My question is about my wife, and what her options are.
She is from Brazil and graduated with a BA degree in International Relations from Pontifica Universidade Catolica de Goias. This university is Officially accredited by the Ministry of Education in Brazil. We both live in Orlando, and there is ZERO opportunities for someone with her education. She is currently going through the immigration process, so she isn’t even allowed to apply to local governments or even embassies until this process is over. We are planning on relocating to South Florida after I complete my Associates Degree in Business Admin w/ International Business and Finance. She should be a legal citizen by then, and we were wondering if it would be possible for her to continue her education over here. He had coursework completed in Supply Chain Management in Brazil, but due to residency restrictions she was not allowed to remain in Brazil long enough to complete it.
My question is:
Will her BA Degree be honored over here in the US, or will she be required to start all over again?
She would be willing to go back to further her education over here, but is not willing to retake classes she has already passed, and go into massive debt. She is very hesitant due to the fact that colleges over here are expensive beyond belief in comparison to the ones in Brazil.
What kind of visa does she have? Once she has permanent residency, she should be able to seek jobs in her field as well as be able to enroll in college classes, if she needs any supplementary coursework. She should have her transcript from the PUC translated by a professional translator, either to apply for jobs or to graduate programs, should she wish to pursue a M.A. in her field.
She has permanent residency and have been living in the state for over 4 years, so she does meet the financial aid and residency requirements for attending college… however the only real work she is able to find around that her degree is useful for requires her to be a naturalized citizen (embassies, consulates, government travel related). International Relations BA degree is very difficult to find work in, especially when she uprooted from Brazil right after graduating, and does not have any documented experience US employers would understand over here.
We have been hearing the job opportunities are better in South Florida. All she is able to find here in Orlando is working as a booking agent in a call center, just two dollars above minimum wage. She was working towards postgraduate specialty in Logistics/Chain Supply Management. She had a few classes to take but the school went bankrupt over there. We were talking about me completing my degree, and relocating and she would go back and finish hers after we move. We would like to know if her degree and completed coursework will be honored over here. Her schools were both honored by the Ministry of Education in Brazil.
They will be, either directly - some universities in Florida actually have special ties to South American countries - or indirectly (she’ll have o pay for a course by course evaluation from a group such as Wes or Joseph silny… ) She may have to do 1-2 years at a US college together a ‘recognizale’ degree.
Right now, she could take Logistics and Supply Chain Management classes to increase employabiliy and have classes with grades that ‘make sense’ to local employers?
Thanks for the advice. She is pretty receptive to taking some courses to increase employment chances, what are your thoughts on this:
Completing a technical certificate in something like International Business/Business Operations or Supply Chain Management. They are offered locally and online, and don’t appear to have any courses that are outside the specialization she would be studying for. My thinking is that she could go to employers with a Bachelors Degree from outside the US, plus a specialized credentials from either a Community College or a better known Online School and have better chance of landing a good job.
or
Take some online courses through someplace like coursera.org, I have taken TESOL Certification Coursework that is delivered by ASU form this site. I am doing this to keep my options open about moving to Brazil with my wife if we are unable to secure adequate employment over here. Teaching English there requires only a TESOL Certification. The classes are challenging enough, and the tests/quizzes all seem to be college level. After completing the course, you are given a Specialty Certificate from the school, not coursera. I personally don’t believe this is as widely respected as technical education as they are marketing it as, although schools such as Rutgers and UF have execute classes and issue the certificate. With her Bachelors already completed, would it be worth it to pile on a few courses form a few well known schools, or will employers see right through this.
Since we relocating within the next 2.5 to 3 years, we won’t be taking out any $30,000 plus in student loans, if we do in fact move to Brazil that debt with the exchange rate would financially cripple us. I am paying for my AS degree out of pocket and with the help of my company’s tuition reimbursement (every little bit helps). She can manage to reinvest a few thousand to further her education, but we are not going into massive debt to do it.
Any thoughts, ideas, opinions, comments are more than welcome.
Supply chain management has better roi I think.
As a resident of Florida, she’s eligible for financial aid, and any community college certificate just to tide her over wouldn’t have to cost much, nor would having her degree evaluated so serious can be a junior or senior at a 4-year college, completing a degree that’s recognizable (in which case, a good college like fsu would help.) working for a university often brings tuition benefits, too - any possibility there, for example in Admissions for outreach toward Lusophone/portuguese speaking students?
The Community Colleges in Central Florida run very bare bones when it comes to staff, the majority of people you interact with are students working there for no monetary compensation, UCF positions are similar. We went to a job fair over there last year and the pay was so low it didn’t justify the gas, tolls to get there. We have bills and a mortgage to pay, so this is not an option.
With a relocation planned in the future, it is not wise to move with a huge student loan payment over our head. For now,it seems like her grabbing a few tech. certificates from a C.C. She may be able to get financial aid to help, and the credits will transfer if she decides she needs a degree in this country after we move and get established.
Thank You for the advice.
We are going to work on getting her transcripts and get them evaluated to see where she is at, and go from there.