Fee help is great for a career change.

When I think about how expensive a degree can be in countries like the U.S., costing tens of thousands of dollars or more, I'm grateful to my socialist government, to be able to access education much more easily than that.

My University degree cost me nothing until 1989, when full fees were introduced. To help students bear the cost, our government provided a loan scheme through HECS, where the student was required to pay back the fees after they began earning beyond a specified income threshold.

As a new teacher, my wages never made it above this threshold and because I then moved to Japan and the U.S. for work (still never earning above the threshold), my loan just sat there over the years, pretty much remaining stable, because it doesn't have any interest attached to it.

During my first year out of college, I knew pretty much straight away, that I didn't want to be a high school teacher for long. I know I chose it because I didn't know what else to do with my Japanese and lacked the confidence to go to Japan and get some life experience, or do some other kind of work at an entry level. It was a safe option!

I eventually got the courage to go to Japan, but after teaching English there for a year, I knew I didn't want to do that forever either and I was grateful to get the job at the Nikko Hotel to do something totally different for a change. The job's challenges involved improving my Japanese language skills to do my job more effectively, but the tasks themselves, were not all that challenging. Anyone who's worked at a concierge desk knows that a lot of the job is sitting around waiting for the phone to ring or a guest to make some kind of request.

While I was pregnant with Sophia in Los Angeles, teaching English at GEOS language school suited me in terms of being a pleasant atmosphere with lovely students and teachers, so I was happy to be doing that work at that time. It was a low-stress environment, which I think is really essential for the health and well-being of a pregnant woman.

Coming back to Australia, it has suited me well to be teaching part-time at various language schools on the Gold Coast, to fit in with Soph and Sage's school hours. It was also a good experience to teach at the Gold Coast Montessori School, to get a feel for teaching children of Primary School age.

I'm now at the point where I know that teaching is not what I want to continue doing, just because I can do it, or because it's convenient.

So last week, I investigated a natural therapies college here in Brisbane and found out to my utter amazement, that even as a part-time student, my wonderful socialist government, will allow me to study, paying nothing up-front and not obliging me to pay anything back until I earn the threshold income of $40, 000. This will be possible for me to do, even with my previous debt as yet unpaid. WOOO HOOOO. Free Education!!! (well at least until I get earning some decent money).

I am so excited!

So I'm going to enrol in the Bachelor of Health Science (acupuncture) course, starting on February 23, that's just over two weeks away!

I'll do two days a week, which will be two subjects.

Here it is! My chance for a career change! My chance to change my life! My chance to get out in the world beyond the home and child-care!

Wish me luck!