I'm 27, in debt, don't have a degree yet, and have no idea what I should do with my life

Parent Cafe
1

I’m in $110k of student loan debt, I think. My parents and aunt are helping me pay it off right now but I’m taking a break because my mental health is not great right now.

I went to art school for two years straight out of high school, Massachusetts College of Art, then the Rhode Island School of Design, then had to leave because my cosingner decided halfway through my year at Risd that I was taking out too much money. I still owe them some, but after three years my parents were able to pay them enough for them to release my transcripts one time to colleges.

I then went to Worcester State University for a year, where I technically majored in psychology, but I did pre-reqs for nursing school. I got a 3.4. Then I transferred to Becker College where I majored in nursing for a year. I was the only one firat semester in my class to make the deans list. I did part of my third semester there, but I had to withdraw due to mental health. That was in the fall of '14.

I then transferred to a local community college and was going to major in nursing but I had to much going on at home (abuse) so I couldn’t handle it and had to switch majors for my sanity. That was in the fall of '16. But I had to withdraw because I was hospitalized for migraines and they were so disabling I wasn’t able to keep up.

That brings me to now. I am still dealing with mental health challenges, currently PTSD, both from my parents’ abuse (who I still live with, but am working with a case manager, and hopefully soon the department of mental health, on moving out), and from being raped at the end of June. I’ve been hospitalized twice since then. The rape was very traumatic and unfortunately it looks like the DA isn’t going to take my case, but I think I’m becoming stable enough to think about the future again.

I have a job as a PCA/CNA (nurses aide) at a hospital, and they’ve been very considerate by holding my job for me even though I haven’t worked in a while. However, I don’t want to do this forever. I have come to dislike my job. I also know both from this and my time in nursing school that being a nurse MAY be too stressful for me.

These are jobs I’m considering:

  • Victims’ advocate (for rape victims;maybe not a long term solution because the pay is low)
  • Psychologist
  • Social worker (18 classes left to bachelor’s degree in psychology)
  • Artist (broad, I haven’t decided on what specialty yet, but is a huge passion - see previous posts)
  • psychiatric nurse practitioner
  • SANE nurse
  • Art therapist
  • Computer programmer
  • Detective in the sexual assault unit (would need to become cop first)
  • something else?

Does anyone have any other suggestions or thoughts on how I can best achieve any of these goals? Nursing was incredibly stressful for me and art doesn’t pay well, so I’m kind of at a loss as to what I should do, and I feel like the clock is ticking. Art is my passion, but it just doesnt pay, unless maybe I did something else too (which had kind of been my plan with nursing but that didn’t work). But helping peoplease is a passion too, and I would also love a job in psychology, even if it meant spending time at the CC and then state school. I’m really lost in life right now. I could use some guidance. My mental health has gotten in the way lately and the social workers haven’t been much of a help with career advice.

Anyone have any suggeations? I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.

2

Mirror- big hug to you. You’ve had a lot of challenges.

My suggestion is that you table the idea of going back to college for now, work on regaining your health, and see if your hospital can put you on a reduced schedule to ease your way back into the workworld.

I am not sure why you think being a pscyh nurse practitioner is going to be less stressful than being an RN- I know a few, and I think it is significantly more stressful than other nursing careers (you could work in a school setting for example- not a high stress nursing path. You could work for a health insurance company on case reviews- less stressful than primary patient care). And I’m going to lump victims advocate, psychologist, and detective into the high stress bucket as well.

It is wonderful that you are looking at the helping professions. But all of them (or most of them) will require either a Bachelor’s or an advanced degree (psychologists have either a PsyD or a PhD- so lots and lots more years of university). So maybe your near term plan is to work in regaining your health, figuring out a plan to move out, and going back to a work setting where they know you and perhaps will work with you on a flexible schedule for now.

And you can figure out college down the road.

I have many friends who are psychologists. Other than the fact that you don’t have patients coding on the table in front of you, it’s a pretty stressful career. One of them testifies in child abuse cases-- is a specialist in domestic violence and pediatric psych. Very stressful. One does couples counseling- very stressful. One specializes in treating people with sexual identity issues- very stressful. And one works with both prison populations and parolees-- a lot of drug counseling-- and it is brutal.

