Until recently, if you’d been bitten by the travel bug and the learning bug, you had two realistic options—you could either take a gap year before going to university or drive straight from your graduation ceremony to the nearest airport.
Now, thanks to advent of online degrees, you don’t have to choose.
Instead of turning up day-in, day-out to the same lecture theatres and seminar rooms, online degrees allow students to learn whenever and wherever they want.
It doesn’t matter whether you find yourself on the Copacabana reading about financial markets or writing an essay about eco-tourism amidst the lakes of Killarney—so long as you’ve got a laptop and an internet connection, you’re good to go.
The main benefit of this approach to education, aside from its flexibility and convenience, is obvious. Instead of learning about different countries, cultures, and concepts by picking up a textbook, you can buy a train or plane ticket and study them up close and personal.
In other words, you can have your cake and eat it.
But before you take a bite, don’t forget to prepare and prepare in detail.
Choose the right degree and university
When deciding to enrol as a student in higher education, you have two important decisions to make.
First, you have to decide what you want to study. And second, you have to decide where you want to study.
This applies as much for online degrees as it does full-time degrees. Remember, even though you’ll be gallivanting around the globe, you’re still going to want to be engaged by the subject matter at hand, and you’re still going to need a point of contact at your university.
That makes it especially crucial that you ascertain the policies of your chosen establishment when it comes to learning on the go.
Make a budget (and stick to it)
You’ll most likely qualify for a student loan, so that will cover your tuition fees, but you’re still going to have to self-fund your travels.
You have two possibilities on this front.
The first is to save up before you go and use your savings to cover your flights, accommodation and everything else.
For most people, this won’t be feasible, so option two is to find a job or series of jobs while you’re travelling, or freelance work that allows you to work from anywhere.
This will involve quite a lot of homework, and if you’re travelling on a visa, you’ll have to make sure that it permits you to work.
The key with all this is to have a realistic plan and stick to it. That way you’ll be less likely to find yourself down to the last few Pesos or Rupees in your back pocket.
Do you have any top tips on how to study while travelling? Then let us know in the comments below.
