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Help me return to college!
Organichu
poopspeesRegistered User, Moderator mod
poopspeesRegistered User, Moderator mod
This is going to be a long post. I'm sorry for that. 
My Situation
I'm 24. I have no college degree, and I have no credits. I attempted to go to school in 2006, right out of high school. Three weeks before the first class my mother passed away. I failed everything, or withdrew from some other stuff.
My Plan
I've filled out FAFSA. I plan to attend the Community College of Philadelphia this fall. I will be talking to counselors there next week (once my FAFSA's processed and I see what I already know will occur- an EFC of 0.)
Financial woes
I'm unemployed, don't own a car or any property, I'm of the 'independent' age. I will have an EFC of 0, and be about as much a 'hardship case' as one can be without being from a wartorn part of Africa. I still owe about $7,800 (which will enter deferment, I guess, once I begin school this fall) from my first failed attempt at school.
What I know from that: I will probably get a maxed out Pell grant. The cost of 13 credits at my institution is about $2,350 per semester. That leaves about $800- or $400 per semester- in excess. Considering I need a new laptop, I'll need transit funds, I'll need to buy books and other scholastic supplies, etc... that's not enough. I presume I'll also qualify for a Stafford loan. How does that work?
Merit awards: I'll apply for some! Everyone on the internet forwards that old adage about THERE ARE SCHOLARSHISP FOR HAVING DIFFERENT COLORED EYES AND FOR BEING JEWISH AND FOR BEING LEFT HANDED AND... ok, I get it. I should apply for a bunch of scholarships. I didn't have great grades in high school. My SAT score was good but not stellar. I'm sure I'll still be able to get some stuff (I am a poor orphan... there is probably something!) but where exactly should I look? How does that interact with my loans? I assume I report those merit awards and that lowers my financial need, etc.
I don't want to take out any more loans than I need to, but I anticipate some.
Classes? Credits
First: I got a 4 on my AP English Lit exam in high school. At my previous school (St John's in New York) that counted for six credits and tested me out of two classes worth of English. Google tells me that even though the test is like 6 years old, they don't expire. Can I expect to get credits at my community college? That'd be awesome.
Second: not to sound cocky, but I am very confident that I can test out of some intro courses. What happens there? I pay for the credit hours but get to skip the class? What grade am I awarded w.r.t. my GPA? Is there any advantage other than expediting my college career?
The Dreaded Transfer
I can of course just amass credits- checking along the way to make sure they're largely transferrable for most schools in the area (especially ones that host my intended major). I want to major in computer science. Drexel (a pretty good school, I think) has a connection program with my community college, where if you follow their roadmap and you maintain X GPA, you're automatically admitted. That sounds awesome, but... of course financial aid isn't guaranteed.
This is the truly scary part. I know I can manage to finance community college, even if it involves a little bit of debt. But even if I go to an in-state school and I get the tuition discount... those numbers are no joke. Even if I do very well and I maintain a high 3.xx GPA (or 4! Who knows!) and I write stirring essays about my journey so far and how I appreciate every opportunity and so on... there's certainly no guarantee that even with some merit awards and the hardship awards I'll be able to afford a 4 year school. I have no potential cosigner, so if the eventual cost for my degree-awarding school down the line is more than what I can amass with merit awards + grants + federally offered loans... then I am out in the cold. This is a real possibility, right? It scares me.
Thanks much in advance for reading!
My Situation
I'm 24. I have no college degree, and I have no credits. I attempted to go to school in 2006, right out of high school. Three weeks before the first class my mother passed away. I failed everything, or withdrew from some other stuff.
My Plan
I've filled out FAFSA. I plan to attend the Community College of Philadelphia this fall. I will be talking to counselors there next week (once my FAFSA's processed and I see what I already know will occur- an EFC of 0.)
Financial woes
I'm unemployed, don't own a car or any property, I'm of the 'independent' age. I will have an EFC of 0, and be about as much a 'hardship case' as one can be without being from a wartorn part of Africa. I still owe about $7,800 (which will enter deferment, I guess, once I begin school this fall) from my first failed attempt at school.
What I know from that: I will probably get a maxed out Pell grant. The cost of 13 credits at my institution is about $2,350 per semester. That leaves about $800- or $400 per semester- in excess. Considering I need a new laptop, I'll need transit funds, I'll need to buy books and other scholastic supplies, etc... that's not enough. I presume I'll also qualify for a Stafford loan. How does that work?
Merit awards: I'll apply for some! Everyone on the internet forwards that old adage about THERE ARE SCHOLARSHISP FOR HAVING DIFFERENT COLORED EYES AND FOR BEING JEWISH AND FOR BEING LEFT HANDED AND... ok, I get it. I should apply for a bunch of scholarships. I didn't have great grades in high school. My SAT score was good but not stellar. I'm sure I'll still be able to get some stuff (I am a poor orphan... there is probably something!) but where exactly should I look? How does that interact with my loans? I assume I report those merit awards and that lowers my financial need, etc.
