Will I be able to do it in my situation?

I'm not so much a mature student but I feel I can get more help here rather than the young undergrads. I'm 20 and became a mum during college, fortunately I stayed and finished my a levels and now have good grades to go to uni as my little one is older, thing is is I'm on a housing waiting list for a house with the council as I can no longer stay in my mothers with my little one any longer. I'm wondering that if I'm living in a council house and receiving housing benefits, by going to uni full time will I lose my housing benefits allowing us to live there? Will the uni take this into consideration when I fill out their application and include having a young dependant? Has anyone been in this situation before/has anyone had to postpone uni because of it? Any help would be much appreciated!

Reply 1

geebeeiii

I'm the same age as you although I don't have any children myself, and although I'm no expert on the matter I would say:

All universities make allowances for the fact some students will have dependents. It usually covers it when you look in their accommodation section but of course this does not apply to you unless you end up taking up university accommodation. Do you know how long your housing list is? You can find a rough waiting time with the council I believe. In some places, like where I live, it's years long but it might only be months. When you know that I would check with student finance to see how much support you will be entitled to and whether it will affect your other benefits. I know if you're living in student accommodation you're not likely to be legible for housing benefit unless you rent in the private sector.

But yeah like I say, check both with your local authority and student finance. Sorry I can't be more help than that though, and good luck with the housing and with going to university!

Reply 2

evantej

Original post by Bnxo

No. You will still be eligible for housing benefit because you have a dependent under the age of 16.

For what it is worth, there is no such thing as a 'housing list' in reality. How long you have been registered is almost never taken into account when the housing officer looks at who has applied for which houses. Local connection is usually the most important factor in most allocations then whatever priority level you have been given. If you are not overcrowded - according to the criteria they use (e.g. they might expect you and your mum to share a room) - and simply want to live on your own with your child then you might be waiting a while.

Local councils each use their own criteria depending upon supply and demand. I know my girlfriend's council when we were looking did not even class children as needing their own room until they were one. This meant you could not argue that you were overcrowded when by most peoples' standards you probably were. It was simply down to a lack of housing. My local authority was a little more reasonable thankfully.

Will I be able to do it in my situation?

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