Studying for MA when already in debt?

joebloggs69

Hi all,

I'd appreciate some sensible people's advice because I can't decide if this is a stroke of genius or a hair brained scheme:

I got my degree way back in 2007, and then went full time in the job I had been doing part time while at uni. Now it's 2016 and I'm still in that job...and I HATE IT!

Long story short - I'd really like to go back to uni and get a Masters (possibly a Phd but I'll cross that bridge later), with a view to possibly being a lecturer in that subject. Instead of looking at it as one more wasted year, I'm looking at it as investing in my already 'sunk cost' of my three year degree, and I think I'm simply not going to be happy until I'm working in that field.

Anyway, I am slowly paying off about £5,000 of credit card debt - it's hard to explain where this has come from, it's been things like paying to fix the car etc. It's all on 0% and I get regular further offers of 0%

I have no savings as my rent in London has been swallowing up practically all of my income. So I'd be looking at trying to get funding or a new Postgrad loan. The plan is to move away, preferably somewhere cheaper (I have my eye on a course in Glasgow) to student accommodation - I'm currently single and think I might as well do it while I can.

My question is - do you think I should just go for it and work out how to pay off the debt later? Or am I about to hamstring myself for life?

lauretta

Well I don't know if I am sensible :-0 but I would ALWAYS say: do something you love. Don't stay in a job you hate. It will only get worse and perhaps make you ill; and definitely make you regretful and bitter!

Can't help with the debt side I'm afraid...just know you would be much happier with yourself, following your star.

Hermia

If there is a good chance it will lead to the career you want I would go for it. Are you intending to do it full-time or part-time? When I did mine most MA students in the uni were part-time and working 3 or 4 days a week alongside studying. Obviously this meant the course was two years instead of one, but I noticed those students found jobs more easily than those who had not worked for a year. If you did that could you go on chipping away at the debt?

agrinnall

What subject is it? Some you will need a PhD (or at least be well on the way to getting one) to be a lecturer, but in others a Masters or even a good first degree will suffice.

There's almost no funding for Masters degrees so you probably will need to apply for one of the new loans, I don't know whether they will have an affordability check that will take your existing debt into account. You should also check whether as a (current) resident of England you will be able to apply for a loan to study in Scotland.

joebloggs69

Thanks guys,

It's film studies/screenwriting. Not the most bankable of subjects I admit, but it's what I love. Which is why I'm thinking of lecturing (obviously being a successful screenwriter would be ideal, but I'm trying to be realistic).

I think I will apply for a place and then apply for as many scholarships/grants etc I can and see what happens.

So far I've read you need to be an English resident for the loan - I'm not sure if that means "normally" and English resident, or you have to study in England. My Dad is Scottish so that may enable me to apply for some kind of funding in Scotland. There are other courses in England, just that I prefer the Glasgow one.

I am unsure yet as to whether it will be full or part time. I am currently single and have no kids etc., I have about 15 years worth of work experience, so I'm tempted to do it full time. Would b nice to focus on it completely.

I'm hoping that a grant or a loan will be able to cover fees and or rent, and any extra will come from part time work. It will be a shoestring budget but I should at least be able to pay minimum repayments.

I'm now feeling less confident, feel free to shoot holes in my plan, that's what I'm looking for!

In all honestly I feel I'm on the verge of either having a breakdown if I stay in my job (that doesn't sound cheap) or getting a much lower paid job just to get out of it, which I can't really afford to do. So in a way I am tempted to just do it anyway.

tomtontom

Have you looked at how many lecturer positions come up for this subject?

I'm all for studying what you love, but if you're doing it to get something out of it at the end you need to be sure that something is realistic.

pathtofreedom

Have you researched how much you could earn being a lecturer in this subject, or if you could even do that full time? With the changes in uni's and more online based training / mooc's more lecturers are being moved to yearly contracts and not even full time hours. It might not be worth the investment for an MA to add to your student debt. if you'll not even get a full time job on an above average salary at the end.

If you're good at writing / english, could you not look into jobs you could transfer your skills to? Then see if there are other courses, doesn't have to be a degree, that you could retrain in? Or even an apprenticeship maybe?

http://notgoingtouni.co.uk/ might help give you some ideas. That or look at some courses on edx or coursera yourself to try and expand your skill set for free, you don't have to pay for the certificate, but you can still put them on your linkedin to show you're able to work and learn at the same time.

Could you do something like technical writing? It might be boring, but writing training courses, manuals etc might earn you more money possibly.

lauretta

I think you sound miserable in your job, and you know what you really want to do.

Go do that course!

Nobody on here has a crystal ball, it's no good saying "if I plod away at x or sacrifice y then I will get a high paying job and my life will be perfect"

Don't get hung up on the debt, you only have to repay it IF you become a high earner. And earning lots of money won't necessarily make you happy! It might make you overworked, stressed and sad: then that's your life gone.

If you do the course you will be with like-minded people. If you pick a good course, they will set up work experience for you. Network throughout your course, show your love of the work on the course that you do, and the job opportunities will come. Plus, you will be happy! The most important thing of all.

KeepOnKnitting

Interesting question. I think I would be tempted to find a flexible job up in Glasgow and move with a view to doing the course part time. Then if you do get on the course you are already set up. If you don't, you could throw some time into writing scripts and trying to make that a future. Either way, I really don't think you should settle for the current hated job. Good luck.

p00hsticks

joebloggs69 wrote: »

It's film studies/screenwriting. Not the most bankable of subjects I admit, but it's what I love. Which is why I'm thinking of lecturing (obviously being a successful screenwriter would be ideal, but I'm trying to be realistic).

The saying "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach" springs to mind.

It's not an area I know anything about, but are there really lectureship positions out there on screenwriting for those with no proven record ? Why were you not able to get a position in the field after you completed your first degree ?

I agree with others that if you hate your current job and there is something you love doing you should go for it, but at the same time you need to be realistic.

Callie22

For film studies and screenwriting, the majority of lecturers come from professional backgrounds - so they've been 'doing' screenwriting etc for many years and then they go into lecturing later on. It really wouldn't be that easy to go into lecturing straight from an MA/PhD as most of the unis and film schools would be looking for guest lecturers with a proven track-record in the industry. I'm speaking here as someone with a partner in the film industry - admittedly not screenwriting but a creative area - and it's not an industry like accounting or medicine. You can't just get the 'right' qualifications and when walk into the job you want, it just doesn't work like that. If screenwriting is something you really want to do then you just need to start doing it - by all means do some of the short courses that are available just to learn the tricks of the trade but get online, look at the forums and professional contacts sites and just give it a go. Most of the people we know who work in film do so by having another job too, and fitting in their film career in the evenings and at weekends. Some are lucky and film becomes their full-time career, some aren't and it remains a hobby.

As an aside, I work in Science and I recently went to lecture given by a leading academic about PhD training. He said that when they start on their PhD courses, most of his students want to be career academics and lecturers - he then went on to say that less than 4% actually go on to have a career in academia, and that's in a relatively well-funded area. Before you invest in further study it's really, really worth looking at whether it's actually going to be the way to get to where you want to be, or whether professional experience is the way to go.