Single Moms: Surviving Going Back to College, Finding Grants, and Making it Work

If you want to go back to college and you're a single mom, there are ways to make it work without sacrificing quality time with your kids and overextending yourself. You can find grants and loans, use work study and other methods to support yourself while going back to school.

Single moms have it harder than other people when going to college, you have kids to provide for and nurture, as well as find a way to pay your bills and find time to study without sacrificing the time you need to spend with your children. There are also other issues such as child care to consider.

If you want to make it as a single mom and go back to college, you need to find a way to support your family and pay for classes, books and other school related expenses. The federal government offers grants that you don't have to pay back, and there are many available specifically for single mothers. The official site is grants.gov, where you can download a packet and apply on line. You can also find private grants and apply for those as well.

The student financial aid office can also help set up single moms with applying for Pell grants, loans, and work study jobs. if you join the work study program, you can try to arrange it so you have a job on campus, possibly even between classes, if you have a large enough break. That way you can consolidate school time and working time.

Finding time to study for single moms can be challenging too. Try to study between classes, on the way to school if you take public transportation, and any other bits of time you can sneak in. The more you can do while still on campus will me more time to spend with your kids when you're at home.

If you don't make enough money to fully support yourself while going back to college, there are plenty of ways to make extra money without having to go out and find a job, and therefore spend even less time with your kids. You can babysit other peoples' kids, tutor other students in your home or at school, write articles on line, or sell things on Ebay.