single mother... you, above all people, should be able to get something. I know there are also some school which will pay your tuition as long as you work for their hospitals for a few years after school which may help to lower your school costs. Also, you may even want to look into a Community College; I don't care what anyone says, you can still get a great nursing education their and it is WAY cheaper then going to a university.

Google: Michigan food stamps and you will probaly be able to find some information to help get your foot in the door, there are a lot of options out their! Hope this helped and good luck! Nursing school is a long, hard road but the journey is amazing!

starmickey03, MSN, RN · Oct 30, 2009

I'm currently at Mercy of NWO in Toledo. Have you checked out the Ohio boards here on Allnurses? I see a lot of Columbus area schools mentioned quite a bit on there.

The only Columbus school I looked at was Chamberlain and that is way too expensive. I also looked at Christ in Cincinnati and a few others. I had actually started looking at Mercy last week because of their accelerated program and I have all of the pre reqs done for that school. I called today and left a voicemail to speak with admissions and they called me back less than 10 minutes later (good sign!) I think Im going to send in an application there as well. the admissions rep was very helpful. And the things you listed seemed like they'd really help me out in my situation and thats exactly what I need to look for in a city/school.

But I will definitely be going to a school in Ohio, its as close to MI as I can get other than Indiana. I really wish I could go to school in MI, but since the state is having so much trouble with the economy everyone suddenly wants to go back to school and become a nurse and that makes it hard for those of us who have been wanting to do this since we were kids.

ceb83 · Oct 30, 2009

I was able to get state assistance for daycare (early childhood scholarship), Pell-grant to cover school and extra $1000 for living expenses, loans (a lot), and copay support from my school (for the extra cost that the childcare scholarship didn't cover) and I work 2 days a week. This covers it... whew. It takes A LOT of planning.

It's doable though. You will find help along the way as long as you are sincerely trying (this is what I've found anyway)