Is It Too Late to Go to University at 40?

The short answer is no. But if you have been sitting with that question for a while, a short answer probably is not what you need.

A lot of people in their late thirties or forties find themselves wondering whether university is still a realistic option. Maybe you have always meant to go and life got in the way. Maybe you are at a point in your career where you want a change, but the path forward seems to require qualifications you do not have. Or maybe you are simply ready to do something for yourself, after years of focusing on work, family, or other responsibilities.

Whatever brought you to the question, here is what you should know: going to university at 40 is not unusual, it is not too hard, and in some ways it comes with real advantages that younger students simply do not have yet.

There is no age limit

Australian universities have no upper age limits for undergraduate or postgraduate study. There is no cut-off point. No moment at which the door closes.

In 2025, nearly 47% of Australians aged 35 to 44 held a bachelor degree or higher, according to the ABS Education and Work report. Studying in your thirties or forties is not the exception. It is increasingly the norm. And if you are 21 or older, you do not need an ATAR to apply.

Universities assess mature age applicants on work history, prior qualifications, a personal statement, or admissions test results. Your life since school counts for something.

The numbers make a strong case

47% of Australians aged 35–44 hold a bachelor degree or higher (ABS Education and Work, May 2025)

$7,300 more per year earned by graduates aged over 30 compared to graduates under 25, in short-term salary outcomes (QILT Graduate Outcomes Survey, Longitudinal)

91.1% full-time employment rate for domestic undergraduates three years after graduation, up from 74% at four to six months (QILT GOS-L, 2024)

2 million+ new jobs projected in Australia over the next decade, with over 90% requiring post-secondary qualifications (Jobs and Skills Australia)

That last figure matters particularly for the return-on-investment question. A degree at 40 still gives you 20 to 25 working years to benefit from it. The job market is moving steadily toward credentialled work. Getting qualified now is not catching up. It is positioning.

Older graduates actually earn more

One of the most counterintuitive findings in Australian graduate outcomes research is that age works in your favour when it comes to starting salary. Research from the QILT Graduate Outcomes Survey longitudinal study shows that graduates aged over 30 receive approximately $7,300 more per year in short-term salary outcomes than graduates under 25.

The reason is fairly straightforward: employers value experience. A 42-year-old nursing graduate arriving with 15 years of professional life behind them is a different candidate from a 22-year-old in the same program. Age and professional maturity are assets in the employment market, not liabilities.

Why 40 can be a genuinely good time to study

There is a version of this conversation that treats returning to study later in life as a fallback: the option you take when other paths have not worked out. That framing misses something important.

Mature age students consistently bring qualities that younger students are still developing. Clarity of purpose is the most significant. When you have worked for fifteen or twenty years, you tend to arrive at university knowing exactly why you are there, what you want to get out of it, and what you are prepared to invest. That focus shows up directly in the quality of the work and the ability to push through the harder parts of study.

Universities recognise this. Many campuses have dedicated mature age support services, flexible study options designed around working adults, and peer communities of students in similar circumstances. You would not be walking into an environment built entirely for 18-year-olds.

What does study actually look like at this stage of life?

This is the practical question that matters most. How do you fit study around a job, a mortgage, a family, and everything else that comes with being 40?

The honest answer is that it requires some genuine planning. But Australian universities now offer far more flexibility than they did a decade ago, and the options are designed precisely for people in this situation:

• Part-time study: typically two subjects per semester instead of four, allowing you to continue working while making steady progress toward the degree


• Fully online degrees: available through providers including Deakin University, the University of New England, and Open Universities Australia, meaning no commute and no fixed timetable


• Hybrid delivery: a combination of online coursework and occasional in-person sessions, which suits people who want some campus connection but cannot commit to full attendance


• Block or intensive mode: available in some programs, concentrating study into shorter, more focused periods that can suit irregular work schedules

Part-time study does extend the timeline. A three-year bachelor degree takes around six years part-time. But the relevant comparison is not between six years part-time and three years full-time. For most people at 40, the alternative is not starting at 22. It is not starting at all. Six years of part-time study ends with a qualification that shapes the next two decades of your working life.

It is also worth knowing that HECS-HELP is available to eligible domestic students regardless of age, meaning no upfront tuition costs are required.

What do people study?

There is no single answer. People return to university at 40 for a wide range of reasons, and the right degree depends entirely on where you want to go.

That said, some fields are particularly common among mature age students because they combine strong employment outcomes with clear career pathways. Nursing, teaching, psychology, social work, and business are among the most frequently chosen at undergraduate level. Postgraduate study is also popular: if you already hold a degree in one field but want to move into something different, a graduate diploma or master's degree often provides a faster, more direct pathway than starting an entirely new undergraduate program.

The key question is not which degree is most common among people your age. It is which qualification would make the most meaningful difference to the career or life you actually want. That is worth spending real time on before applying.

The hardest part is usually just starting

People who have been through this consistently say the same thing: the anxiety beforehand was larger than the reality of doing it. The worry about fitting in, about essay writing after years away from formal study, about whether they could keep up. Those fears are understandable. They are also, for most people, bigger than what they encounter.

Universities expect mature age students to have been away from study for a while and build support around that assumption. Academic skills workshops, tutoring, library orientation, and student support services are standard. And once students are underway, the qualities they arrived with, purpose, discipline, real-world perspective, tend to work strongly in their favour.

The students who struggle most are not the ones who came back at 40. They are the ones who were not sure why they were there. Mature age students almost always know exactly why they enrolled.

So is it too late?

No. It is not too late.

If you are 40 and thinking about university, you are not behind. You are at a point where the decision is genuinely yours, where you have enough experience to know what you want from it, and where the labour market still gives you a significant number of working years to benefit from it.

The path in might look a little different from what it would have looked like at 18. It might be part-time, or online, or through a mature age entry pathway rather than an ATAR. But different is not the same as harder, and it is not the same as closed.

If this is something you have been thinking about, the Choosing Your Uni Virtual Expo is a practical place to explore your options, compare universities, and get a clearer picture of what the next step could actually look like. Most people find the options are more accessible than they expected. The door is open.