Five Things to Consider Before Returning to School When Unemployed

If you have recently lost your job, you are likely going to consider all of your options when it comes to changing your situation. Whether you choose to update your resume, enter a new industry, or return to school, there are certain aspects of your life that you should consider before making a long-term commitment to a new direction in your professional or academic career.

Losing Your Benefits

One of the major changes that you will likely notice very quickly is that you will no longer have access to the same benefits that you once had when you were employed. In most cases, returning to school can mean cutting yourself off from financial support. Not only will you no longer be receiving benefits from your previous job, but you may also not qualify for unemployment insurance if you are considered a student. Regardless of whether you are a part-time or full-time student, you are considered “not looking” for employment, which means you would not meet one of the main eligibility requirements for unemployment insurance.

Simplifying Your Health Insurance

If you are paying for health insurance on a monthly or annual basis, you may need to cut down your premium rates so that you can cover the costs of your education. Although most educational institutions will offer affordable health insurance options, it will still mean that you will need to downgrade the services that you are currently receiving in order to have more financial flexibility when it comes to paying for school. In some cases, you may also be eligible for group or family health insurance programs.

Making a Long-Term Commitment

If you have been recently unemployed, you may experience a period of panic in which you make a decision hastily to return to school. Although it can seem like a good idea to get your master’s degree or complete a program in law or medicine, all of these options are very time consuming and require a long-term commitment. As a result, the gratification that you may get from this decision will not be experience until the very end. Not only may you not feel satisfied for spending so much extra time in school, but you will also be investing in a very costly endeavor by pursuing long-term academic studies.

Getting Trapped With More Debt

As you may know, some universities and colleges are more affordable than others. In most cases, you are still trying to cover the costs of your tuition from your first degree or diploma. In contrast, you may have completely paid off your student debt, and you may think it will be easy to cover the costs of school a second time. However, enrolling in school can mean that you will spend years incurring more debt while being unemployed. Thus, you will need to choose whether you will be able to handle the costs of your tuition in addition to the costs of daily living and caring for your loved ones.

Completing a Background Check for the School of Your Choice

Once you have decided that you will enroll into an academic program, you will want to be sure that you have checked out the school’s accreditation status. This is because you will need to be sure that you will obtain the degree or diploma that you are looking to gain from completing your academic studies. If you do not scrutinize the schools of your choice, you may end up investing years of time and money into a program that does not get you the certification that you want or need to better your career.