Numskull

Hi All,

I am new to this site.

I am a student studying in Melbourne, with the hope of eventual pr. If anyone has any questions regarding our experiences, feel free to ask.

Regards

Bradburns

Hiya Numskull, i have just replied to one of your posts. Thanks for offering your advice on the syudent visa route, i bet you'll get loads of replies. I just wanted to ask a few questions please, right here goes:
1) Are you in oz alone or have you taken family with you?

2) How much money do you think people are going to need in savings to do the student route? (I know that there's a guide on dimias website, but i think you can only get a true picture from someone like yourself that has their own experiences)

3) From other students that you have met wilst there, what is there take on getting pr, do they say it's likely or not?

4) Do you have any reccommendations of things to bring with us or to do before we come to oz?

I bet you wished you never posted now, thanks in advance,
Regards

Numskull

Hi Bradburns,

I will help you with honest answers.

1. I came with my family, me (41) de facto wife (33) boy (5) boy (4) Boy (2).

2. We are currently spending about $4000.00 a month, that is based on a rented house at $350.00 per week and One child in school, plus running one family car. We do not go mad!!

3. I personally do not know of anybody that has achieved PR through study, even at my college, that said you do not get to meet (past) graduates. I have only been here for five months, but we all live in hope.

4. Lots of money. Save hard before you come.

If you would like to pm me your email address we can go into things in more detail.

It's not easy doing it the student route, but we are glad we did it, and so far i would do it again.

Keep in touch!!!!

Numskull

mche24

Hi, im a student as well and have been studying in OZ for 5 years.

1) I am here with my brother and his wife, who became PR few years ago (offshore applicants)

2) If you travel by public transport, it will cost you at least $100 per month for unlimited ride on buses, trams and trains. Expect an average of $6 per meal, at least that's what I get at Uni. Will save a lot if you cook at home.

Other costs will really depend on how much you use them, such as mobile, electricity, entertainment, beer, etc. House rental could be anywhere from $300 per month if you're sharing to $1300 if you want the whole place.

3) I have a few friends who became PR after their studies. One is a nurse, another an accountant, others I can't remember. When I hear from my friends that they couldn't get PR, it's usually the case when they had insufficient points from IELTS or their nominated job. I had a friend who studied computer science and he applied for PR successfully with $100k investment (not available now) and the visa grant came after 6 months. The nurse & accountant waited for 3 months as their jobs were on the demand list.

4) As Numskull had mentioned, brings heaps of money. The Uni fees aren't cheap. Textbooks can be a burden as well - if you can get it cheaper at your home country, do so. Otherwise, borrow from Uni library (you're allowed to borrow from other Uni libraries if you apply for a CAVAL card).

Hope it helps!

pumpkin blossom

Hi there,

how has the mix of ages and ozzies to foreign students been?
Thanks

pumpkin blossom

Just another question to help people gague money etc, where are you?

Bradburns

Thanks for that Numskull, you seem to be living the life that we would be living, by that i mean, we have 1 child who will be at school and 1 younger child, we only intend to buy 1 car and share and we didn't want to pay more than $350 per week rent.

This has really helped and painted a true picture of what to expect. I will pm you now with my email address.

Thanks, Lisa

Bradburns

Thanks mche24,
Your post is very helpful and informative, it's really nice to hear from people who are already in oz, you're the ones who know what yourf talking about.

Thanks

Numskull

Hi,

The cultural mix in my class at college is out of 14, three of us are from Uk, 7 from Korea, 1 from india, 1 from Mongolia and 2 chinese.

Ages range from 21 to 41, average 30.

All people from different back grounds, some extremley professional, some not so.

Regards

pumpkin blossom

So not one Australian?? Although I do like meeting people from different countries. The ages arn't too bad either, I have been a little concerned about being in a class full of 18 year old ozzies lol.
Thanks

Numskull

You will not get Aussie's on these courses, for a start they dont have to pay anything like we do, they pay $800 a year because they are subsidised by the government........they are Aussie's after all!!

We have to pay $23,000.00 dollars for our course, most Aussie's find that absolutely astonishing when you speak to them about it, besides most Oz's aint got $23k...........to spare!!!!

pumpkin blossom

I'm not sure if it is a private company you are going through, but I will be on a TAFE course. I read somewhere that they have to advertise the same course to Australians as well as international students by law, and the details on the Australian info pages is excatly the same as the course info for the international students (except the price of course). I also spoke to someone who studied at the campus I am going to (an ozzie) who was telling me about having international students in his class.... Maybe it is because it is tafe???

shark bait

I,m going on the student visa route , starting in jan 09 at the Gold coast TAFE. Its a risk & a massive expense cause i,ll have 2 kids at school, i,m reckoning at £50.000 in 2 years , but hey i,m 34 and its now or never.
I want a new career, a change of direction.
My wifes an A level pschology teacher here in the uk , but they don,t teach it in oz until degree level , so thats not an option.
If it all goes wrong at least i can look back and say i did it!

FayWray

I'm at the tailend of my student visa and have just finished a postgrad course at Uni of Melb - all students are mixed in together... it would not make financial sense for the uni to split them up.

I was actually in with undergrads so most of my classmates were 18-22 year-old Aussies but there were a few international students. When I started, the international students' enrolment and orientation (for ALL new starters acros every subject) was done separately though - most of those I met were from China, Singapore and India.

I would recommend asking the admissions office how they structure the specific course you're interested in - each school, subject and level of study (degree, postgrad, tafe etc) could be different. I hadn't done this and got a shock when I arrived to find out I'd be the oldest by ten years!

Good luck!

pumpkin blossom

Thanks,

I start my course a month today, so I guess it will just be a nice suprise.