<p>I am a current senior at UWash and in a very sticky spot.</p>
<p>I was under the belief that the three classes I am taking this fall quarter are the last three classes I need to graduate. However, I received an e-mail from my degree auditor informing me I will have one more class I need to take. </p>
<p>There are several other restraints that are working against me.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I cannot take this class at a JC. Its a UWash specific upper-division course, thus a JC route to finish my BA degree is off the table.</p></li>
<li><p>I dont have the financial means to pay for one more quarter just to complete one course. It would run me $5,000 to stay another quarter (tuition, books, housing, etc.)</p></li>
<li><p>My parents are unwilling to help me financially. My parents kicked me out of the house when I was 18 and I have been on my own ever since. I have financed my college education thought state & federal grants, work-study and scholarships. Never had a very strong relationship with my parents. Thus, the option of going back home to live with my parents to save money is also not a consideration. </p></li>
<li><p>My financial aid is up after this quarter. I am technically a fifth-year senior because I am doing a current fall term of my fifth year at UWash. My financial aid will no longer kick-in after the end of this Fall term. I have petitioned for assistance from the Dean of Financial Aid and the Vice Provost of Student Affairs to help me out; both replied, Sorry, we cant. Are budgets are strapped.</p></li>
<li><p>I dont qualify for private student loans. I have a solid credit history but not enough to get the money I need to finance just even one quarter. I have no possible co-signers within my family or feel comfortable asking a good friend.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My only option is to take the class during summer session, which would be cheaper than taking it during the quarter because I would be paying by the unit. This combined with the cost of living for the 6-week summer session would set me back $2,300. I have exactly that amount in my savings. However, how am I going to live between January 12 until June 12 when I need that savings to take my class. I am scrambling to have a job lined up but this economy absolutely sucks.</p>
<p>I am just worried. I am so close to being done with my college degree. I have done well in school, have clear and defined plans of attending graduate school but I have to overcome this battle. </p>
<p>I need help.</p>
<p>Do you agree with the conclusion of the degree auditor, or do you think they have made a mistake?
Do you need that class to fulfill the requirements of a specific major? Can you switch your major to another major for which you have already met the requirements?</p>
<p>Where were you going to go once you graduated in December? If you’re living off campus and the rent is reasonable, is it possible for you to get a job locally and just take the one class in the spring semester? I’m thinking that would save the expense of moving away, then back again, and you could pay your living expenses from your earnings. Will graduating later than May interfere with your grad school plans?</p>
<p>Tryintofend: First, go back and talk with the degree advisor and see if that person can help by checking if there is some other way to look at your coursework and the requirements. If not: Time for a talk with the chairman of your department to try and figure out some other options since $5000 for one course is out of your means. They might include: 1. Permission to add the course (late) THIS term, take an incomplete (with the assistance of the dean) and a plan to attend the class and complete the requirements next term; 2. Waiver of that course in favor of some course that you CAN take through some other means that doesn’t cost $5000; 3. Some kind of independent study you can undertake this quarter that would meet the degree goal, with help from the Dean in making it possible.</p>
<p>Your case is particularly stronger if you’d been led to believe (and still have some kind of email or documentation) that you’d be good to go with these last three classes. Deans and department chairs can and do make exceptions if the reasons are compelling enough.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you. And for others who may be seniors next term (or next year) PLEASE sit down with your advisor to do a degree check now and get something from the advisor that shows very specifically what is required to finish. The OPs story is painful, and unfortunately common.</p>
<p>Since theoretically, you have not finished your degree, you should minimally still be eligible for aid (stafford loans, any pell you may have received, etc).</p>
<p>I agree with sk8rmom, is there any reason that you cannot take the one class during the spring term?</p>
<p>First - just want to express my sympathy - what a truly awful situation.</p>
<p>Is there an academic dean or equivalent that you can speak to? It seems the university is partly at fault - I would hope that they would work with you to rectify the situation.</p>
<p>What if you could stay for the next quarter with free housing - and just pay tuition/books for the one class. I’m thinking maybe you could be an RA? Is there some other option you could work out with the university to work for the school in turn for free housing?</p>
<p>Or - trying to find cheap off campus housing and even a part-time job to get through to June 2012 - then take the last class in the summer session as you mentioned. </p>
<p>What would you be doing otherwise? If you were graduating right now - do you have a place to live or a job?</p>
<p>I think you have to be aggressive with the university to get them to help you solve this situation.</p>
<p>Is taking the required class online an option? Tons of accredited universities offering that route nowadays. You could to that right away and it would be cheap.</p>
