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There are countless reasons you might have higher education on your mind. Maybe you have a child or grandchild who’s approaching the end of their compulsory education and who wants to head away to study. It’s also positive to help them with this process if you can. Perhaps you’re thinking of heading to higher education yourself. All too many people make the mistake of associating higher education with 18-year-olds.
There are countless opportunities at universities for mature students. Did you know that anyone starting studies over the age of 21 is considered a mature student and mature students constitute a significant proportion of universities’ and colleges’ student body and alumni?
Heading back to higher education can help you progress in your career, change your career or perhaps you simply want to learn more about a subject you’re passionate about! Whatever your reason for considering someone else’s education or your own return to education, one thing tends to lurk in the back of our minds – it is expensive. So, what can you do to make things a little more affordable? Here are some suggestions that should help you in some way or another.
Work Alongside Your Degree
This may not sound all too fun, but many people do choose to work alongside their degree to cover the costs and to cover some of their living costs. There are plenty of part-time or even remote positions available that can work well around studies and top up your income.
Share Accommodation
Now, if you already have your own home, that’s great and you probably don’t have to worry too much about accommodation while you study. However, if you’re moving somewhere new to study or if you’re currently renting and might not be able to afford the rent while you’re studying, you’re going to have to take some alternative ways of living into consideration. Sure, you may want to live alone. But the majority of students do find themselves having to share houses in order to minimise living costs. The cost of large properties split between multiple people tends to work out a lot less costly than renting a small place to yourself.
Of course, if you’re mature, you might not want to share with party-goers and teens, but there are plenty of forums and other platforms where you can find other mature students taking your course or at your college who are looking to make similar living arrangements. It’s generally good to get to know the people first before committing to living with them. This can give you a good idea of whether the arrangement could work. You never know – you could make some lifelong friends through this process. Many student letting services can help you further with this.
Buy Textbooks Secondhand
A major cost for many students is college textbooks. They are often notoriously expensive – largely because publishers know that they are on mandatory reading lists for courses and they also know that these students are likely a small market that this book will sell to.
Remember that no matter what course you take, academic or otherwise, it’s highly likely that you’ll be asked to find copies of at least a few different books. When you look at the price tags, this can feel daunting. But don’t worry. There are ways around forking out these huge costs. First, see whether the university library has the book in stock and determine how many copies there are available. The issue with this is that you’re not likely to be the only person looking to take this book out, so you can’t always guarantee you’ll get a copy in time.
Alternatively, you should consider buying copies second-hand. The positive thing with these books is that people in previous years will have had to buy them and may not have much use for them anymore. You may be able to contact some and see if they would be willing to sell their copies to you for a cheaper price. Alternatively, you may be able to find second-hand copies online from students at other colleges who are looking to make some money back now that they’re done with their own copies.
Of course, studying is always going to be expensive. But hopefully, some of the advice provided above will help you to be able to study at the same time as affording a good quality of life around it. Pass the information on or use it yourself. Someone should be able to benefit from it!
