Elissa,

I too had the same concerns as you when I started looking into going to uni next year. My situation is a little different in that I am also returning to work next year and will have to study part-time whether on campus or externally.

I too initially wanted to do Social Work, and visited all the unis' open days to discuss their relevant courses. In this way, I found out that while Social Work was not available externally, Community Work was, and is an alternative pathway to Social Work. Then, armed with this info, I booked my STAT test through TISC and sat it, and when my results came back better than I expected, I actually seriously started to explore other options as well. Charlie is only young still and with me returning to work I ideally wanted to study externally, but with my results, I could aapply for a whole lot more courses than I anticipated, so when I gravitated towards psychology, I was dismayed to find it available in campus only. But before dismissing it offhand, I called the uni and spoke to the course coordinator, who told me that 5 units in the first year were available externally. So even though the course is not techinically external, I will be able to do at least 3 semesters externally. After which, Charlie will be older, I would have been back at work for 18 months and I could then look at study leave.

I guess the point of my ramblings is that you find the course you want to do first, and then work around it. Speak to the course coordinators and student services. A lot can happen in a year, and even more course may become available externally. Do your homework. You may be surprised at how flexible it turns out to be.