I'm not much of a grammarian - I never learned it at school, but from what I know intuitively, and have learnt since: The present perfect variant has a past aspect to it. As you use 'now', you have tied it to the present, so the second option is better. If you had started the sentence 'since she lost her job', the job loss is at some time in the past, so then you would use the 'has been considering' form.

Present Perfect continuous - An action that started in the past and continues in the present. I have been writing since morning (and still writing now) Present Continuous - An action that is happening now (no reference to the past) I am writing now In your sentence, there is no difference in the meaning. "has been considering" would mean she started thinking about it and still in the thought process.

Hi Suki, There is a difference between these two tenses. The usage of either one depends on the time frame when the actions occurs. If we emphasise on an action which is taking place now and is known to take a duration, we use present continuous tense. Example: You look out of your window and see a man crossing the street. Your emphasis is not on the moment the man started crossing. At the sight of the man, he "is crossing" the street. You also know he will take some time to finish crossing. You use present continuous tense. If we emphasise on something that started happening in the past for a period of time and still happens now, we use present perfect continuous tense. Example: You wake up with a start and realised you are late. You are supposed to meet John at the bus stop an hour ago. You rush there and he is there, waiting for you angrily. He must have stayed waiting for you in the past (an hour ago) and he is still waiting now (as you arrive at the bus stop). You use present perfect continuous tense. As you can see, there is a slight difference depending on what you would like to focus on. In your sentence, Lucy is now out of job. Based on the word "Now", we know that she is currently unemployed. Therefore, she "is considering going back to school." If you use "has been considering", it may give the reader the impression that she started considering schooling even before she lost her job (unless this is exactly what you mean). Hope this helps. Cheers, Lance

There is really no appreciable difference. They both basically mean the exact same thing. Both sentences would be appropriate and completely understandable. If you are writing, you would just want to pick one tense and stick with it. "Has been considering" means she has been thinking about it for a while. "Is considering" might mean she just started thinking about it a bit more recently.