Finance your studies, student loans

Finance your studies, student loans: "Most career change involves an element of retraining and, in some cases, taking on a major commitment such as a first or postgraduate degree. Whatever stage of your life you are at, funding extra study can be expensive and this is particularly the case if you are a mature student with responsibilities such as a family and mortgage.

How can you ensure that further training is cost effective? The first thing to do is to research your intended pathway with great care. You don't want to get into debt and then find the qualification you've worked hard for is worthless. I've made this point elsewhere, but it's so important it's worth repeating.

Contact employers, professional associations and your local careers guidance service to make sure the course you are doing is recognised and relevant to what you want to do.

Once you've established that you're on the right track, work out approximately how much the course is likely to cost. You probably won't be able to come up with an exact figure, as the cost of living will change and you may take longer than anticipated to complete parts of the course, or decide to study additional modules as you go."