Should you go back to school?

Carolyn Meredith, 39
When Carolyn and her husband separated in 2002, she needed an income and wanted a job that would allow her to be on the same schedule as her kids. "I used to teach swimming lessons, and I loved going to all the mom-and-tot activities and volunteering at my kids' nursery and elementary schools, so I knew teaching would be a good choice," says Carolyn. So at age 34, she was accepted into the year-and-a-half master of elementary education program at Niagara University in New York. (Carolyn applied stateside because she was missing a math credit needed for teacher's college in Ontario.) Her kids were two, four and seven when she headed back to the classroom.

After graduating, Carolyn landed a position at Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School in Georgetown, Ont., where she has been for the past three years. While there's always "a ton of work to bring home," Carolyn is quick to add that she "loves the job."

How she made it happen
Tuition costs, alone, were $28,000 Cdn, and the Ontario student loan program covered only $9,000. Fortunately, Carolyn's father cosigned for a line of credit, and he also helped pay for her living expenses while she was in school. Carolyn's retired mother pitched in, too, looking after her kids.

Biggest challenge 
Carolyn had a household to run and three young kids to look after. "It took the first two to three months to learn to balance being with my kids and absorbing all of this new learning," she says. Her own studying commenced only after the kids went to bed at 8 or 9 p.m. Carolyn often ended up crashing on the couch at 3 or 4 a.m. for a few precious hours of sleep.

A+ moment
School was exciting because it was truly the start of a new life for Carolyn. For the first time since having her children, she had the opportunity to remember who she was as an individual. "I was in a class of about 36 people and we all took the same courses. The whole group of us would go for lunch, and it took months to get used to the fact I could just sit there and be with adults."

Lesson learned
Carolyn notes that for several years there was a teacher shortage in Ontario, but by the time she graduated, far fewer jobs were available and some graduates didn't land positions. "If you're deciding to go back to school, really research what the job market is like in your chosen field," advises Carolyn. "Make sure you don't invest all that time and money and then end up not being able to work in the field you chose."

Virtual school
Can't find the time to get to a campus? Study for a degree, diploma or certificate with distance learning. Here are a few options to look into.

• Athabasca University, which is funded by the province of Alberta, offers more than 700 individual courses.

• Canadian Virtual University, a partnership of universities, offers 2,500 courses, covering a variety of fields, including arts, science, business and administrative studies, commerce and more. You can take a bachelor of arts in women’s studies through Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont., a master of counselling through Athabasca University, or a human resource management certificate through the University of Manitoba. Some courses are entirely web-based, while others may mail study packages or feature teleconferencing, computer conferencing, audiotapes and other technologies.


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