As more options become available, it’s fast becoming easier to earn and educate oneself at the same time. Here are some of the options available for those wanting to up their qualifications but also wanting to keep an income.
Going part-time
Most courses aren’t a full time thing. You may find that you’re able to cut your current job down to a part-time basis and work hours around a course. Find a local university that you can easily commute to and ask them about fitting hours around work. Most lecture notes are posted online – sometimes nowadays with videos of the entire thing – so you may be able to make an arrangement to skip these and only have to worry about seminars and essay hand-ins. Make sure that you’re still finding time to study and not simply working all free hours you can. If there is a dissertation in the third year, you may even have to consider dramatically reducing your hours in order to focus on this.
Take an online course
Another alternative may be to take an online course and not have to travel to a university or college at all. There are all kinds of virtual courses available from access courses to online masters degrees. Working remotely allows you to not be tied by location – you can take a course from anywhere in the world to tailor your specific needs. Many are also flexible and can be completed at your own pace. You may not have the camaraderie of other students or the benefit of consulting lecturers and tutors in person, however you will have more freedom to fit any job that you desire around education.
Consider private tuition
If you don’t have the self-motivation to teach yourself and need someone else to guide you through, hiring a personal tutor may be an option. Many use this as a tool for learning languages, although you can practically hire a personal tutor to teach you anything. Like an online course, you can also have freedom over the pace at which you learn and the hours of which you get taught. You may occasionally be bound by the tutor’s weekly rota – which could mean missing out on studies for a week if they are too busy. However, it could work out much less costly and flexible overall.
Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are an education system that allows you to learn on the job. Nowadays, you can pursue an apprenticeship in almost any field you choose. The downside to choosing this path is that the pay is often minimal, plus apprenticeships are often only open to those under a certain age. However, it can be an excellent way of getting your foot in the door of a good career, learning skills that can also be transferred elsewhere.
