Jerry Said:

is it possible to bear acadamic n accomodation expence for an int. student in australia by his own?

We Answered:

1. As an international student you will only be able to work 20 hours per week (maximum) during semester. This will not enable you to cover your accommodation and tuition fees. That is why you are required to show that you have enough money in your bank account to cover all of your expenses.

2. You can work full-time ( around 38 hours ) per week during semester and summer holidays. Semester break is around 4 weeks, while summer break is from November to end of February.

3. The wage you can expect to receive will vary but is likely to be very low because you have no qualifications; so you can drive a taxi ( and how much you earn will depend on how good a driver you are and how many passengers you get). As a good driver you might earn up to $1000 per week working full-time (~ 38 hours ) per week. Other types of unskilled jobs will pay much less. Maybe around $15 per hour. It varies depending on what you do, but it won't be a high salary.

4. Unless you are a very strong student and do not need to study much to pass, then your grades are likely to be affected if you work and study, and that could mean failures and an extended completion time and more fees to pay etc. Australian universities are very demanding. But since you say you are taking a diploma, I assume that you will be attending TAFE ( a vocational college system), so that will be less demanding. Even so, your success depends on your academic ability.

The best advice is to focus on completing your diploma and work as little as you can. This way you will be sure to pass all courses first time and will finish in the minimum time which will save you a lot of money.

Hope this helps.

Danny Said:

is st marks college in adelaide any good?

We Answered:

If you are goint to Uni of Ad, then have a look at St Ann's College. Its probably about 10 min walk closer to the Uni Campus which doesn't sound like much but in Adelaide in summer when its 45 degrees you will be thanking me!

St Marks is one of the more expensive colleges and has more structure around it (rules, formal dinners etc). I'd suggest checking out Lincoln and St Ann's as alternatives - they are more casual, still with heaps of students and activities but you can choose how much you want to do!