- guardian.co.uk, Saturday September 22 2007 15.05 BST
It took Ceri Perkins three years of careful consideration before she took the plunge and signed up for a Master's degree.
The 25-year-old knew she wanted to continue her studies when she graduated from the University of Leeds in 2003 with a degree in atmospheric science, but nothing sparked her interest.
After eight unhappy months in an unfulfilling job, she left and spent weeks in the library researching courses and talking to careers advisers about future options, which is how she "stumbled" across the MSc in science communication at Imperial College, London. "As soon as I saw it I knew it was what I wanted to do, and I've not looked back since," she says.
Perkins, who completed her Master's this month, is not alone when it comes to carefully plotting her next steps after graduation. A study, due to be published later this month, suggests that as student debt levels rise, more people are considering the financial implications of further study and whether it will help advance their careers.
The research, conducted by Professor Mary Stuart, deputy vice-chancellor at Kingston University, investigated what stopped students from taking postgraduate courses by interviewing final-year students at two post-1992 universities.
Stuart found, among other things, that the fear of debt, rather than the amount accrued, was a determining factor, while those who had their hearts set on further study were much more focused on what they wanted to get out of a course. "I think most of our respondents [to the study] were quite canny, thinking quite carefully about what would be the best for them in their future careers," says Stuart. "Some wanted to go into the workplace and get experience and come back [to university] to do a postgraduate."
With the increasing number of people now holding undergraduate degrees, some students, she said, thought they needed to take a postgraduate course to make their CVs stand out when applying for jobs.
"There was a clear divide between those who had done an undergraduate degree that could lead on to a job easily, such as engineering, and those who had studied something like history or English, who often thought, 'I want to do a postgraduate as that would give me an edge'."
Simon Felton, the outgoing general secretary of the National Postgraduate Committee (NPC), said it was crucial that students weigh up their options before they sign up for a course - and think about the cost.
He speaks from experience. Felton, 24, was gearing up to take a masters in Holocaust studies - "a subject I was quite interested in during my A-level history" - despite wanting a career in planning. A chat to a friend resulted in a last-minute switch to an MSc in urban regeneration, research and policy, which was "more relevant" and would better prepare him for future industry qualifications.
However, the change meant Felton, who studied at the University of Birmingham, missed the deadlines for applying for funding for his postgraduate studies and was forced to take out a bank loan to pay the £3,100 fees.
"I had to find funding to live and work out how best I was going to pay for the course itself. I worked over the summer before my postgraduate course and worked part-time during it."
The NPC - the postgraduate equivalent of the National Union of Students - is urging the government to extend the financial help given to undergraduates (loans, grants and deferred tuition fee payment) to graduate students to relieve debt anxiety. But until this happens, Felton believes students should take "at least a year" to think through their postgraduate options and research the funding available for courses.
Research councils and charities offer financial assistance to postgraduates. Grants from the research councils - which cover subjects from the arts to engineering - often pay tuition fees and help meet living costs and fieldwork and travel expenses.
Universities can also help shoulder the expense through their own bursary schemes. Some even offer course price cuts for alumni, and allow students to spread the cost of fees over the year, rather than pay a lump sum upfront. Although Perkins had to find the money for her £4,000 tuition fees - from savings, family and through part-time work - she was awarded a £10,000 bursary from the Association of Science Writers. She concedes that if it wasn't for this, she may not have been able to do the course.
But students can only do so much. Stuart says universities need to play their part in supporting students, by giving sound advice on the vocational worth of their postgraduate degrees, so students make informed decisions, and offering more flexible learning options.
Universities are beginning to consider their students' needs, with some now offering downloadable lectures and seminars. Goldsmiths, University of London, is going as far as launching a virtual postgraduate school next month. The virtual school will operate in parallel to its physical cousin, offering online seminars, forums and discussion groups. It will also have a virtual office to allow students to download relevant paperwork. Those using the virtual school will be required to attend a short residential course, either once a term or twice a year, but the rest of their studies will be taught online.
Professor Carrie Paechter, dean of the graduate school at Goldsmiths, says this online approach will allow people to log on when they are able, rather than having to be at the university for a set time. She believes support should be particularly targeted towards part-time students, who are often working full-time while they study.
"We need to make things easier for part-time students, so that they can hold jobs," she says. "For example, libraries need to open later in the evenings, and students should not be restricted to taking books out overnight so they have to be back the next morning. A lot more teaching needs to be done online."
Perkins says she found Imperial sym- pathetic to her need to work two days a week while she studied. But was juggling her course with paid work worth it? "There's not been one day when I've thought this is not what I want to do," she says.
