Going to a Private Institution

How to choose a course

Depending on how clear or confused your thoughts about your interests and future are, you may still be unsure about what you would like to study, for how long, and where.

When choosing to enrol in a course offered by a private provider, you should be mindful of the difference between Registered Higher Education Providers, which offer higher education courses, and Registered Training Organisations (RTOs), which provide VET courses.

While many VET diplomas articulate into a bachelor degree course, this isn't always the case. If you're planning to begin your studies at a private college and end them at university, make sure you're able to transfer with credit from the former to the latter before enrolling.

Each course is a unique mix of many different ingredients, ranging from its particular subject matter, to the kinds of people who study and teach it, to the job it leads to.

The following is a list of those ingredients. You can use it as a checklist of things you need to find out about courses before making a final decision.

• Subject matter. This may seem too obvious to mention, but don't forget that different courses teach very different things. They have to be things you want to know.
• Intellectual style. Similar to, but not the same as, subject matter. Some are mainly 'quantitative' (how's your maths?), others 'verbal' or language based. Some encourage you to have your own ideas, ask awkward questions, and find out about the world. Others are mainly 'how to'. Some demand practical skills (e.g. visual and performing arts). In others the only practical skill is pushing a pen.
• How closely they're tied to a job. Some courses (e.g. dental therapy, surveying, hotel management) lock you into a specialised job. Some - arts and sciences especially - don't. Others (courses in business or law) are somewhere in between.
• Whether 'special' applications or applicants are accepted.
• Whether there are prerequisites.
• Toughness to pass. Courses do vary a lot in the number who drop out or fail. Some rules of thumb: most drop-outs and failures happen in the first year (big comfort!). Some fields of study have high failure / drop-out rates. Others don't. Rates vary between institutions.
• How long they take. Advanced diplomas take two years of full-time study, four or more years part-time study. A first-level certificate can take as little as 15 weeks to complete. Degrees generally take three or four years (twice as long, or longer, part-time). You can also do an 'honours' degree (one year on top of the standard time) or 'double degree' (e.g. a combination of arts and engineering, or law and accountancy) which take five or six years.
• How you can study. Some courses you can do full-time, part-time or by distance education (the course comes to you via books, study guides, computer disks, radio, TV, audio and video cassettes etc).
• Work patterns. Arts students generally have five or six lectures a week plus tutorials, and that's it. They also spend a lot of time in the library, and have to write a lot of essays. Science students spend 20 hours or more a week in the lab and have other classes as well, but rarely do long essays and don't get to the library very often. Acting, painting, and dance students spend countless hours in the studio, and most (but not all) of their marks come from products and performances, not words or pracs.
• Who you can study with. Some courses have small numbers and little choice of subjects, so you spend your years with the same tight little group. It's easy to make friends, but can be claustrophobic. Courses also vary in the age range and backgrounds of those they attract.
• Quality. It's hard to define, but you'll know when you're not getting it. What you should aim to get, at least some of the time, is sheer intellectual excitement, the shock of the new and the strange. At the very least a course should be solid, well run, and worth the trouble. Some people go right through their course without getting either.
• Cost. Private providers will usually charge a great deal more for their courses than either universities or TAFEs which receive government funding. While the implementation of the higher education reforms in 2005 has allowed some domestic students at private colleges to access Commonwealth funded places and/or FEE-HELP, students will generally be required to pay full fees up-front. Other costs (books and stationery, field trips, lab fees, painting materials etc.) always run to hundreds of dollars and sometimes a thousand or more a year. 
• Where can you do it. Most courses are offered in a range of locations, but some are available in selected cities and centres only. Enjoying your subjects is one thing. But do you want to live in the thriving metropolis or regional centre you need to in order to do the course?
• Where it leads to. It may lead, simply, to being better educated, a fact which is often overlooked. But to the extent that you want your course to help your career, remember that, as noted above, some courses lock you into a job and some don't