<p>Hey folks, I know that I am posting a lot of threads lately, but I'm absolutely desperate for cash right now and I fear that if I don't get some money soon, that I will drop out of college altogether. For you see I have a multitude of health problems. I have awful PTSD from violence. I also have a stomach problem that makes me throw up after every meal, and I don't even know why. Finally, let's just say that I have a urology problem that constantly bugs me (I know it's not an STD though, thank God). Anyway, I constantly suffer with these health problems and can't afford to fix them. </p>
<p>Anyway, as you can see, I need money now! I am currently an IS student at the University of North Florida, and I'm thinking about paying out of pocket to take some side classes in a community college to get some certifications or whatever so that I can work. What types of certifications, or classes or whatever, can I take to get work in the computer field right away? I've tried to get a job that requires no schooling or certifications before, and they all basically sucked. They were all minimum wage jobs that I had to fight for hours for. So what should I do? Should I pick up one of these website development certificates, or an A+ certification and try to get a help desk job, or what?</p>
<p>EDIT: Also let me say that all of my classes tend to be during the daytime, so are there any certifications or whatever that could get me a job preferably in the night time? That's not THAT important though.</p>
<p>Okay. Firstly, get to whoever is your college help person. Ask about what medical help is available to students. There might be help available you don’t know about. </p>
<p>Secondly, find out about campus opportunities. Again, stress how vital it is to help keep you in school. Wring out every possible piece of help and advice available to you from the college while you can. You never know. Don’t give up. </p>
<p>As for the PTSD, if the campus counselling service can’t help, see if there are any local non-profits or women’s aid groups locally (assuming you’re female. Apologies if not).</p>
<p>It might be appropriate to take a year or two out from college if you aim a bit higher and look for work in an office or customer service role that offers insurance. Easier said than done these days, I know. Anything at the airports with the various airlines or service teams? You could then also do some courses online or in your spare time.</p>
<p>Don’t spend any more money if you’re already struggling. I think it’d be counter productive. Watch your spending, economise as you can but make sure you’re eating well and taking care of yourself. </p>
<p>Remember, there’s no rush to finish college. I really feel for you. I’m not working right now due to severe depression. I’m lucky in that my family have put a roof over my head but I do worry about getting back into work after a couple of years of, even with a degree and old teaching cert and plenty of work experience.</p>
<p>Take things slowly. Look after yourself and seek out the help on your doorstep. You’re not alone nor the only one in your predicament. You WILL graduate. You just need to be a bit creative in getting there. Very best wishes to you.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve talked to my school and to tell the truth, it’s really no place for poor people. The college is mostly filled with people that have money, so they really don’t make many reasonable accommodations for people that don’t have money. There are no online classes at UNF, and there are no night classes either. This makes it VERY hard to work and go to school.</p>
<p>Also, I really have no one to help me. I live with my father and my brother. My father is an ex con whom is trying to put him life back together but is having a very hard time doing so. He literally looked for a year and a half for a job, and all he found was a lousy minimum wage Burger King job. Plus, my mom is also a felon as well. My mother and my father can not help me what-so-ever. To tell the truth I have more money than my mother and father. </p>
<p>I am completely independent and I have no one to rely on if things go wrong. Therefore I am handling my medical problems completely on my own. My life is very hard right now. I am considering going to a local college called, “Jones College”. The college is ACCS accredited but not regionally accredited. I’m not sure if that would give me problems or not though in later trying to get a masters. All I know is that they have both evening and online classes, and this would make it much easier to work and go to school.</p>
<p>I should also mention that I want to work and drop out of school, but that seems like a waste of time, because I’m getting just as much money in student loans at the moment. So I need to find a way that I can work and take out student loans. I think that this would finally enable me to take care of my medical problems.</p>
<p>The money from student loans is not equivalent to a low wage job. The cash from the loan is debt and they’ll come after you forever to get you to pay it back. If a minimum wage job is all that you can do then I wouldn’t consider it a lousy job. I’d consider it a temporary position for a year or so to develop a good work history. Think of moving up in life equivalent to running a marathon. It may take you a long time to get there but you are less likely to look for the quick fix (fail) and become discouraged. </p>
<p>Have you considered whether you could join the military? Yes, it will require several years of service but the educational benefits from the GI bill are tremendous. You might be financially better off going that route. Alternatively, go work at any job you can get and slowly earn an associates degree when you have funds and time. Use after-work hours when not at CC to improve your math skills and take free on-line courses.</p>
<p>It’s a drastic step, but this is what I did when I ran out of money for college. You can make it a condition of enlisting that you get a job where they train you how to program.</p>
<p>I get where the guys above are coming from. But the OP wouldn’t be admitted with her current health conditions. </p>
<p>Would switching college be an option- to one with much better support for students in unusual circumstances? I’d avoid the one without the regional accreditation. Switch down to a community college and transfer back to university in 2 years, saving yourself a fair bit of money?</p>
<p>If you can’t get help from your local colleges then you need to prioritise you health. Investigate companies with health care. You seem driven to improve your circumstances. Your parents are trying to go straight. Good for them. This is the time to focus on you. Poor health scuppers students all the time. Cancer, road accidents, leukemia, meningitis. But these students do get through eventuality. Oh, and have a look for local scholarships you might be in a position to apply for. Money lurks in funny places :)</p>
<p>Yeah, I can’t join the military people because my health is too crappy. However, I believe that I have now come up with an alternative plan. What I am going to do is to go back to my old community college and apply to their A.S. program in I.T. I will take out private loans from a bank in order to do this, but I will get a part time job while doing this, so that I don’t have to take out the tremendous amount of loans that I was taking out before. Also, keep in mind that my old community college is 1/3 the price of my current University. I will keep taking out loans though however, because I just don’t feel like I can depend on a part-time, minimum wage job to pay my bills. The pay at most minimum wage jobs that I have seen has been very inconsistent: they seem to never give you the same amount of hours from week to week, and it seems like it’s a constant fight for hours. I don’t feel like I can depend on a minimum wage entirely to pay the bills. </p>
<p>So I will do this until I can pick up a few computer certifications, and then I will try to get a full-time job as an I.T. guy once I get the A.S. degree. After that, I will then apply to the B.A.S. program at my community college, and by this time financial aid will once again pay for the rest of my Bachelor’s degree. Then I can stop taking out the loans and just work full-time and go to school part-time. This will work because once I get the full-time I.T. job I believe that I will have enough to afford a car and this will make all the difference. This will allow me to work and go to school because it will free up a lot of time for me because it will mean that I don’t have to ride the bus anymore. After all, riding the bus literally takes about 16 hours a week off of my available schedule, and wastes a lot of my precious time. So that’s basically my plan.</p>
<p>Yeah this plan isn’t going to work. I just looked into getting private loans and it appears that I can’t get them because my credit is horrible. It looks like I am going to have to come up with a new plan. It also looks like I am going to have to stay at my current school at UNF. Someone else here mentioned scholarships: are there any scholarships out there that will pro-rate you based on the number of classes that you are taking like the Pell grant does? I can’t go full time because of all the stupid prerequisites that there are in the information science degree.</p>