Considering doing a masters after graduating 5 years ago, how hard will it be!?

nikkikitch

Hi

I graduated five years ago in Leisure Management and Media. Since graduating, i have worked in marketing and PR and more specifically in retail and fashion. However due to the ruddy credit crunch i have just been made redundant from my fashion PR job so am thinking about using this as an opportunity to study until the economy improves.
The masters i would like to study is Fashion and lifestyle Promotion studies which includes the business side as well as the creative.
How hard will it be for me studying at this level after being out of education for 5 years and also as it isnt related to my original degree?

cheers

Agent_C

I think your work history will put you at an advantage, since you actually have experience in your chosen field. All the skills you learn as an employee, such as timekeeping, discipline, communication etc, will help you. Also, if you are paying for it yourself, you will discover a motivation that you may not have had as an undergraduate!

You may run into problems if you want to continue studying after your Master's, in terms of getting funding. Some schemes seem to favour the young, and there seem to be a lot of people like yourself who are returning to education in the credit crunch, so competition is very fierce. Good luck!

Rikki

There is no funding available (student loans or grants) when studying for your masters.

Just in case you wasn't aware.

Kstudent

Short Answer: Pretty tough.

I am currently doing my masters after having been away from uni for about 4 years, and I can tell you the single largest difficulty i have faced is financing the whole deal.

Since you and I left university the government has implemented "top-up fees" which have boosted the cost of university for students by approx 300% (£3500ish per year), What this means for undergraduates is usually a bigger Student loan debt at the end of 3 years. For post grads however....

As a post graduate student who already has a undergraduate degree you are entitled to no government support whatsoever, this includes student loans and grants, you also have only limited options in terms of student interest free overdrafts (I think barclays will give you a student overdraft). While a few private grants do exist, they are usually reserved for more altruistic studies (nursing, social work) or scientific (physics chemistry etc.).

Which means you'll pay for the whole thing yourself.

As an example In order for me to study for my masters which takes 12 months (your dissertation is completed during the summer months.) I calculated this budget:

3500+ for tuition
4000 for accommodation
3500 for living expenses etc.

if you can work during your studies this can help but speaking from experience the market is pretty terrible for part time work except minimum wage stuff.

There are Further education loans available which are deffered until the end of your studies but which have comparable rates to normal commercial loans. These are offered by Barclays, Lloyds etc. and do not have the same protection as your original student loan.

As you can see you will need significant amounts of money to pay for your masters - you should decide if it would be worth it financially, career wise, spiritually etc. and if not do what i did when faced with redundancy - go travelling for 6 months!!

You will find that most courses will accept you if you have a 2:2 or higher but they will not advertise themselves as conversion courses, (I too am studying a completely new subject) you might find it tough or you might find it easier depending on your work background, or personal interest in the subject. Generally speaking mature students do well due to the work ethic you develop in the real world.

Sorry if any of this sounds grim, but thought i should let you know some of the stuff i discovered on my way back here. If you do decide to comeback just know it is still great, but a very different experience - being almost a decade older than most of the students you will share a campus with is bound to be strange for you.

Anyway all typed out now, hope you found some of it helpful. If you have anymore questions post em here or email me: [EMAIL="kennykebab526@hotmail.com"]kennykebab526@hotmail.com[/EMAIL]

Ken

Rikki

Kstudent. You should not post your e-mail address on a public forum!

Mothermoo_2

Kstudent wrote: »

S

There are Further education loans available which are deffered until the end of your studies but which have comparable rates to normal commercial loans. These are offered by Barclays, Lloyds etc. and do not have the same protection as your original student loan.

[EMAIL="kennykebab526@hotmail.com"][/EMAIL]

Ken

Anyone had one of these loans? If you pay them off in full when you finish your course do you end up paying no interest?

Agent_C

Mothermoo wrote: »

Anyone had one of these loans? If you pay them off in full when you finish your course do you end up paying no interest?

Yes - if you're thinking of career development loans, then this is possible. I didn't need to take one out as I had saved up enough money to do my Master's, but I took one out anyway so I could put it in a fixed-term bond and then pay it back at the end of my course, keeping the interest.

Kstudent is right about the finances. Student discounts help - for example, even us oldies are entitled to purchase the 16-25 railcard, which has saved me more than the cost of the card in a very short space of time. But I was surprised how expensive books can be - the average textbook on our course seems to be around the £30-£40 mark, and the library loan time is very short and because of demand for books, they can often not be renewed. Also, dependent on your course there might be research days, conferences etc that are helpful to attend, which you will have to pay for, plus there might be costs associated with your dissertation that you have to meet.

One group that is entitled to help on such a course is lone parents - in that situation, provided you are not over the savings limit, you can usually claim income support, council tax benefit etc. But for the rest of us it can indeed be tough!

Mothermoo_2

Agent_C wrote: »

Yes - if you're thinking of career development loans, then this is possible. I didn't need to take one out as I had saved up enough money to do my Master's, but I took one out anyway so I could put it in a fixed-term bond and then pay it back at the end of my course, keeping the interest.

One group that is entitled to help on such a course is lone parents - in that situation, provided you are not over the savings limit, you can usually claim income support, council tax benefit etc. But for the rest of us it can indeed be tough!

Hi there, thanks for that, I am looking at doing exactly the same thing. However, my employer has very generously said they will pay the 2 year fees, am I still qualified for it? They won't be claiming it back or anything, they're just being nice!

Not a lone parent (nearly added 'unfortunately' then, obviously don't mean I would rather be single, but was just thinking about the financial side and got carried away)! :rotfl:

Agent_C

Mothermoo wrote: »

Hi there, thanks for that, I am looking at doing exactly the same thing. However, my employer has very generously said they will pay the 2 year fees, am I still qualified for it? They won't be claiming it back or anything, they're just being nice!

That's a nice employer, especially in the credit crunch!

Part of the career development loan is meant to cover a percentage of your fees, and to this end they pay this amount directly to the University. But in my case I'd already paid my fees, as we got a £50 discount for paying up front. However, I was able to reclaim the money back from the University, so there's nothing to say you wouldn't be able to do the same. Only thing is, I can't remember whether the loan application form asked if the money for the fees was coming from elsewhere.

Mothermoo_2

Agent_C wrote: »

That's a nice employer, especially in the credit crunch!

Part of the career development loan is meant to cover a percentage of your fees, and to this end they pay this amount directly to the University. But in my case I'd already paid my fees, as we got a £50 discount for paying up front. However, I was able to reclaim the money back from the University, so there's nothing to say you wouldn't be able to do the same. Only thing is, I can't remember whether the loan application form asked if the money for the fees was coming from elsewhere.

Thanks again for all your help :beer:

cardiffforthefacup

So basically Agent C what you are saying is that as a lone parent I can apply for a masters, maybe get a career development loan to pay for it and then get income support etc, where is this information from, as it is true it makes it possible for me to go on and study (if I can get a loan that is)