Can't afford University

LegacyUser

Hello not really a personal issue but I'd rather go anonymous

I started University last year and now I'm not sure if I can afford to stay.
My grant application was held up for ages and ages because the social welfare would not provide me with a letter stating how much I recieved in 2008. I was certain I was going to get the grant as it didnt seem like my parents earned very much. My dad is the only one working and my mother is on disability.
Because my application was being delayed and I had feck all money I applied for a loan off the bank, they wouldnt give me one. Then I tried the credit union and they wouldn't give me one either. So my parents agreed to take out a loan for me and I could start paying them back when they had to start paying it back, if you know what I mean.

Anyway I've gone the whole of first year with no financial support other than that and a weekend job that I picked up last semester which gave me £100 a week (I went to the UK as I couldnt get in anywhere else)
But I still couldn't pay the rent as the loan was used up by the end of the last semester so I currently owe the university 580 sterling in rent.
Then the day after I get back I FINALLY get a letter saying my application for a grant has been rejected.
That would only be a minor set back if my parents actually had money! We scrounged the house for change this morning so my dad could buy diesel to get to work! They have 60 cents in their bank account and I have 49 cents in mine. I have a full time job lined up for the summer now but I'd never be able to earn enough to see myself through next year and pay off the debt from last year.
Sorry I just realised how long this is getting, I'll shut up in a minute I promise!
Anyway now I'm at odds as to what to do now, I get my fees paid for me and thanks be to jesus for that cos I'd be ****ed otherwise. But I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with the idea of my parents bankrupting themselves so I can do something that I have chosen to do. I didn't have to go to university but now that I've started I'd like to finish.
I've looked at scholarships and they all seem to focus entirely on Academic excellence, which I wont get because I have already failed two exams and I have no leaving cert.
And before anyone starts, i didnt fail due to lack of studying!

So if you've somehow managed to listen to that big rant a bit of advice would be nice.
I'm 21 now, should I cut my losses and come back when I'm 23 so I'm assesed under my own means? Or keep going? I dont really want to leave I have loads of friends there and a girlfriend.

So please if you have any insight or wisdom to share I'd be very grateful. Thanks

IzzyWizzy

Perhaps you don't want to say but did you fail the LC and college exams because they were too hard or because something else was going on like illness? That's pretty relevant.

As for the money thing, well there only seems to be two or three options if you've been rejected for a grant and your parents have no money. Either leave and go back when you're 23 (and Ireland's system for this is really, really generous, you wouldn't be able to do this as a UK citizen), pick up more hours at the job so you can support yourself, or get your parents to take out a loan which you already said you don't really want to do.

And sorry if it's a stupid question but how much money do you need, and are you careful with it? How much are you paying each month in rent?

annemarie13

apply for the grant again and start getting everything together that u need now. getting a grant goesd by the previous years earnings so maybe you will this year, if ur family has less income in 2009 compared to 2008. is there any student help services in your college that can help u out?