My realistic opinion based on both my experience using student visa as a pathway to PR more than 10 years ago as well as my professional knowledge now as a registered migration agent, firstly it’s not a guaranteed pathway. Even if you study a course which is on the occupation list, a lot can happen within 2 years. Legislations change constantly and there’s no assurance that policies stay the same by the time you finish your course. Not to mention the fees alone are expensive. With regards to work, you’ll only havevwork rights of maximum 20 hours a week. This is not enough to cover the living expenses let alone recover your educational expenses. Also, you need to keep an open mind with the fact that you won’t end up working in the field you want. If you think about it, employers would prefer to hire those who aren’t restricted with work hours. I ended up working in Citibank collections because they do shifts and uni students do those jobs. If it would have not been through my ex Aussie colleague when I worked in Citibank in Philippines, I would have not probably have gotten that job. Like I said, the pay I made there wasn’t enough to sustain me. I remember my parents were still sending me money dahil hindi kaya. At a professional perspective, I actually shy away when people enquire about student visas, I really don’t assist because apart from knowing it isn’t the best pathway to PR, student Visa is very straightforward, I processed it by myself at age 21 years old at that time - that’s how easy it was so I don’t want to take advantage of anyone by charging professional fees when I know they can process the visa by themselves. I’d rather direct them to the immigration website and just follow the steps.
I always advice people that if they meet the general skilled migration pathway requirements, they’re better off taking that route vs student or working visa.
Hope this helps. All the best!