After a tough start in life, Althea 20, moved into foster care. The stability of her new home allowed Althea to focus on her education, achieve impressive A level grades and bag a university place. Plans changed on finding out she was expecting her first child – Althea needed to devote her time and resources to her beautiful son and put her academic aspirations on hold.<\/p>\n
Now embarking on a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing<\/a>, Althea shares how The Open University Care Experienced Scholarship<\/a> \u201cchanged the trajectory\u201d of her life and unlocked the opportunity to pursue her career dreams.<\/p>\n Despite loving her new life as a mum, Althea soon realised that she was craving an intellectual outlet.<\/p>\n \u201cThe journey of motherhood is most definitely worth it. I made the right choice for me although it was a difficult one,\u201d Althea reflects. \u201cBy the time my son was a few months old, I was in serious need of some mental stimulation. I started searching for universities with childcare facilities, but there was limited choice, and I wasn\u2019t comfortable with the thought of leaving him for long periods of time at such a young age.\u201d<\/p>\n Being unable to find the right solution at a campus university, added to the need for flexible study, led Althea to consider distance learning.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I discovered The Open University, I knew immediately that it was the place for me. As a single mother, flexibility is imperative and the OU has a great reputation,\u201d Althea explains. \u201cI was eager to start and would scour the OU\u2019s website in my free time. That\u2019s how I discovered the scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n Worried about how she would afford university, Althea applied for an OU scholarship designed to support students who have experienced care.<\/p>\n \u201cI was completely taken aback when I saw an email offering me the scholarship. I think I actually felt my heart stop and then before I knew it, I was having a celebration dance with my son,\u201d Althea remembers. \u201cI put him down, read through the details and was brought to tears. I feel so blessed and appreciative to have been awarded this scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n With a passion for literature dating back to early childhood, Althea couldn\u2019t wait to delve into her English Literature and Creative Writing<\/a> coursework.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to become an English teacher and share my love of literature with my students,\u201d says Althea. \u201cI will also always pursue my writing \u2013 I plan to write a novel and continue to write poetry with the aim of being a published writer.\u201d<\/p>\n As a recipient of one of the OU\u2019s life-changing scholarships, Althea wants the amazing OU community to know how much this opportunity means to her.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere have seldom been points in my life where I\u2019ve not had to worry about finances. From an early age, I was accustomed to going without,\u201d Althea says. \u201cBoth the scholarship and bursary I received has allowed my academic achievement to take precedence over financial circumstance.\u201d<\/p>\n Althea adds, \u201cThe scholarship has enabled me to study without fear of debt and the bursary has equipped me with all the resources I need. I would like to extend the utmost gratitude and respect to scholarship donors – you\u2019ve changed the trajectory of my life and many others.\u201d<\/p>\n Every donation<\/a> helps to deliver the OU\u2019s mission of making education open to all. Head to the Open Futures Fund<\/a> page<\/a> to discover more about the scholarships provided as a result of the OU community\u2019s incredible generosity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a tough start in life, Althea 20, moved into foster care. The stability of her new home allowed Althea to focus on her education, achieve impressive A level grades and bag a university place. Plans changed on finding out she was expecting her first child – Althea needed to devote her time and resources […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":25169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1640,1643,2142],"class_list":["post-25164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-stories","tag-ou-home","tag-ou-news","tag-student-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Finding balance<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Grabbing the opportunity<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Me<\/strong>ssage for donors<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Inspired by Althea\u2019s story?<\/strong><\/h2>\n