Afr0Blu3 said:
I'll level with you, I went to university and since graduating I've felt a real disappointment. I feel like I didn't go get what I wanted from my course, and I feel that, as a result, I didn't put everything I could have into said course.
Ultimately, after two years out in the "real world" I kind of want to go back and study a similar thing at a different university and really give it my all this time. Problem is, I now have a fiance and a kid to worry about as well, and I don't know if I've screwed myself over student loan wise (I'm in the UK)
Does anyone know what my options would be?
Sounds familiar; I was in a very similar situation myself. Went into uni at age 18, no real concept of what the workload would be like or even much knowledge of the course, let alone the foggiest clue about work prospects afterward. Limped through uni, scraped a pass, and drifted for a few years. I eventually found a sector I loved working in and decided that to make the most of it I'd need a relevant degree, so I went back to university as a mature student.
The situation with the student loan is (at least this was the case back in 2008 when I reapplied) that if you had a student loan once, you *can* apply for a second one but you'll only get funded for (X-Y)+1 years, where X is the duration of your new degree and Y is the duration of your previous degree. If you're doing a 3-year Bachelor's both times, then you'll only be able to get one years' loan second time round. Also, the student loan applies from the end of the degree working back, so you may well have to finance the initial one or two years' study yourself (I damn near had a heart attack when I found this out; two weeks into the first semester). It took a combination of hand-outs from my family plus maxing out two different bank accounts to scrape through that, and even then I had to get by on one meal a day for several months.
Money aside, I'd say that if you feel it's right for you, then bloody well go for it. Mature students are an increasingly common sight in most campuses, and actually make up the majority in some disciplines. And if you can juggle family life around a nine-to-five job, then a few lectures a day isn't going to be any harder. If your degree is coursework or project-based, though, become the most eager and forward-planning chucklef*ck in history or you'll want to slit your wrists on the evening before hand-in.
But, maybe consider whether you need to go the whole hog and couldn't pick up the skills you want in other ways. 3D modelling, for example, doesn't require full-time study: teach yourself or do a distance-learning course in your evenings, for example.
At any rate mate, a lot of graduates are in the same boat as you: feeling cruelly deceived and their skills undervalued or overspecialised. Don't let that stop you from applying t ojobs you want anyway - I think the rule of thumb is that you only need to satisfy about 80% of their person specification, you've still got a fighting chance of getting hired (and learning on the job) if they like you.
