If you're going the student route, a good tip is to get an international student, because:
1) Those good enough to study abroad are the sort of skills you want
2) People having to pay international student fees are usually damn hard working.
3) More pragmatically, fashion students from cultures where sewing/weaving etc are taught from age zero are often incredibly fast, and therefore cheaper (the best seamstress students I've met, in terms of technical ability, have been from South Korea, China, and India).