Quiting my job to go to college full time.

Grahamb23

Hi all,

I have decided to bite the bullet and make a major change in my life. I have decided at the ripe age of 33 that I am going to quit my job and do a full time law degree. The job I am in at the moment is a safe job and would be for life if I chose to plod along and just go with the flow. Unfortunately if I want to move on with my life in any direction this job would simply not allow me to afford it. So it really is a matter of my just having to take the plunge and re-educate. I did my leaving cert in 1998 and have been working full time ever since. I missed out on going to college back then due to my family moving and the small issue of failing Irish in my leaving cert!
Has anyone any advise or experience on grants, CAO applications and general advise on the best way to go about it.

Thanks

bizzyb

Grahamb23 wrote: »

Hi all,

I have decided to bite the bullet and make a major change in my life. I have decided at the ripe age of 33 that I am going to quit my job and do a full time law degree. The job I am in at the moment is a safe job and would be for life if I chose to plod along and just go with the flow. Unfortunately if I want to move on with my life in any direction this job would simply not allow me to afford it. So it really is a matter of my just having to take the plunge and re-educate. I did my leaving cert in 1998 and have been working full time ever since. I missed out on going to college back then due to my family moving and the small issue of failing Irish in my leaving cert!
Has anyone any advise or experience on grants, CAO applications and general advise on the best way to go about it.

Thanks

To qualify for the BTEA you need to be unemployed for approximately 9 months i think not sure of the exact number so you would need to decide by Christmas if your leaving your job to qualify for September 2015. I don't know how you would qualify for social welfare by walking away from a job,get them to fire you! Hope it all works out for you.

MagicMarker

Are you dead set on the law degree? I'm under the impression that it's one of those degrees that aren't a whole lot of use on their own, and further study would be required, like arts or psychology.

I've know a few people with law degrees and all seemed to be in career limbo.

Rorster_123

why not keep the job and study at night? Best of both worlds.

KeithTS

I did this a couple of years ago and haven't looked back, if you're smart about it and put the work in it'll be very rewarding.

I would suggest a couple of things. Whatever you think it's going to cost, double or even treble that. It's an expensive thing once you take fees, books/supplies, rent, food and fuel etc. into account. It's 4 years long so if you're up for slumming it for a little while then by all means, it's worth it in the end.

As said above, look into BTEA. I'm not sure where you stand when quitting your job in order to sign up for it. It was 9 months, I think 284 days, you had to be signed on for in order to be elligible for it when I went for it. It's actually counted as 6 days a week rather than 7, could be even 5 now so watch out for things like that coz they could turn around last minute and refuse it based on something silly like that.

Meet a jobs facilitator for your area and they can advise you on these things. It was actually suggested by one to me that I leave my job 10 months prior to the start date so I could apply for BTEA. If you're doing this, try and get the employer to say you were let go rather than quitting or whatever if you can.

As far as fees go, I'm assuming you're entitled to free fees, there's still a student contribution attached to the courses which is in and around 2500 this year but climbing to 2750 and 3000 for next year and the year after so that adds up. If you're on BTEA you're generally exempt from this. You have to pay it but are then refunded by SUSI afaik. On BTEA you're not entitled to any other form of maintanance grant however. If you're not on BTEA you may be elligible for a grant to cover the student fee and a small amount of maintance.

I suggest making a lot of phone calls to learn about the financials, what you may or may not be entitled to, what hidden costs you aren't expecting and how best to apply for things.

Final piece of advice is to be very sure of the course you want to do, if you're not enthusiastic or interested in the field you won't stick it for 4 years. Also make sure there is some chance of employment after it and that that is the area you want to work in. Don't be afraid to meet lecturers or course chairs, visit the campus and ask around about the courses you're interested in. Oh, and dont hedge your bets on a single college or course as you may not get offered the one you want.

Best of luck with it

Managespaces

I thing keep the job and study at night.
It is the best option..

KeithTS

Managespaces wrote: »

I thing keep the job and study at night.
It is the best option..

Why do you say so?

It's massively expensive however as you get no free fees for part time courses and no help from state regarding grants etc.

I could be wrong there or it may have changed since but that's the reason I chose full-time over part-time. Again OP, these are the things you need to make calls about because as good as my or other posters intentions are, we could be wrong.

MagicMarker

KeithTS wrote: »

Why do you say so?

It's massively expensive however as you get no free fees for part time courses and no help from state regarding grants etc.

I could be wrong there or it may have changed since but that's the reason I chose full-time over part-time. Again OP, these are the things you need to make calls about because as good as my or other posters intentions are, we could be wrong.

You don't need a grant if you're still working, and there's no such thing as free fees. You have to pay something, I'm starting part time in DIT this Sept and first year is costing 2700, a similar course in Trinity is around 3700. I wouldn't call that massively expensive tbh, especially if you have a full time wage.

