I'm a fulltime working mum of two and I am studying full time, two degrees, Social work and Law, both external obviously.lol

I use HELP(The new term for HECS) which means you only pay once you hit the threshold and its taken out of your wage with your tax. I'm not sure of the exact sum they take out of my wage each fortnight. And as for text books, you don't have to buy them if you cannot afford too. You can use the uni library and just borrow and they post out to you if you are external. Most unis have a student loan facility too where as long as you can afford to repay the loan (usually of about $500) you can purchase the text books with it. But please be aware Law text books are bloody expensive at around $150 each and for this semester I needed 6 text books, so very expensive and sometimes you really don't need to purchase them all.

The biggest challenge with studying the balance of finding the time. My kids are 4 and 5 and I study when they are in bed at night, team that with working fulltime makes for one exhausted Mum!LOL But I love studying, love the challenge and especially love it when I do well. It really makes getting a distinction all that more satisfying when you know what obstacles you've had to dodge to get the assessment completed let alone pass!lol

And another piece of advice, don't let others negativity about you studying affect you. I cannot tell you the number of times I have heard such rude comments about how my kids must suffer, never see me, I must not like spending time with them...blah blah blah. Go for it I say!!! And goodluck!