Hi Johnny,
I am on the Area course with someone else (the id above, not me and another person, things arent that bad).
I brought my wife and kids down with me, and like yourself, my wife left her job, kids changed school, money problems etc etc. I am glad I did, because it is hard work, and I dont think I could have coped travelling weekends, as this is time for me to revise, plus I can spend more time with the family during the week.
It never crossed my mind not to take the risk, because you got to be confident you will pass and not worry about the fact that there is a high failure rate. Believe me, the college is full of highs and lows, and having my family there seems to soften the lows.
Noone is guaranteed to pass these courses, if we could pass on effort alone, there would be no failures, but unfortunately its not like that. Just join with a lot of confidence, dont think about failures rates, and dont let bad times at the college get you down(something I have learnt)
Good luck, if you need any more advise just ask.
abc111