I’d be going in a different direction entirely if I were looking for a career which was less stressful than nursing.

3

Your description sounds like you could use your art to help victims of abuse.

Isn’t there a therapeutic painting discipline where people use the art to recover from trauma?

Could you get your degree in Education/Counseling with the Art Discipline? That way you could be an art teacher that uses the art to help others heal. You may want to check out the Education dept. at your local state uni.

4

I’m curious why you put computer programmer in your list, but if you like programming and are good at it, that’s a considerably less stressful job than most of the others on your list, and it pays well.

If you like programming and are good at it, you might well be able to find a job now doing programming. Without a degree, you’d start on the low end of the payscale, but probably the low end of the software payscale is a lot higher than the low end of the nurse’s aide scale.

5

I like the idea of art teacher. I’d first investigate the job prospects. If they are slim, then I’d look into elementary Ed. I don’t of many careers that don’t come with stress. Psychology definitely comes with stress. Being a nurse in a doctor’s office or doing home health visits, or a school nurse, are less stressful that a hospital.

I’m sorry you have lived with so much stress in so few years.

6

I hate to give you the reality check, but you’re $110,000 in debt and looking at professions that, generally, don’t pay salaries high enough to get you out of debt. If you were my child, I would suggest you take some coding classes and get a somewhat high-paying job in a few weeks. Save your money, pay off your debts, move out, get your mental health back into a manageable state, and then take a deep breath and figure out what you want to do. Some school districts have “alternative routes” to teaching, so you might be able to get a teaching job with an art degree rather than an education degree. You might also be able to combine art and coding to create a freelance gig. Good luck!

7

You don’t list accounting, but you may want to look at that world. You could start as a bookkeeper, which is very employable and also learn to do taxes for people. Most people’s taxes aren’t that complicated and it would increase your income on a freelance basis above your regular bookkeeping job. Taking a local, cheap community college training in tax prep could set you up in this lucrative business. Over time you could then work into higher levels of accounting and finance training if you like this field. Community colleges have bookkeeping and tax prep training for not-too-much money.

Alternately, if you like computers, you might look into getting training for computer technician–called A+ certificate training–through community college. Joining a helpdesk for computers is a solid job and a field that you could work your way up in.

If healthcare is where you want to be, one field that seems in demand is radiology technician. you mentined Rhode Island schools. Looking at Rhode Island, radiology techs make about $30K-$93K per year, depending on various factors I’m sure. http://www.indeed.com/salary/q-X-Ray-Technician-l-Providence,-RI.html

There are a lot of shady places offering training in these areas and charging a lot of tuition. Don’t go to those schools. Go only to a local community college with cheap tuition.

8

“If you were my child, I would suggest you take some coding classes and get a somewhat high-paying job in a few weeks.” - maybe it is that easy at other locations. I leave in a city where many IT departments require a 4 year degree and there are many more of us, programmers with the huge amount of experience than the IT positions. In addition, this does not pay well at all at the beginning. I have over 30 years of experience and I am OK, I cannot say that I am needy, but I am definitely not rich and I am married. In addition to making close to 6 figures, I would advise to get married to somebody who is also reasonably paid. I do not know how else to pay off that much debt. I am sorry for being brutally honest, but I do not think that OP is expecting us to put rosy glasses on, the rosy glasses will not pay the bills. I also strongly believe that you need to talk to real professionals, seeking advice on CC is not going to work.

9

If you’re in a hole and you want to get out, quit digging.

10

Please consider that you need to get to a very different place in your own treatment and recovery before you attempt to take on working as a victim advocate, SANE nurse., counselor etc. You have been through a great deal of trauma and while it is wonderful (and natural) that you want to help others, you can only do that if you are coming from a position of strength. I oversaw a rape crisis hotline for 2 years and supervised about 30 volunteer telephone counselors. Many of them were also survivors of rape or abuse. A number of them had their own crises while doing this job, simply because they did not recognize that they had not yet reached the point in their own recovery where they were effectively able to help others. Instead, it became almost a form of self-abuse, because they were constantly triggered and having to relive their own experience through the experiences of others. Please know that you need to focus on your own recovery first. What does your therapist say? I’m so sorry that you have been through such a terrible time. Hugs to you.

