I will try to make this post short and sweet. I am basically considering using one degree in order to get another one. I have my A.A. and am getting my B.A.S. degree from a local community college in Public Safety Management. My goal was to become a police officer, be a DEA agent or do something else in law enforcement. However, a little more than a year and a half ago, I was robbed at gunpoint and violently assaulted. I was later then diagnosed with PTSD and it’s very hard to shake this mental illness.
That being said, I think that my Bachelor’s in PSM will no longer be valuable to me. My college offers a Technical certificate in computer programming and I really want to pursue that but can’t because I am out of A.A. credits to use with fafsa and only have bachelor’s credits left. That being said, I want to continue to take 2 A8 semester courses in A8 session and 2 C8 semester courses later in the semester. However, I would pay for the C8 semester courses out of pocket with the student loans that I am getting. Is this just a slick idea that I have or would this actually considered financial aid fraud?
You need to sit down with your academic advisor ASAP and find out what your legitimate options for getting a degree in a field that works for you. Do not try to freelance on this one and it is a dumb idea to continue to wrack up student loans to get a certificate on top of an AA without even getting close to a Bachelor’s degree.
The thing is that I am not just randomly taking classes. They have a feature called, “degree shopping” under my student tools section. It points out the classes that I have already taken and how many correspond to this technical certificate. I could actually take classes for my main degree and then 2 classes out of my own pocket (with the loan money) each semester. I would only have 24 credits left to go to complete this degree.
I am worried because I am nearing the maximum amount of student loans that I can take out at a Bachelor’s level. I am actually surprisingly close to completing this B.A.S. degree and after this semester I will be 25 credits away from completing the degree. It’s just that it’s an entire year of school to go and I doubt the BAS in Criminal Justice will do me any good because of my PTSD. I just want to know if what I would be doing would be considered fraud.
I’m confused. You need 24 credits for the certificate and 25 for the degree? and they don’t overlap? it seems like a long trek to do both at this point. Are you certain that the BAS won’t be useful? Are there no other jobs which use that degree and don’t involve your PTSD issues? If you are intent on switching, it seems like talking to your academic advisor is a good place to start.
More of a long shot, but look into your state’s office of vocational rehabilitation. This is a state block grant program that varies wildly from state to state. But the idea is to keep people with disabilities in the workforce by having the state pay for education or training. See if training for a job that is appropriate for someone with PTSD is covered. If it’s covered in your state, you’d get free tuition.
With a BA you can get alternative certification to teach K-12 if someday you decide you want to that. Or teach in a private school immediately. With a BA you will be able to apply to a wide range of graduate programs (MBA?) down the road. With a BA in criminal justice you can get a job working for your state on legislation or funding for alternative sentencing programs (but in policy- never going near an actual criminal or lawbreaker) or get a job at an educational think tank which studies the links between kids who are reading below grade level and incarceration (there are some very disturbing studies on this issue).
Are there any options other than law enforcement type work that your PSM degree could be used for that may appeal more and be feasible with your ptsd issues? Disaster management, like FEMA? Homeland security at the federal or state level? If you have not already done so, visit your college’s career services, they may have suggestions for you. Perhaps you work for an employee who could help pay for you yo attend the computer classes.
Yeah the more and more I think about it, the more that makes sense. It is a 120 credit B.A.S. degree and according to the my degree audit I am only 31 credits shy including this semester of getting that degree. I am very very close to the finish line. I am dependent on the loans to keep me from having to work 2 jobs just to make ends meet, so I need them to stay intact while I am going to school. However, I have been thinking about it and I could just take out loans and take two A8 classes each semester and 2 C8 classes each semester and pay for them out of pocket, and still successfully finish the degree this academic year so the plan would be structure as such.
Fall 2017
Take 6 credit hours A8 semester (Financial Aid)
Take 6 credit hours C8 semester (pay out of pocket after I get my student loans)
Total 12 credit hours
Spring 2018
Same routine as Fall 2017 but I take an additional 1 credit hour lab in A8 semester
Total 13 credit hours
So the office of vocational rehabilitation provides state grants and would completely pay for my education if I can prove that I have PTSD? If this is true, then I have multiple psychologists and psychiatrists that could confirm this. However, what if I already have a Bachelor’s degree (if/when I chose to get this one)? Would they pay for additional training for me?
Yeah, I guess there are other options. I just wonder how hard it would be to acquire such jobs? Right now I am really just absolutely desperate to get gainful employment that would allow me to make even a $15 an hour wage.
A very brief overview of my work experience and core competencies:
-I have worked as an an office assistant in 2010 for a total of one year.
-I have 5 years of customer service experience combined.
-I have 3 years of experience in the security field (the field that I am currently working in now).
-I am very computer literate, know Microsoft Office like the back of my hand, and can type 60 WPM.
-I am a former sales manager and used to train sales personnel, used to to do business to business sales, and used to screen applicants for the the hiring managers.
NOTE
The first thing that you are likely thinking is, “Why on earth do you not go back into sales”? The answer is that the sales field is extremely confrontational and it really aggravates my PTSD to the point of where I don’t believe that I would be successful doing such a job at this particular juncture in time.
Also NOTE
I know that with my skill set that I am being grossly underpaid, it’s just that with the current job market I am constantly preached the gospel of, “Be lucky that you even have a job in this economy”, and therefore I really don’t know what I am qualified for anymore and what I am not qualified for because it seems like everyone in this day in age is doing a job that they are over qualified for, and it really seems that the theme of complete Social Darwinism rules this economy.
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@VinnyLugo You need to research how it works in your state. The federal government gives the state a block grant to get people with disabilities into the workforce, and the state decides how to spend it. You’ll have to call and ask.
Oh no you misunderstand. I agree with you fully. The plan is now to finish the Bachelor’s first and then figure out what to do from there. Im not going to even touch the certificate until I do that. Go back and look at post #9 where I laid it all out completely.
Meet with your academic advisor and see if you can switch majors. Maybe there is something else that will work, like statistics, data analytics, political science, sociology, public administration that might be unable to give you new skills and your current credits might count towards. Or even computer science.
No. Sadly that won’t work. My time in college has been kind of a struggle really. Now keep in mind that I just turned 29: I am running kind of bone dry right now on Financial aid. This is my last year of receiving loans/Pell grants. After this year, I am paying on my own. Luckily I should be able to graduate this year. After that, I am paying out of pocket if I want another degree.
Ok so I will be returning to Jacksonville, Florida on October 2nd. I made an appointment with one of my most trusted Professors and told him exactly what I just told all of you in this forum, and he said that I can meet with him next week to discuss career options. So there’s that, and I will be meeting with an adviser next week to talk about a plan of success to finish this degree by this Fafsa school year.