[transformed]

My dh is in school right now, and delivering pizza 3 days a week. Does anyone know of anyplace to get financial aid for living expenses while in school? He has 2 more years left and I dont know how we will survive. (We have 3 littles and his schedule is so crazy that its not possible for me to get a job due to lack of childcare)

Thx!!!

 

[nolansmummy]

Did he fill out a FAFSA? My husband and I get grants (loans too) but our grants are often more than our tuition, and we use that money for living costs. We also do take out loans, I know not everyone is comfortable doing that, but this way we can work a little less and it helps bridge the gap between what my dh makes and how much our bills are.

As for your dh, is there a different job he could do that would make more money? My husband works 3rd shift two nights a week, and a night shift on the weekends, both pay more than average because they are undesirable shifts.

Edit: Tuppence reminded me, we are on foodstamps too, and Wic. also, kids are on state health insurance .

 

[tuppence]

Hey! nak, so just a short reply, but I'm in school and my DH works and we have 2 LOs. I took out student loans to help w/living expenses, plus we're on WIC, food stamps and medicaid...help is out there!

 

[1growingsprout]

FASFA, fill out that form immediately. Talk to the financial aid department of this school, talk to the department head of his Major. Both will know what types of grants and scholarships he could qualify for.

Also can you do inhome daycare for a child or 2? Thats a great way to make $$ since you are home with kiddies already. I started off just watching one little girl overnights (she really just came to sleep) and now i have a number of part time kids and 2 full time kids. My house is ever-changing chaos but the $$ is great. Im home anyway so whats a couple more kids??

 

[transformed]

he did FASFA....maybe its justtoo early to get $ since we are technically still on last years school. Maybe in the fall we will see some actual benefits.

I need to fill out the tanf thing. We get a ton of foodstamps but no cash for living expense. We are at serious risk of loosing a car which dh delivers pizza in and drives an hour and a half one way to school. So if we loose that car we are basically screwed.

 

[transformed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1growingsprout FASFA, fill out that form immediately. Talk to the financial aid department of this school, talk to the department head of his Major. Both will know what types of grants and scholarships he could qualify for. Also can you do inhome daycare for a child or 2? Thats a great way to make $$ since you are home with kiddies already. I started off just watching one little girl overnights (she really just came to sleep) and now i have a number of part time kids and 2 full time kids. My house is ever-changing chaos but the $$ is great. Im home anyway so whats a couple more kids??

Thats an idea but I can only have 2 kids in the house without doing the red tape "daycare" thing with the gov't.

I dont know how much $ i could actualy charge plus I dont have much in the way of activities around my house.

 

[Kristine233]

Can you trade the car in for one that is still good enough to do what you need and doesn't cost as much? (ie: no huge car payment?) Dh and I didn't consider going back to school until we had our credit paid down and both vehicles paid off. Now we can both work part time and make our bills ok because our cost of living is pretty low. So, for us, it was all about figuring out how much we needed each month to live on and then seeing what we needed beyond what we made. It helped put things into perspective for us.

 

[transformed]

due to the economy this "going back to school" was kind of a nessecity. It wasnt really possible to set up the ideal situation first. That said, he is looking at a car he wants thats only about $1000-3000. I just dont know how he would get a loan for it and we dont have any help. I'll have to see about that. With his income level, I dont know if he would qualify for a loan..

 

[Kristine233]

Quote:

Originally Posted by transformed due to the economy this "going back to school" was kind of a nessecity. It wasnt really possible to set up the ideal situation first. That said, he is looking at a car he wants thats only about $1000-3000. I just dont know how he would get a loan for it and we dont have any help. I'll have to see about that. With his income level, I dont know if he would qualify for a loan..

I totally get you! My DH lost his job in February and work is impossible to find where we live. So going back to school for a different career field was a sudden thing for him. But then after discussing it we decided that now was a good time for me to go back again as well. As of June first we'll both be part time and then January I go full time and next fall he goes full time.

We were fortunate that we had started planning a couple years ago for lowering our bills and the timing was good. But that's why I suggested looking at other vehicles because that's where we started for lowering our cost of living. (well, after we moved to a low COL area first) Is he looking at trading in the current vehicle or just getting another one? He may be able to just trade it in and get the loan paid off on it and get another vehicle sans-loan. Not sure if that is an option for you guys or even something you are interested in though.

 

[KariM]

When I was a single mom working on my MA I received:

- section 8 housing assistance
- food stamps
- used subsidized federal student loans
- worked part-time on campus when classes were in session and full-time on breaks

 

[Smithie]

Wow, Kari!

I am still fuming (10 years later!) about the young woman I worked with at Temple University who went in to the public assistance office and said "Look, I have a full scholarship including books, I'm over 18 and my mom can't afford to support me any longer on the little she has, what can you give me to keep body and soul together while I'm getting my education?" The guy told her to drop out of school and get pg, then she could have cash every month, food stamps and a place to live. Otherwise, nothing. I am so glad to hear that other women have actually gotten some help to make GOOD choices about their lives!