Cravez

You can also claim a portion back (20% IIRC) on your fee's for part-time degree courses.

Cravez

Also the situation regarding fee's/grants changes every year. Next year the contribution charge could rise again and less money from grants. They could scrap free tuition fees and introduce a new system etc.

If you have yourself set on doing a degree full-time, id try secure a part-time job first before you do so. You won't survive on grant money alone.

Part time study is less volatile if you can pay the fees yourself. Generally part-time fees are much lower than the full-time equivalent (if you did have to pay it), you can claim 20% of it back and you also have the security of your job (which can also in itself be work experience on your CV). Most third level institutes will allow you to pay off the fee's via a direct debit plan over the academic year.

smileyj1987

Grahamb23 wrote: »

Hi all,

I have decided to bite the bullet and make a major change in my life. I have decided at the ripe age of 33 that I am going to quit my job and do a full time law degree. The job I am in at the moment is a safe job and would be for life if I chose to plod along and just go with the flow. Unfortunately if I want to move on with my life in any direction this job would simply not allow me to afford it. So it really is a matter of my just having to take the plunge and re-educate. I did my leaving cert in 1998 and have been working full time ever since. I missed out on going to college back then due to my family moving and the small issue of failing Irish in my leaving cert!
Has anyone any advise or experience on grants, CAO applications and general advise on the best way to go about it.

Thanks

If you got a college course this year you could put it to your boss that you could leave through redundancy and you would be entitled to go straight back on to BTEA . If you are made unemployed by redundancy you could go straight to college .

Rorster_123

smileyj1987 wrote: »

If you got a college course this year you could put it to your boss that you could leave through redundancy and you would be entitled to go straight back on to BTEA . If you are made unemployed by redundancy you could go straight to college .

So you expect his boss to pay redundancy in addition to lying to DSP and committing fraud??

bizzyb

smileyj1987 wrote: »

If you got a college course this year you could put it to your boss that you could leave through redundancy and you would be entitled to go straight back on to BTEA . If you are made unemployed by redundancy you could go straight to college .

If you decide to walk from a job there's not a boss in the country going to give you redundancy.

Grahamb23

KeithTS wrote: »

I did this a couple of years ago and haven't looked back, if you're smart about it and put the work in it'll be very rewarding.

I would suggest a couple of things. Whatever you think it's going to cost, double or even treble that. It's an expensive thing once you take fees, books/supplies, rent, food and fuel etc. into account. It's 4 years long so if you're up for slumming it for a little while then by all means, it's worth it in the end.

As said above, look into BTEA. I'm not sure where you stand when quitting your job in order to sign up for it. It was 9 months, I think 284 days, you had to be signed on for in order to be elligible for it when I went for it. It's actually counted as 6 days a week rather than 7, could be even 5 now so watch out for things like that coz they could turn around last minute and refuse it based on something silly like that.

Meet a jobs facilitator for your area and they can advise you on these things. It was actually suggested by one to me that I leave my job 10 months prior to the start date so I could apply for BTEA. If you're doing this, try and get the employer to say you were let go rather than quitting or whatever if you can.

As far as fees go, I'm assuming you're entitled to free fees, there's still a student contribution attached to the courses which is in and around 2500 this year but climbing to 2750 and 3000 for next year and the year after so that adds up. If you're on BTEA you're generally exempt from this. You have to pay it but are then refunded by SUSI afaik. On BTEA you're not entitled to any other form of maintanance grant however. If you're not on BTEA you may be elligible for a grant to cover the student fee and a small amount of maintance.

I suggest making a lot of phone calls to learn about the financials, what you may or may not be entitled to, what hidden costs you aren't expecting and how best to apply for things.

Final piece of advice is to be very sure of the course you want to do, if you're not enthusiastic or interested in the field you won't stick it for 4 years. Also make sure there is some chance of employment after it and that that is the area you want to work in. Don't be afraid to meet lecturers or course chairs, visit the campus and ask around about the courses you're interested in. Oh, and dont hedge your bets on a single college or course as you may not get offered the one you want.

Best of luck with it

Hi Keith,

Thanks for all the info and I will take your advise and do as suggested.

Great help,

Graham

KeithTS

Grahamb23 wrote: »

Hi Keith,

Thanks for all the info and I will take your advise and do as suggested.

Great help,

Graham

I hope it works out for you, best of luck!

petronius

I think colleges are more understanding of the pressures on Mature students nowadays.
I did a one year course which myself which was hard and difficult and while i was still working I had to limit the amount of work I took on which put me under financial strain.
I think if you can and 33 is still young - going full time can be best for you if you can.
I will point out there are a number of part-time law degrees (LLB's or whatever) and it is feasible to do some of your degree full-time and some part time?