11

Gosh, I think you should forget school for now and just keep being a CNA or get a different job. I would ask the question, “Why do I start so many things and then move to something else before I finish them?” When you get to the root of that, you’ll know more about yourself to make this kind of life-direction decision.

As far as longer term, it seems to me finishing either the art path or the nursing path (school nurse?? office nurse??) would be easier than starting down a new path.

If you must start down a new path how about dental hygienist? They make pretty good money and you can get qualified at a (cheap) community college. You work with your hands, which you must like to do since you like art.

12

Taking a break from what? From paying off the loan?

Who is the co-signer?

Now is Fall of '16. Do you mean Fall of '15

The trauma is understandable. I’m so sorry.

You should probably keep the job until you have a better one.

This is a difficult but not impossible situation. You have debt service at I’m guessing roughly $1000/mo. You have no degree, and you can’t get one without spending money that you don’t have. You still live in the presence of an abusive situation, so you need to find a way to move out and be self-sufficient. You need to find a way to make a good living with only moderate stress.

Fortunately, the Massachusetts economy is picking up. Not since the late 1990s have I seen an ad that says full-time work, no experience necessary, will train. Well I saw that at CVS. CVS is hiring pharmacy technicians. This sounds like an opportunity to get into a customer service role with some potential upside. Basically, anything where you are getting paid training is valuable educationally. You’ve paid enough for your education and haven’t gotten a lot of mileage out of it. Let someone else pick up the tab for a change.

I like the bookkeeper idea. Another idea is to become a bank teller. While initially it’s not a lot of money, you can rise to become a head teller or branch manager which pays pretty well. Most banks or credit unions provide training. It’s a pretty low stress job. Working in Home Depot or Lowe’s is not a bad way to go, they provide additional training.

Get an office administrator job. Then learn and gain more skills to move into an executive assistant role.

Also, try taking a civil service exam. Government jobs are very low stress and often have strong unions so the pay is good.

There are opportunities, you just have to be open to them.

Here are some from the state
https://massanf.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=160006DG

Mental Health worker, $31,000 per year.
https://jobs.hrd.state.ma.us/recruit/public/31100001/job/job_view.do?postingId=J55766&code=search.public&federalStimulus=no&workSchedule=full.time&locationId=4

https://massanf.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=160005CI

Good luck to you.

13

Work on getting out of the abusive home situation and your own mental health before you make any changes. Going back to school probably wouldn’t be productive. Keep the job you have and take care of yourself before making big decisions. Do you have a counselor or a support system? This could be a big help going forward. Good luck.

14

@redpoodles Dental hygienist is one of the highest paying professions that can be had with an associates degree. That said, at least around here (MA), this fact is no secret, and the competition for the few slots in the public community colleges is intense. For the OP, paying for more schooling is I think what Hanna is calling digging the hole deeper. Also, who knows how long the economy will stay strong around here. Getting into a job with upside while the getting is good seems like a potentially better idea.

15

@ClassicRockerDad Huh? Did you read my post? I think she should forgo more school for now. But if she DOES go down a new path, dental hygiene is short with a high return compared to what she is thinking of in her original post. She probably has a some of the basic classes done as well, given she completed pre-req’s for nursing school. She will likely qualify for decent grant aid at a MA community college.

16

^^my bad. I misinterpreted. I read the first half at a different time then I read the second half.

17

I you would be my child, I would strongly advice you to take a long-long break from college and get a real job. Clerical, secretary, sales associate. Nice and simple. Try to find a job, where you may help the others. Animal shelter? Church?

Please, put yourself back together. Education / career are not that important. Don’t sacrifice your heath and happiness.

18

Have you looked into AmeriCorps by any chance? I believe that they have programs that include living allowances, health benefits, and that qualify for student loan forgiveness.