Should you quit your job to study? A runway worksheet

Step 1: write down your real monthly outflow

Use three months of bank and UPI statements, not memory. People who estimate usually leave out irregular items.

The health-cover line is the one most often missed. Check your company's policy document for when cover ends after the last working day.

Step 2: decide the months you must cover

Runway is not just the course. It is three periods added together:

• Course months. From the programme's published duration — for example 6 months for a data science track.
• Search months. Time from finishing to a first salary credit. Nobody can promise this number. Plan for at least six months, and more if you are changing field entirely.
• Buffer. Two to three months of outflow held back for a medical bill or family emergency. This money is never counted as available.

Step 3: run the worksheet

Replace every number below with your own. All figures here are hypothetical.

# Hypothetical inputs - replace with your own
monthly_outflow = 32_000          # from Step 1, excluding study costs
study_one_off = 60_000            # course balance + laptop etc. (your quote)
liquid_savings = 4_50_000         # savings you can actually withdraw
untouchable = 1_00_000            # money you will not spend: dependants, debt safety
course_months = 6
search_months = 6
buffer_months = 3
side_income_monthly = 5_000       # freelance, tuition, rent received - be honest

available = liquid_savings - untouchable - study_one_off
net_burn = monthly_outflow - side_income_monthly
needed = net_burn * (course_months + search_months + buffer_months)
runway_months = available / net_burn

print(f"Available for living costs : Rs {available:,}")
print(f"Net monthly burn           : Rs {net_burn:,}")
print(f"Needed for plan            : Rs {needed:,}")
print(f"Runway                     : {runway_months:.1f} months")
print(f"Plan needs                 : {course_months + search_months + buffer_months} months")

shortfall = needed - available
if shortfall > 0:
    print(f"Short by Rs {shortfall:,} - do not resign on these numbers")
else:
    print(f"Covered with Rs {-shortfall:,} to spare")

assert round(runway_months, 1) == 10.7
assert shortfall == 1_15_000

In this example the reader has ₹4,50,000 saved and still falls ₹1,15,000 short of a 15-month plan. Their runway is about 10.7 months — enough for the course and four months of searching, with no buffer. That is precisely the situation that turns into panic applications around month ten.

Step 4: read the result

Step 5: set a stop-loss date before you resign

Write down, in advance, the date on which you will start applying for jobs in your old field if you have no data offer. Put it where your family can see it. For the example above, that date would be around month nine of the plan, leaving a buffer to cover the gap while you look. Deciding this in advance, while calm, is far easier than deciding it at month nine with a low balance.

Options short of quitting

Before resigning, ask your employer about each of these. Some are more available than people assume:

1. 1Moving to a shift or role with predictable hours, even at the same pay, to free up evenings.
2. 2Unpaid leave or a sabbatical for the most intensive part of the course. Check your HR policy for whether this exists and what it does to your service continuity.
3. 3An internal move toward data work — building reports for your own team is experience you can put on a resume.
4. 4Reduced hours or contract work in your current field, if your industry supports it.

Non-financial questions

• Is the job the real obstacle, or is it the commute, the phone at night, or low energy? Some of those have smaller fixes.
• Will a gap on your resume be easy to explain? A completed programme with portfolio projects helps; a gap with nothing to show does not.
• Does your household agree with the plan and the stop-loss date?

Data science learning fits alongside work if the weekly load is realistic; see a 10-hours-a-week timetable for what that looks like. The Data Science programme is live online with recordings, which is what makes part-time study workable, and you can ask a counsellor for current fees and instalment options to fill in the study-costs line honestly.