Here's the dilemma- I should be starting my junior year of college this fall. I got a 3.9 in high school and got scholarships to cover all my tuition (and then some) at the University of MN Duluth. My grades were terrible because I hated it there. POOF! All my scholarships were gone! Now, I want to start fresh at St. Scholastica. My goal is to be a Physical Therapist, and Scholastica has program for that (grad school). The college accepts 30 students from Scholastica and 6 from other schools every year for the program. The thing that really makes me mad is that I tried my butt off in high school and got awesome grades and was involved in everything. The only thing that Scholastica cares about is my depressing year at UMD! Another thing- I'm always hearing about athletes from DIII colleges getting money under the table to play a sport there. Where's mine!? I had a soccer Scholarship at UMD (DII school)- shouldn't I get dirty money?! The kicker is that school will be at least $20,000 per year to attend My parents basically live paycheck to paycheck, so there will be no help from mommy and daddy.
oooo i'm going through the same problem..i had full ride to the U.. was the same in high school as u.....i attended globe university for 1 quarter, but i don't have enough money to keep going..sucks...any help to you, would help me as well
school will get you further than a new car ever would. but personally, if you are not going for all the grad stuff now, i wouldn't rule out other options.
what's the dilemma? Stay at a school you hate, or go to a school you cant afford? Are there no other options other than St. Scholastica. PS: my gf went to St. Scholastica and HATED it...
Employers don't care so much about WHERE you got your degree, it's DID you get your degree. It also has alot to do with experience in your field. What exactly do you want a degree in?
man ... you can get your degree for much cheaper online. Here: I was accepted out of High School at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston http://www.wit.edu/index.php Their tuition was much too high. I then decided to not go to school, get my A+ and Network + I was making money right away out of high school with those 2 certifications. Bottom line is, a physical therapist degree is at min a 2 year degree, max 4 year. You can get a much cheaper rate if you go to a state school, and get the same education, for much MUCH cheaper. I suppose, it's your money, but think about it .. if you decide to spend 8 years getting your masters ........... you'll owe 160K + interest compounded annually. Shop around. Please. For the love of god.
Also, don't forget about student loans...just because you don't have any scholarships, that doesn't mean you cant get financial aide.
IMO, money spent on higher education is an investment. Once you are out of school you will be able to get jobs that will pay you a significantly higher pay rate than if you didn't. You will have loans to pay off, but in the long run it is adventageous to complete college. You should look into all the random school scholarships from like advil and all those companies, they tend to give out tons of scholarships. Also, if you are taxably independent from your parents, FAFSA will be your best friend, use it and keep on top of keeping it current. Student loan rates should be good now too sine the FED has been slashing interest rates, though I don't know that for sure. -Steve
The physical therapy program is grad school. I live in Duluth with my parents so it makes sense for me to stay here to save money. I would have to go pretty far away to go to a public school- which would mean paying rent. I think that if I went to a community college for a semester or two, my GPA would improve. I would likely get more grant money from the college then. The other problem is, I was really excited about soccer this fall. I took a year off last fall after playing at UMD. If I don't go to school there this fall, there will be no soccer (again)
Yes and yes. If you think you can get it done in 4-5 years, and can bear the cost, get your four year degree. There are many many jobs out that you will be disqualified from if you simply don't have a college degree. On the flip-side, if you are really hard up for money, a 2 year degree may be the way to go, especially given your interests. With a two year degree, you should be able to get certified in a field you like, get settled in a career path, and review your school options with your employer in the future.
Do what will make you happy. Only you can decide that. I bailed on a 4-year college after a semester and I'm doing fine.
Just put in the time and go through the stress if it is really what you want to do, you'll be happy you did it and hopefully your life will be a bit more fufilling because of it.
Go to school. Try U of M twin cities campus. Dont even think about not going to college at all. In the world we live right now you pretty much have to go to college to get any satisfactory job. Or you will have to spend years in lower position jobs, pray that you dont get laid off and grow in positions.
+1 Experience is HUGE in getting jobs these days as well, I guess it all depends on the field and industry.
For sure. If you are a skilled welder and have zero education, but can weld and fab things like God you can get a great job and be paid a ton. But how often does this happen?
A degree will get you a job, but experience (and honestly, who you know and how you network) will get you raises and promotions.
yes, get your 2 year degree, then get into your career. Start getting experience in it, and your possible employer might pay for your schooling. Ive used that option at my last job, saved lots of money
Degree is like a key to a box with puzzles in it and directions how to put them together but if you are not experienced and just simply not very "smart" degree will not help you much.
I vote option 4... become a lifelong student. Seriously. First thing to do, if you haven't already, is check to see if you currently qualify for subsidized school loans. Subsidized loans are based on "financial need." Basically, you take out the loan and don't incur interest on it until after you graduate. Then you continue taking classes at half time load for the rest of your life (or however long it takes you to land the job that allows you to afford to pay off your loans on top of your other expenses). Your loans don't go into repayment status until 6 months after you graduate or stop taking classes. So you can either A. not graduate, or B. continue earning higher degrees. This way you never have to re-pay your loans, assuming you continue to take classes. After you earn your bachelors, you could look for an employer that will pay for part or all of your continued schooling... for example, UofM pays up to $5200 a year tax free through the Reagent's scholarship program. So you could continue to earn your masters as you work to pay off your undergraduate loan and pay your daily expenses. If you choose to stop taking classes, you will have to start paying off the loans. However, the assumption is that by that time you will be earning enough to afford another monthly payment on top of your other expenses. You could also take a break for a while, pay off some of your loans, then re-register for half time course load... putting your school loan payments on hold again. Check out this site if you haven't already: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/
my question is. are you done at UMD now? do you have your bachelor? if you do or don't it makes a huge difference. If you want to go to grad school there is always on option of applying for an assistantship, like a TA or an RA position. That's what I do. Unless you are the top of the top I wouldn't go to a small school because there aren't many funds in small school.
You do mean grad school as in a Masters/PhD program right? If it is, and you haven't completed your Bachelors, you can pretty much kiss getting admitted goodbye. Even if you take the GRE and ace it, without having an undergrad degree completed you will be lucky to get in. Finish your undergrad first, don't put the cart before the horse. -Steve
