Feeling Stuck While Life Keeps Moving? Here's How Study Can Help With a Career Change
Ready for a career change but not sure where to start? Here’s how to make study work around your job, family and everything in between.
In partnership with 
Thinking about changing careers but not sure how you'd make it work in real life?
Whether you've been in the workforce for years, realised your current career isn't for you, or simply want to explore something completely different, considering university later in life can feel like a big leap. Often, not knowing where to start can put you off from making any decision at all.
The good news is that studying doesn't have to mean starting your entire life from scratch. With a flexible approach (and a realistic idea of what you can actually take on), it can be possible to work towards a new career while keeping your job, relationships and other commitments ticking along. Here's how.
First, Forget The Idea That It's Too Late
One of the biggest things that can stop people from returning to university is the belief that their high-school results have already determined what they're capable of studying. That's not necessarily the case. Whether you're returning to education after a few years or for the first time, there are pathways into further study that don't require you to follow the same route you would have taken straight out of school.
Open Universities Australia is a free resource that's dedicated to helping students find the best course for their circumstances, including study options with no entry requirements. They bring thousands of online degrees, single subjects and short courses from leading Australian universities together in one place, and their student advisors work with people from all age groups and backgrounds to help them figure out what they want to study and how to fit it into their lives.
"It's never too late to start," says Open Universities Australia student advisor, Alyssa Salvador.
Add Study Into Your Life, Not The Other Way Around
The trick to balancing work and study is being honest about your existing commitments. If you work a 9 to 5, have a family, regularly care for someone or already have a calendar that looks like it's been filled in by three different people, pretending you'll suddenly find 20 spare hours a week probably isn't the best place to start.
Instead, think about what you can realistically give to study. For many students, that might mean starting part-time and setting aside a couple of hours each week. With online study, lectures and tutorials can be recorded and accessed when it suits you, rather than requiring you to completely reorganise your working week around a timetable. This gives you the flexibility to balance work, life and all of the other responsibilities.
Alyssa says that your goals are "100% achievable". "Open Universities Australia can go through the ins and outs of a study plan that works with your lifestyle."
Start Smaller Than You Think
If you haven't studied for years, there's no need to launch yourself straight into a huge course load. One option through Open Universities Australia is to start small with a single subject that leads towards a degree further down the track. It gives you a chance to see what studying alongside work actually feels like before committing to more.
"Start off with a single subject, test the waters and see how it fits in your schedule. Also, reach out for support." Starting slow and steady can help you get your confidence back. You'll have a chance to reacquaint yourself with assignments, deadlines and the general rhythm of being a student without immediately overwhelming your schedule.
Don't Wait For The "Perfect" Time
There's a temptation to think you'll go back to university when everything else in your life is perfectly organised. But for most people, that perfect window probably isn't going to magically appear. Instead, the more realistic approach is to work out what's possible now, even if that means starting small.
Ultimately, heading to university later in life isn't about putting your existing life on hold until you qualify for a new one. It's about finding a way to make space for what you want to do next. Because if you've been telling yourself that you're too busy, too old or too far into your career to start again, there's probably a better question to ask: what could studying look like if you built it around the life you already have?
Your headstart into 2027 study starts with Open Universities Australia at open.edu.au