I don't want to take out any more loans than I need to, but I anticipate some.
Classes? Credits
First: I got a 4 on my AP English Lit exam in high school. At my previous school (St John's in New York) that counted for six credits and tested me out of two classes worth of English. Google tells me that even though the test is like 6 years old, they don't expire. Can I expect to get credits at my community college? That'd be awesome.
Second: not to sound cocky, but I am very confident that I can test out of some intro courses. What happens there? I pay for the credit hours but get to skip the class? What grade am I awarded w.r.t. my GPA? Is there any advantage other than expediting my college career?
The Dreaded Transfer
I can of course just amass credits- checking along the way to make sure they're largely transferrable for most schools in the area (especially ones that host my intended major). I want to major in computer science. Drexel (a pretty good school, I think) has a connection program with my community college, where if you follow their roadmap and you maintain X GPA, you're automatically admitted. That sounds awesome, but... of course financial aid isn't guaranteed.
This is the truly scary part. I know I can manage to finance community college, even if it involves a little bit of debt. But even if I go to an in-state school and I get the tuition discount... those numbers are no joke. Even if I do very well and I maintain a high 3.xx GPA (or 4! Who knows!) and I write stirring essays about my journey so far and how I appreciate every opportunity and so on... there's certainly no guarantee that even with some merit awards and the hardship awards I'll be able to afford a 4 year school. I have no potential cosigner, so if the eventual cost for my degree-awarding school down the line is more than what I can amass with merit awards + grants + federally offered loans... then I am out in the cold. This is a real possibility, right? It scares me.
Thanks much in advance for reading!
Organichu on
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Someone who knows a bit more about how it works where you live could probably help more; I'm speaking from experience in the UK. Placement year = much easier to be hired after finishing college.
Sounds like while you're in community college you could use SOME of your pay to pick up the slack in your budget, but make sure to save whatever you can for down the road when you want to transfer to a 4 year university and the cost will go up.
I and many others have worked and gone to college full time, you can manage it. Heck in the summer or at christmas time you should pick up extra work while you can. I worked 40 hour weeks as an assistant manager at an Arby's that I had to drive 40 minute there and 40 back while also going to college full time. My wife worked 2.5-3 jobs one summer while classes were out. She was a summer RA (the .5-1 job) then worked as a waitress and at Victoria Secret both part-time (as many hours as they'd give her and that she could fit together in her schedule) and both of those jobs were in the town 40 minutes away. She'd drive there, go work in the mall at VS and then nap in her car afterwards waiting for her shift at the restaurant that evening.
I'm not usually one for the whole boot-strap pulling crap, and if you can manage to get scholarships and other aid that hits your goal without you working then more power to you, but sometimes it's easier to trust in your own two hands and your ability to work hard than to trust in the fact that a generous scholarship fund will decide to renew your awards each year. Always good to have something to fall back on.
Good, too many people skip over talking to their college's FAFSA professionals. This speaks to the next section, but often times colleges, beyond official support like Pell Grants and Stafford un/subsidized loans, will have foundations where the community has given money that the college can dole out at their own discretion.
Don't forget to take in the cost of books/materials, which will generally run your Pell Grant dry, with maybe a couple hundred left over if you are lucky or careful in your book shopping. The Stafford loan comes in two flavors, Subsidized where you do not pay interest, and unsubsidized where you will pay a relatively low interest (when compared to private loans, which you should avoid if you can).
Going back to my previous comment, what is available depends largely on your institution, so speaking with the counselors and instructors there is key to finding out what is available. I mentioned instructors as well because, honestly there are often so many different avenues you can go, its easy for one person to overlook or forget options, even if that is their day to day job.
Transferring credits is a crap shoot in the best of circumstances, so you will have to ask at the college you are going to. My gut and previous experience with NC schools tells me you will be incredibly lucky if test scores from high school will be accepted in the place of your introductory English courses. That said, it never hurts to ask.
When you are taking your college placement tests, it is mainly to test you out of developmental courses, not accredited classes. Once again, this is from my experience in NC, but you never really get to "skip" credits hours. The only semi-exception that comes to mind is for foreign language, where you can often opt to show competency through an exam to exempt the foreign language requirement, but you will still need 'x' many credit hours, so you would not end up taking less classes, just giving yourself more freedom to pick courses.
If you are looking to speed up college, summer classes are your best bet. Classes go a mile a minute, but they finish so fast, in only 5/10 weeks, that it all wraps up before it becomes overwhelming. Furthermore, while every instructor will claim it is the same content, this is almost always a lie. There is always one or two instructors/professors who are willing to bust their own ass to fill in the same amount of course work, but most are humans just like you and will focus on critical material and cut the fat, making the overall amount of content quicker to get through.
