Mature student single parent

Aisling2013

Hi guys
Im a single parent on reduced rate one parent family payment.
I originally did nursing after my leaving cert but only completed 2 years of the degree before i got pregnant, then worked as a care assistant for a few years. I hated working as a care assistant and my placements so nursing isnt for me and ive no intentions of completing the degree.
I now need to wait until september 2018 to be eligible for free tuition again and id love to go back to do another degree then, when my son is in school.
Im not 100% sure if id qualify for btea as im on a reduced rate social welfare payment, i think i would be. However im not in receipt of rent allowance so i dont think i would be eligible for it if i started college. This would mean that id recieve approx 217 euro a week to cover 150 rent a week as well as feed and pay for myself and my son, all my bills and transport in and out of college.. so its looking like im going to be in dunnes forever 😯 or is there other financial assistance available?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Sup08

Aisling2013 wrote: »

Hi guys
Im a single parent on reduced rate one parent family payment.
I originally did nursing after my leaving cert but only completed 2 years of the degree before i got pregnant, then worked as a care assistant for a few years. I hated working as a care assistant and my placements so nursing isnt for me and ive no intentions of completing the degree.
I now need to wait until september 2018 to be eligible for free tuition again and id love to go back to do another degree then, when my son is in school.
Im not 100% sure if id qualify for btea as im on a reduced rate social welfare payment, i think i would be. However im not in receipt of rent allowance so i dont think i would be eligible for it if i started college. This would mean that id recieve approx 217 euro a week to cover 150 rent a week as well as feed and pay for myself and my son, all my bills and transport in and out of college.. so its looking like im going to be in dunnes forever 😯 or is there other financial assistance available?
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

If you are going to try and be a second chance student be sure not to enter any education (were the award for the course is a major award on the NFQ) between the ending of your last course and the start of your new course.

If you are on a reduced lone parent payment because you are working then you must do the equivalent period of being the payment as if person on the full payment. This means that if the lone parent full payment is was €200 per week and you were getting €100, then you would have to do double the qualifying period to be eligible for BTEA.

Also if you are going to be applying as an Independent Mature Student then you must be living independently at least before the 1 October 2017 if your course starts in 2018 and be sure to be able to get an utility bill in your name the covers this specific period as evidence of independent living.

There is student fund assistance in some colleges that you have to apply for in the college you will be attending, but you must apply early for this as they only have a certain amount of money and given out on a first come first served basis to people that qualify.
There is also the Hear and Dare schemes for people from disadvantaged areas and low income.

If you are still on a lone parent family payment if you decide to go to college again and you qualify for a grant, you may be better off keeping the lone parent family payment as you may qualify for a maintenance grant at special rate from SUSI.

Sorry for such a late reply to your post, I must have just overlooked it.
Hope this helps.