Are there any student mama's out there?

[taylor]

Hi ladies!

I was just wondering if there's anyone out there who went from being a full-time WOHM to a full-time student? And how did you make it work?

I'm in a position where I loathe my job, and it's affecting the rest of my life at this point. I feel the only way I'll be able to improve is thru schooling and am really unwilling to tack classes onto my already full schedule. (I also am a rep. for a direct selling company outside of my full time job, so I don't want to add another thing that will take away time from my kids.)

If anyone has ever been in this position, how did you do it financially? I will be approved for FAFSA, and have a means of income with the direct selling company I am involved with (over the last 6 months it's been stable in providing $1,000/mo for our family)... but it really makes me nervous to not have a 40-hour-week income to fall back on.

Any sharing of experiences would be fabulous. :)

[crunchy_mommy]

I am not a student mom but I saw you haven't gotten any replies, maybe try posting over in the Working & Student Parents forum & you might get a better response, I know I've seen tons of student posts there in the past!

[love4bob]

I am a student. I wasn't ever working though. I'm about half way through my bachelors in social science degree. I'll graduate in 2012. I have the Pell Grant through FASFA and student loans to pay for my school. I'm going to Western Governors University.

[Uff Da]

Hi Taylor

I just went back to school full-time this fall. I have been teaching full-time for the past 11 years. I dropped down to part-time. The grad. school program that I am in is full-time. My husband moved for a job, but my daughter (just turned 5 yo) and I stayed behind for grad.school program. I am paying for some of school and FAFSA for portions of tuition. Yes, it is scary to go into debt when we've been free of student loans. Even though first semester was so busy that there were times that I did not have time to think, people at work have commented on how happy I seem. Don't get me wrong, I do like many aspects of teaching. I liked the excitement of being back in class even though first semester was all on line. This coming semester will be different as a couple of my classes are on campus while the rest are on line. I am nervous about loosing some of the flexibility of when I go to class. I am also in the odd position of having one of my classmates be a former student of mine my first year of teaching. Please feel free to contact me if you have other questions.

[darcytrue]

I am a single mom, recently divorced and I work from home and I also go to school part-time. I take internet classes. I do usually 1-2 classes at a time. This semester coming up I am taking only 1 class. This summer I hope to take 2-3 classes. I have been in school since 2007 and hope to graduate next spring (2012). You can do it!

[secondimpression]

I'm starting school again in 2 weeks. I used to work in electronics before DD was born and while I was very good at what I did, it wasn't fulfilling. I was at the top of my payscale and when we crunched the numbers for having 2 kids in daycare, they just didn't add up. They didn't add up for me staying home either, but it came to a difference of being $300 negative each month if I worked, or $400 negative if I stayed home. There were no options for career advancement either so it wasn't a hard decision for me to quit when DD was born. I had a change of heart soon after she was born and realized I wanted to go in a completely opposite direction from engineering so I'm starting over from scratch in health care. I'm going part-time until I start nursing school and my Pell Grant covers my tuition, fees and books with some left over so thankfully, paying for school is a non-issue.

DP picks up some over time here and there so we stay ahead even though on paper, we're behind. The turning point for us was realizing that no matter what, we're always going to come out behind on paper and we'll likely always have some kind of credit card debt. For us, it was just a matter of accepting that it's okay to have some revolving debt and that it's going to fluctuate up and down. To some people, that's a really scary prospect but for us, it works. It also really helps that our only substantial bill is the mortgage, the vehicles are paid off, we have some cash in savings and DP contributes a hefty percentage of his pay to the 401(K). 

DP works second shift and I'll be attending classes during the day so we won't have to deal with the big ugly daycare monster anytime soon.

[pregnant@40]

Financial aid. I'm a part-time graduate student in a professional program, but take out full-time aide. Altogether, about 40K per year. Also, I work a few part-time shifts per year. So though it is not equivalent to my prior full-time salary, I now have time to be a mom & adjust my school schedule to my kid's. No more daycare, which cuts down costs. It's worth it, and in the long run I'll have a more fulfilling career.