Autumn Semester started last week. I'm taking two courses for the Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education I've just commenced, and one course for the Master of IT I'm halfway through. The fees are similar for both - around $800 HECS (I pay in advance, rather than accumulate a tax debt) for the two Education subjects and $800 fee for the one IT subject. I also had to purchase a textbook for the IT course ($111.55 even with the Co-op bookshop member discount!), so the total education costs for this semester are around $1710. Luckily there are too many students enrolled as Distance Education students in the Education at CSU this year, so the Uni cancelled the one week residential school in Bathurst. That would have cost another couple of hundred dollars for little benefit, so I'm glad it's not on anymore.

I worked out that if I quit my current position to start teaching in about three years, I'd have to work two extra years as a teacher to make up for the reduction in annual pay. I've no idea yet if I'll actually enjoy being a High School teacher, so I can't tell if I'd want to work longer as a teacher compared to my current job. Then again, I should have enough for a comfortable retirement whether I work to 61, 65 or 68.