Saving for study in times of meltdown, advice?

[Layer01]

Hi all

First post, hope this is the right place for this, total noob when it comes to all this financial stuff but hoping to fix that a bit

I currently work in Germany in the games industry.
I've had a plan for a while now (going back to before all this ridiculous mess started) of going back to school to specialize some more.
I should perhaps explain, I'm currently employed as an artist, and I'm looking to invest into my own skill set by going through some intensive academic training. this is one of the places I'm considering florenceacademyofart(dot) com for example. (wont let me post urls yet)

This sort of course not being cheap (approx 10k eur a year atm..though the school charges in USD) I realized I would need some funds to get through this and deciding not to get up to my eyeballs in dept, I started saving. So far I've amassed about 8k euro and hoping to have between 15-20k by the time I start school and support myself with part time work etc for the rest.
Then on to a lifetime of being a starving artist in the post financial apocalypse..or rule the land as a king with my god like ability of capturing images, in the post financial apocalypse where oil paintings are used as currency ;D but i digress..

O_O ~enter the EU economic crisis~ O_O

I start hearing a lot of panicked people talking about currency collapses, protecting savings, fleeing euro's, doom and gloom etc. Its all very confusing.
Recently my father asked me if I'd like to move some of my savings back into AUD (country of birth) as some sort of "protection" against a total Euro collapse.

I know I want to access and use these savings in about a year, and I'm not sure if the exhange rate fluctuations, transfer fees and other bank trickery actually make putting money into/out of AUD all that "safe" in the end.

I mean ironically I could be looking to relocate to Italy in the next 2 years for this study, the heart of the storm lol.

I am not looking to set aside these savings for long periods of time and get interest for retirement etc.
I'd like to avoid magically losing all my savings by next years end and having my hopes of study dashed. Have the money in my bank just go *poof* and sort of disappear.
I mean I don't really care one way or another what currency the EU/or I end up having so long as all the saving wasn't futile and I can pay for the course lol
and it feels like moving it into AUD then back to EUR or whatever within a year or so might not be a very good thing to do?
Probably there are no answers lol

I guess I don't know where to start, I feel there is a lot I don't understand and am just looking for any advice/opinions at all

 

[pilotsnipes]

I apologise at the start that this reply does absolutely nothing to help answer your questions.

However, I just cannot stop reading that domain you suggest (florenceacademyofart dot com)

as florenceacade my o fart

AND I'm over 30. <Sigh>

 

[horusd]

Welcome 2 AAM. You might get better responses if you synthesize questions into short pithy one-liners. From what you say, the course is paid in $US.Transferring into $AUD you risk and incur two currency changes, €->$AUD->$US. These will attract both FX charges and the potential of FX fluctuations. i.e. Euro sold low against dollar only to rise later making its repurchase expensive etc. The chances of an entire € collapse are probably very remote. Europe is the world's largest economy, it would be inconceivable that there be no money in first world European countries. Banks may collapse, so perhaps you need to spread money around and ensure its lodged in strong banks. If you intend to remain in Europe you'll need living expenses in local currency, if you're studying in the US likewise. Decide how to manage these based on where you will live.