Have you ever thought you’d get a degree, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day to study and attend classes? If so, you’re like many working adults who feel that pursuit of a college diploma while working full-time or raising a family, or both, is impossible. But in the digital age, many people earn four-year degrees while raising kids and attending to careers at the same time.
How do they pull off the seemingly miraculous feat? Every situation is unique, but there are a handful of strategies for adding education to your daily routine. Step one is to do a full review of your daily, weekly, and monthly schedules to get an accurate idea of how many free hours you have. After that, deal with questions of financing, the type of program you want to apply for, and day-to-day scheduling. Here are a few essential details about making the whole thing work for you, no matter how busy your life is right now.
Do a Lifestyle Check
Do you know how many free hours you have per week? Do a complete lifestyle check by examining an entire typical month of your life. Make a note of the amount of free time you have on an average day. This step is an indispensable part of preparing yourself and your life for college. As a general rule, if you have more than ten hours of free time per week, you can handle a university curriculum. That’s because there are self-paced, online, and other options for working adults. When analyzing your schedule, try to minimize clutter by eliminating wasted time. You’ll need every spare hour for study, breaks, attending lectures, and other academic responsibilities.
Make a Class & Study Schedule
For many full or part-time students, planning is the key to success. Before classes begin, develop a detailed study and class schedule. It’s the best way to juggle the various responsibilities you’ll face as a degree candidate. Plus, an hour-by-hour daily spreadsheet means you can plan for time off, examinations, special family events, and more. This is also a great way to keep your mind sharp while studying because you will already be in the practice of having to hold yourself accountable to something.
Arrange for Financing
Figure out how you’re going to finance an education long before classes begin. That way, worries about paying for tuition and other expenses won’t interfere with your concentration and coursework. By dealing with the money question upfront, prospective students can move on to other vital elements of the process, like choosing a school, filling out applications, and enrolling. Fortunately, applying for loans from private lenders is a fast and straightforward affair, all of which can be done online. Borrowing from a private lender gives you the flexibility to set up customized repayment schedules and get competitive interest rates.
Search for Self-Paced, Online Degrees
If you’re short on spare hours, search for degree programs that are both online and self-paced. That magic combination offers the most flexible attendance schedule by pairing the efficiency of online study with the adaptability of self-paced studying. Fortunately, many online courses are set up so you can view recorded lectures and take up to a year or more to complete a three-credit class.