Complete guide to get the perfect degree

Higher education, today, has become an expensive proposition. No middle class family can simply pay for a professional education for their child simply out of loose change. Merit and aptitude is no longer a deciding factor whether you should take up medicine or engineering. There are three factors one has to take into consideration money, money and money.

 

What to look for in an education?

An education is preparation ground for the future. Your education is your crystal ball. What you invest in it now is what you reap in the time to come. Education is about finding the right niche to a career, which will give you satisfaction as well as help us achieve the monetary goals, each one of us sets for ourselves.

 

Hence, when you choose what your future must be like, you need to peek into it now. Here is how, speak to people in the field. Do an internship. Work for a couple of years before investing in a higher education in the field. We often have romantic impressions about things we know little about, for all you know you may hate the reality. Better now than later when you have put in Rs 30 lakh and five years of your life into it.

 

Look at the unconventional

A US degree has long been the Indian dream with promise of a starry future and a green card. Here is the surprise. After years of double digit growth in the figure of students going the US for studies, this year the number of students going to the US has increased only by 1%. Increased and better job opportunities in India and more private educational institutions offering US quality education were two strong factors that favoured the slow down.

 

Says Rajat Chowdary, Product Manager, IMS Educational Consulting, "Indian students opt to stay back in India. Indian education atleast the university level engineering graduates have performed with the best globally. The IITs and the RECs or the NIITs particularly are pretty well respected for the quality graduates they churn out in advanced engineering and technology. Particularly the BEs and BTechs. In short, Indians are recognised globally for their science and math skills - which makes them a most sought after resources globally for various analytical positions."

 

Engineering, Business and Computer Sciences remained for long, the three most popular fields of study. Unfortunately, besides being the most sort after courses, they are the most expensive ones too. So if you are on a budget look further.

 

Several other fields that have shown promise for popularity are career-oriented fields such as film and fashion studies, animation, graphic design, advertisement, communication, journalism, and other general fields such as public health, biological sciences including biotechnology and genetic engineering, international affairs and environmental studies. 

 

Walking down the untroden paths

The 'study abroad' tag is no longer limited to the United States of America.  Indian students so far have focused on a few, largely publicly funded, universities in the US. There are several hundred other not-so-popular but well-known private institutions in the US that could consider recruitment of Indian students. Besides, the world is opening its arms to India. Open up your mind and look for a country, which is not on the most talked about list yet, and check out the options there. ( check out the maximum loan amount offered by lenders )

 

Ms Iris Madeira, Chief Operating Officer, Madhavi Desai Consulting Pvt. Ltd., explains, "Almost all countries have opened up to students from India (Ireland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, New Zealand and all the previous destinations - US, UK, Australia, Canada).  So, it really depends on the exchange rate and the country's education system.  For example, governments / countries that completely fund/run/subsidize education in the their home countries initially offered their programs at extremely low fees / no fees, and where living fees had to be borne mostly.  Of course afterwards these fees have seen an upward trend, for example, Germany."

 

The cost of an education - a snapshot

ANZAC ( Australia / New Zealand)   MBA Rs.20-25 lakh M Engg/MSc Rs.10-18 lakh Singapore MBA Rs. 15-20 lakh M Engg/Msc Rs. 8-12 lakh UK  MBA Rs.25-32 lakh M Engg/MSc Rs.15-22 lakh USA MBA Rs.30-40 lakh M Engg/Msc Rs.20-30 lakh India MBA                        Rs. 2-15 lakh M Engg/ MSc Rs. 0.50-4 lakh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So how do you pay for the education? Find out on the next page...