Funding school non traditional student

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I am 29 years old and have been working full time for the past 12+ years. I was at one point a nursing major but soon changed that to science. I am pursuing my degree in mechanical engineering.</p>

<p>The issue that I am facing is being able to go to school full time and not having to work a full time job.
Right now I am at the community college taking some calculus courses and I will be transferring to the university soon to complete the degree. If anyone has taken engineering really of any nature you know how intense these courses are.</p>

<p>I currently work a full time job and I am paying out of pocket for my schooling at the CC. I am trying to raise money on my own through self started fundraisers, which let me tell you is no cake walk at all. People treat you like dirt and are down right rude. I have lost so called friends over this. </p>

<p>Right now I do not qualify for financial aid at the CC because I already have an associate degree and I am just taking the courses there because they are cheaper and the hours are better for my work schedule. </p>

<p>When I start at the university I should be able to obtain scholarships, potentially grants, and financial aid (loans), however to be able to utilize the most out of this I need to go full time. Obviously working like I do, I have only been able to go to school part time and it simply is just taking too long at this point to finish my degree. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any tips on how to get enough money to live off of and work only part time and not suffer. Granted I have bills that most adults do so keep that in mind, rent, car, insurance, ect. I honestly just feel lost with the whole financial aspect of it. I have a decent gpa 3.67 that can gain me scholarships but since I am older I am not really eligible for the good ones. I already have some loans and I am trying to avoid those as much as possible.</p>

<p>Has anyone been in a similar situation as me and if so, what did you do and what options are there? I know loans are options but I am trying to avoid that as much as possible. Engineers can make a decent living however I am already 20k in student loan debt from the nursing path I took, which I regret. We cannot change the past though.</p>

<p>What I am currently doing at the moment is that I am a chemistry lab tech and I work fri-sun for 12 hours and Monday for 4 hours. The truth is, I dont know how much longer they will let me work that schedule and they do not offer tuition reimbursement. </p>

<p>I would appreciate some constructive and helpful feedback that could help guide me in the right direction.
Thank you.</p>

2

<p>I suggest you stop asking people to fund you. I can understand why your ‘so called’ friends don’t want to fund your education.</p>

<p>Figure out how much the 4 year college costs, how much aid you can get, how much you can borrow, and then figure out when you’ll be able to fund that without working. Stop going to school and save up, quit, and go to school. Or figure out a way to go more than half time so you qualify for FA, but leave enough time to work.</p>

3

<p>I worked full time (32 hours every weekend) while I went to school full time and while being a single parent to a 14 year old. There was very little sleep that year but I survived. It’s what I needed to do to pay the bills.</p>

4

<p>Your age doesn’t disqualify you from the better grants, fellowships, scholarships as much as a previous degree would, which it sounds like you do not have? </p>

<p>I was in a similar situation years ago. I got a BA in psychology that I never really wanted, but had to finish a degree, I didn’t care about college then, finished with a 2.9. I spent a few years in retail and moved to management, hated it, tried to figure out what I wanted to do with my life at age 27, decided to work 40 hours a week and start a math major at the nearby CC part-time. Took 4 years to finish a 2 year degree because I was working. That was my call, because I didn’t want loans and CC was pretty cheap at the time. Finished my AS in Math with a 3.96.</p>

<p>I was accepted to 4-year program in Geology at another school. Now came a decision - do I work or go full-time and throw myself into school? I didn’t have the money to pay up front for tuition and other living expenses, and life is unpredictable, and the only thing you can do is try to make the best choice under any given set of circumstances, and only <em>you</em> know what they are for <em>you</em> - your bills, priorities, etc. </p>

<p>How badly do you want this degree???</p>

<p>I decided to take out loans and throw myself into school. I had a couple of opportunities to participate in some highly sought-after internships and student jobs on top of a family death, so that made my stay a little longer than expected. You’ve gotta go with the flow and move on, make the best of it, you can’t control every aspect of the experience.</p>

<p>I owe a lot in loans. But you know what? I finished with a 4.0 GPA, was an undergrad TA, got into a great grad school at first unfunded, deferred for a year, while I worked and established residency in CO, had to take classes part-time for a year, decided I did not like Hydrological Engineering, then got a GTA (full-funding) in the MS Geological Engineering program at Colorado School of Mines for 2 years.</p>

<p>I don’t regret anything I’ve done. What would be the point? Nothing will be perfect. I live modestly, my car is old but it runs. I got to where I wanted to be, and that’s that.</p>

<p>There are some schools that offer funding to undergrads, and that might offset loans, but these are usually offered upon acceptance or shortly thereafter because you would have filed a FAFSA form and the school would have determined if you were eligible. Have you visited the Financial Aid Office on campus? You could take out loans for a year and see how it goes. If you don’t like it, you can work part-time and try 12 credits (full-time), some students can handle that. I had a classmate work full-time and go to school full-time, and she did very well, but she was burned out. All depends on who you are and what you can handle. </p>

<p>How many credits from CC will count toward your engineering degree? Have you completed a course audit yet? You should have this info before the start of the upcoming Fall semester. See how many classes you need and see when they’re offered. Maybe you can finish in 3 years or less?</p>

<p>I just read somewhere the average age for grad school is 32, so don’t panic just yet :slight_smile: </p>

<p>P.S. Don’t ask for handouts :wink: I knew someone who did that, and yes, we held a poor opinion of her. She wanted money that others worked for without having sweated it out herself. </p>

5

<p>You may want to try running the net price calculators on the web sites of the four year universities that you may transfer to in order to get financial aid estimates.</p>

<p>It is hard for others to give you specific advice without knowing where you are or what schools you are looking at. From other posts, it looks like you are in the Dallas, TX area.</p>