If you’re a busy parent, you may think that carrying on with your education is completely impossible. You have to work, pick the kids up from school, go to the store, sort the bills… well, you sort pretty much everything. But making some time for yourself and the furthering of your education may not be as hard as you think, so don’t write it off just yet! Follow these simple tips, and you’ll be able to incorporate some further studies into your schedule. Books at the ready!

Go part-time if full-time is too much

Doing part-time studying rather than full-time is an option if you have a job and family commitments that won’t enable you to give your all to your degree. Whilst working alongside studying can be a good idea, as you can bring in some extra cash for your college expenses, if you’ve been saving up some money to study then working less hours, or none at all, would allow you to solely focus on college, especially whilst the kids are at school. Don’t worry what your situation is, though, because people from all financial backgrounds go to college, and they all make it work in their own ways. If you have the motivation, you’ll fit it around your life just fine. You can visit sites like https://www.calc.edu/programs/ to see available classes.

Study online, and ditch the commute

The most time consuming part of college can be waking up, getting dressed, making sure you’ve eaten well so that you can concentrate, and then driving all the way to your lecture theater. When you get there, you realise that you actually have no idea where Room S-1.45 is, and you have to take on a labyrinth of corridors to find it. Save yourself the time (and gas money) by doing your college degree online, so that you can do it pretty much anywhere that you have an internet connection. Using an internet broadband connection, you can easily access your lesson. If you want to progress in your career, you can do something online like MSc Management distance learning, although there are a variety of courses out there depending on what you’re looking for.

Don’t worry

A lot of mature students worry that they simply won’t fit in with the student crowd, and that they’re ‘too old’ to get their degree. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as you have also experienced aspects of life that a 20-something year old student simply won’t have a clue about. This will put you in a good position to ace your degree, as you’ve worked hard to make it happen, and you’re more likely to enjoy it. This is also true if you’re just going to college for fun (and because you never did it) because you’ve waited so long, and now it’s your time to make the most out of it. Whatever your worries are, relax! You’ll have a great time.

So, there are many ways to fit studying around being a busy parent, and it doesn’t have to be as daunting as you think. Enjoy it, and make it fit around your life. It is possible!