Help a CE girl get her masters please

Hey my name is Sophie I’m 21 and I’m a Care Experienced Person (I grew up in care) looking for some help in funding my masters degree. Firstly THANK YOU for even clicking the link! If you can’t donate could you PLEASE share?!

I shall answer some questions you may have at the end.

I grew up in the system from 3-18. At 18 my long term foster parents asked me to move out & so for the last 4 years I’ve been living on my own, whilst doing a full time degree, working part time and having multiple mental health diagnoses . Fortunately I graduated with a 2:1, however I racked up quite a bit of debt in my overdraft.

I am now working 20hrs a week mon-fri at a retail store whilst also working 14-28hrs a week as a teaching assistant.

I have also been offered 2 / 3 placements for a masters degree in drama teaching. However each course will be mon-fri 8:30am-4/5:30pm.

This means I would have to quit my teaching assistant job. I’ve asked my retail job if I could change my hours to suit my future schedule however they are unable to offer such a request.

At the moment I’m working as many overtime shifts for both jobs as possible, including my weekends. Most of my week days start at 7 am, with me finishing work at 8:30-10pm. I planned on (and still intend to) work as much as possible to first clear the £5000 in my overdraft and to then save another £5000+ to support me during university if I were to quit my retail job.

However, whilst my overtime is helping slightly, it’s making such a small dent to my overdraft and with 5 months left until my masters begins, and the money I have left after bills, rent, and car insurance (required so that I can get from one job to the other otherwise I would be late),

I do not believe I will be able to even fully clear my overdraft, let alone save for my masters degree.

So I am asking you ever so kindly to please help in any way you can! If you cannot afford to donate even sharing the link is amazing of you! I’m trying to do my best to break out the stigmas and the stereotypes that surround young women with CE & getting a career in my dream job is one of the many ways I intend to do so.

Questions you may have:

“Why can’t you ask your parents for money?”

-I have an estranged relationship with both my biological parents and neither of them would be in a comfortable position to give/lend me the money.

“why can’t you work weekends?”

-I would, however that would total to only 16hrs (maybe slightly more if I was offered overtime) however would not be enough to pay my rent & bills alone let alone other costs. This would also mean studying/working 7 days a week, something that I have done in the past and was not only challenging but deeply effected my mental health.

“what about if you do this job?”

-If you have any job recommendations that would allow me to work at least 20hrs a week whilst not interfering with my degree then I would happily look into it and would deeply appreciate if you could send to me.

“how long is the masters course?”

-All 3 courses that I have applied for are a year long.(I’m waiting to hear back from the 3rd)

”Can you not get student loan?”

-Unfortunately as I have chosen to study drama teaching for my masters, the government does not offer student loan to participants. If you do know any bursaries or schemes that I may be entitled to then please contact me!

Thank you so much for reading and thank you so so much for sharing/donating. It is deeply appreciated.

~ Sophie x