external uni??

hi all

i would really like to studying Social work or psychology, but live in a country area and am a SAHM who doesn't feel comfortable with childcare yet. UniSA does have a little campus at our TAFE and i could study Social Work there part-time but that would still mean Archie would have to go into care sometimes, i guess i would cope if i had to though.

I just dont know where to start. How do i find out who offers exteral courses?
When and where do i do a STAT test?
How much money do i have to fork out?

I have emailed a lady from the local uni for social work and hopefully she will be able to point me in the right direction. It all just seems so daunting i dont know where to start!

Elissa - I think your best bet would be to contact the uni for details on what they offer externally. Most uni's offer external units, though you may have to have some contact time and placements for social work, but you can always put those ones off until Archie is a bit older to go into care.

If you look up "Going to Uni" on google, you will find the government website with info on going to uni, courses on offer and fee assistance. You may be able to do a distance learning course, or at least make a start and then later on transer to the uni when you are ready to put Archie into care. There are heaps of options for study, so look into all of them! Good luck

thanks heaps Jo, you have helped a lot.

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.

Hi Widdly,
Just wanted to say that I studied most of my time externally and found it fantastic because it totally suits my learning style. (I get practically nothing out of lectures but have to read it take things in). I went through UQ but not sure how much they have externally. Good luck with it! I am sure you will find it valuable.
If in doubt - use google!

Shannon- that's great to hear about CQU, I have just applied to do a Bachelor of Nursing externally with them!

I did an Arts degree externally through UNE in Armidale and found them fantastic. I love studying externally it is so much easier than internally when you have a family.

This may be of some help for you, if you check out Open University - you can find it in google, you can undertake your degree there, at your own pace and at home. You may find you are doing 2 subjects from UniSA and a few from Monash or Maq etc. It is definately worth checking out. I had tried to do it this way but since I seriously lack motivation I needed to be in a classroom environment and am currently enrolled full time at a university in melbourne. Best of luck and remember there are many options out there :)