One step at a time. Once you spend some time getting to know the systems in your area, you will find avenues to finance the next step of college. It's amazing the amount of resources out there for people willing to invest in themselves, and depending on the school, you can sometimes get by with just the Stafford loans and still have enough left over to pay a good chunk of that semesters rent, bills, etc.
As far as your credits are concerned, this is another thing that is dependent not only on your current college but also with the college you intend to go to. Transferring credits on a 1 for 1 basis is one of the most head-ache inducing parts of academia, though there is generally speaking, one big exception to this headache: a completed degree. For example, in NC, a student who finishes their associates degree transferring to one of the state universities will receive an automatic gen-ed exemption. The university takes the mass sum of credits acquired, dumps them into a transfer GPA and record, and then you are just left with your major/minor course load to focus on which roughly equals two more years of school. For this reason, it makes life infinitely easier to finish up the degree at a community college before transferring in NC. This would be a good thing to ask about as you get settled in to your academic flow.
Speaking as a non-traditional student myself (High-school dropout, went back to school when I was 20) who is now finishing a Masters Degree and has worked as tutor-instructor-administrator over the last 7 years at the community college level, there is no reason you won't be able to succeed. While working while your in school isn't necessarily a bad idea, try to look beyond retail or filler sort of jobs and get in on ground level stuff related to your field. For example, does your community college have paid peer tutors or IT work programs? Of course, you do what you gotta do, but college can be exhausting so don't pull yourself too thin until you know how demanding going back to school will be on you.
My field is English, which you seem to be good at anyway, but if you want help in a class or to talk more about your options, plan, or anything college related in more detail, feel free to PM me and if I don't know it, someone around me likely will.
Kias: Thanks so much! That's a tremendous wealth of information. I appreciate you clearing up the 'testing out' thing. It would suck to waste my time for a semester learning how to calculate percentages and multiply mixed fractions in a remedial math course. :P I appreciate the offer for continued advice; I'll definitely follow up with any new questions generated by my meeting with the advisor at the CC.
http://www.unc.edu/carolinacovenant/
Basically, it says that if you are under x income, they will make sure you graduate debt free with grants and work study. It was great. The only requirement is that you get in to the school.
So if moving is an option, look for schools that have a similar program. UNC's pretty much made my decision of where to go.
I took out subsidized stafford loans my first year since I was pretty broke and they were a big help. On the down-side, my understanding is they make your credit look really bad because you have a pretty big amount of debt sitting out there and nothing is happening to it.
There will probably be a math placement exam you take before you start, probably whenever your orientation is or they'll expect you to do it online just prior to it. Doing well on it usually means you won't have to waste your time on any remedial courses, although you won't really get any credits for it or anything.
twitch.tv/tehsloth
Work-study is awesome and employers love it, because it essentially means that the government pays half your salary. Your college should have somebody with a list of employers that are already set up to hire work-study students. The college itself probably hires a few to do office gruntwork/stock the library, etc. There is lots of competition for those jobs but they are out there. I worked before and after class cleaning up sawdust in the college scene shop, for example. But you don't have to do work-study on campus. Regular employers can hire you as well. It's a little more paper work for them but like I said, the state is paying half your wages and thus you are much cheaper to hire.
I actually know someone who worked at CCP for like 30 years. Boy he has some stories.
Well, I have just about no shot at a decent school right now. But once I put in my 2 years at CCP, I'd certainly hope to go to a good school for my degree. I have no problem moving out of state for that.
At any rate, 24 is certainly NOT old (or I only have a year of young left) and it sounds like you are doing the right legwork. Though this may be the perspective of someone looking at another 5-8 years before he really gets out of school and starts his career. So good on you and good luck!
I know that Stanford does a similar thing; if your income is less than $100K a year they will pay for your tuition, and if it's less than $60k they pay for everything: room, board, food, etc. I think other big private schools have similar programs, so it's definitely something worth looking into. But also keep in mind that, at least for Stanford, their rate of acceptance for transfer students is pretty low. I don't know about other schools. A college counselor would know more about that than I would, but you're already on that track :P
Also: just got my FAFSA results back- EFC of 0, as expected. I guess it's time for me to go speak with the college! :O
http://www.jkcf.org/scholarships
I have another question: now that I have ~6 months until class, can anyone advise me on impressive ECs? I'm doing some research and community college students definitely don't have to settle for a tier-3 state school. With good ECs, some of them are getting into ivies- and a LOT are getting into very good schools (GMU, USC, UoM Ann Arbor, UoT Austin, etc).
So what can I start to do now (or plan to do come the fall) to make my transfer application look more impressive? I already plan to get good grades and work through school.
i doubt it.
but i will see if i can think of anything.
CC or tech schools will usually have specific transfer curriculm setups. Make sure to take those.
but they're listening to every word I say