So here you are — you’ve finished your degree only to find yourself craving more sweet knowledge.

It’s a good thing! A masters qualification can provide opportunities for all kinds of eye-opening, real world research projects, and can set you apart from the crowd when you’re job-hunting. Also, they’re just dang interesting.

Most masters courses will run for around two years, but depending on what you study, there are intensive or casual study options. At any rate, while anyone can do it, there are some important things to consider before taking the next step.

#1 Estimate Those Fees  

Your university website will have a section where you can calculate the HECS/HELP costs for a course, usually via whichever learning portal you use. In the event you can’t find the info there, it’s easily obtainable via a phone call to student services, or an email to the academic teaching staff.

If you find yourself staring at a big sum and sweating a little bit, give the academic chair a call and arrange a meeting to discuss alternative options, wherever they may be applicable. If your course involves a research project interstate or overseas, you may qualify for grants or assistance funds covering those costs.

#2 Prepare For Your Life Ahead 

A big thing that can be hard to figure out is if you’ll close yourself off to potential jobs when you head back to university.

Figuring out this dilemma is really only answerable on a case by case basis, but a good thing to do is check out the job market country-wide in the time leading up to your offer, and keep checking those channels up until you start studying. You will usually have a window to change your mind — do your best to make it count.

#3 Dust Off The Cobwebs

Are you going straight back to a masters course after graduating? If yes, you’re probably good to go. If you’ve had a break, but been working in a field related to your degree, there’s a good chance you’ll be ready to tackle your studies with all kinds of real-world insight. If you haven’t been that lucky, you’ll probably need a quick test of the ol’ noggin’.

Do some preliminary research on the course rubric and note anywhere you might need to work on. In most cases, it will just be an issue of getting back into daily reading, and for anything more intense, there’s a world of talented and affordable tutors out there.

#4 Sort Out Your Travel Plans

If you’ve got some voyages locked in for the future, the first thing to do is cross check your itinerary against your study schedule, to avoid nightmares. Have you got plans for a big trip, but haven’t really got moving yet? If you can prepare as best as possible to stay on top of everything, there’ll be plenty windows to do some globetrotting.

Here, you might need to make some tough decisions — if there’s a practical unit up for grabs which only runs that year, you might need to consider putting off sunny South America for six months down the track.

#5 Figure Out Casual Work

Maybe the biggest financial hurdle is figuring out casual work. It goes without saying you’ll need to be taking a step down from the workplace to manage study load, and it’d be good idea to look into Austudy and scholarship programs — it’s what they’re there for.

If you’re not able to stop working, talk to the academic chair about part-time study options. At the end of the day, surviving needs to take first priority.