Thinking about Studying

Two coworkers start to study at the end of this year. Both of them will do their Bachelor of Science in the next three years. One of them is doing it extra-occupational, which means he will be working 40h a week as he does now and will study in the evenings and weekends.

The other one is going on educational leave and will only be working a few hours a month. Since both are doing work-related studies they are getting paid the study-fees (although they repay with a lesser paycheck, so the company is only preparing the study fee).

That led me to the thought about studying something myself. Because of the debt in the new Apartment, I can’t take any cuts of money. That means I can’t get on educational leave.

Also, I want to do all things digitally, as I could study when I’ve got time and I could take the tests when I’ve got time.

I found a pretty reputable online university in Germany which has a subsidiary in Austria. The “smallest” package they offer is 15 ECTS-Points per term. Which would break down to 450 hours per six months, or 75 hours per month. Although it doesn’t sound much, broken down on 30 days, it is 2,5 hours per day.

With that model, it would take me six years to get my Bachelor. Interestingly they let you upgrade and downgrade your contract any time, which means, if you got time for it, you can study more. And if you’ve got less time, you can study less.

It would cost 199€ per Month and because I want to study something not work-related (Journalism to be specific), the company won’t pay it for me. Obviously.

The other thing is, I don’t even know if I’m allowed to study that branch, because I don’t have a Matriculation examination (or Abitur as they call it in Germany). Maybe I should just order the information material and ask them directly.

I’ll keep it as a thought for now.