<p>Why on earth would your degree auditor wait until your last semester to tell you that you need another course? I would certainly check that they are correct and question them about that. </p>
<p>You may end up needing to work, possibly even two jobs, until you have the financial means to pay for that course. Do you have credit cards? Maybe you could qualify for one if you have good credit and put some of the course cost on that (though I would use that as a last resort). If it is your first card, your credit limit may not be that high but it would prevent you from draining your full bank account. </p>
<p>Are there any little jobs you have time for now, such as babysitting, cleaning, tutor, etc. that would help you save up some more?</p>
<p>siliconvalleymom: My degree auditor conclusively showed that I was indeed a class short. My academic counselor overlooked the fact I was a class short, as did I when we spoke in June. Also, I cannot switch majors. If I have completed the lower-division and upper-division for a major I am locked in. Its a major I love and the reqs. for even the closest aligned major to mines would require more school. I appreciate your response thou.</p>
<p>sk8rmom: Honestly, it was my intent to move to Portland, Oregon with the only family I know would help me with living rent free until I got a job. I am living off-campus with my total living cost being a little under $600. I think I need to underscore something here. Taking the classes in the winter or spring quarters would be a financial mistake. I need to take only one course. During the fall, winter, and spring term UWash charges you roughly $3,500 in tuition regardless if you are 1, 2, 3, or more classes. Its the standard rate. During the summer however, I would just pay by the unit. Since the course I need is a 4-unit class. I would pay $200 per unit because that is how classes are rated during the summer, by the UNIT. Furthermore, the summer is much better because its shorter. I would dread being school for a semester, for one class, when I can knock it out during a short, six week session.</p>
<p>My problem is where do I go between Jan. 12’ until June 12’. I essentially will be homeless if I can’t get a job. Could I apply for welfare assistance and foodstamps during this 6-month window. </p>
<p>Lastly, my graduate school plans require I have a B.A. completed before August. My summer session would end in July. That is why I need a game plan.</p>
<p>Tryintofend: The fact that your academic counselor missed this in June should hold some water with your department chair or academic dean, and that’s the route I’d pursue. Particularly for a student headed off to graduate school next year, I’d think they’d find a way to make this work out, but you need to initiate it with the folks who have that authority.</p>
<p>arabrab: That academic counselor is no longer here. Whatever proof I have was by way of our conversation and she is not here, even in the state, to vouch for me. Her UWash issued e-mail no longer works so contacting her was a huge failure.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it’s typical that the degree audit is done close to graduation. Right now, my students planning to graduate in May are completing their paperwork; they should hear before spring semester if they need a specific class.</p>
<p>My son was told <em>after</em> walking in graduation that a class that his advisor assured him would count for a history requirement did not in fact count. He had to take that class after graduating…and they were remarkably flexible once it was clear that he wasn’t going to enroll again. Schools need to report 4-year and 6-year graduation rates, and they will often bend over backwards to make sure someone can be finished in time to make their numbers look good.</p>
<p>OP: have you spoken with your department advisor or the department chair yet? They might be able to work out some options for you, including perhaps an independent study version of the class that you could “take” while living with your relatives and looking for work/working.</p>
<p>Stay where you are from December to June. Get a job or two or three to pay your bills and save up the tuition for the summer term. Then take the class in the summer. It makes no sense to move twice.</p>
<p>What is the cost of off campus housing if you live with roommates? Can you make rent and utilities and food after taxes if you work a minimum wage job 40 hours a week? Is there public transportation so you can broaden your job search?</p>
<p>i agree with sandiego…check if there is anyway to take the course online… either now or right after this semester…may need waivers…but if they are just telling you now, perhaps they will work with you</p>
<p>I’m still stuck with your comment, “one class short”. Did you not have enough total credits (generally about 120 credits) or is it that your major requires X number of credits and you have X-4 or is it that you needed to take a specific class and you didn’t? How did your advisor overlook such an important piece? Can you go back and recalculate?</p>
<p>I went through this with my son’s graduation audit. He needed a major and a minor and the minor required he take a class that was only offered in the fall, which he tried to take but the class was oversubscribed. In the end, the department head made an exception. Maybe this kind of wrinkle will smooth itself out if you can talk to the Head of the Department. I’m sure it helped that I was there as my son’s advocate, but maybe you can go in with an advisor or mentor.</p>
<p>Note to self: check my other kids’s schedule to be sure they’re on the 4-year plan.</p>
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<p>Why couldn’t you figure out yourself what classes you needed to finish your degree? Don’t you have a degree plan? It is not that hard to figure out.</p>
<p>I ****ed up. Plain and simple. Its my own fault that I am in this position. I did not keep close watch on the classes I needed to fulfill my major because I was given the green light with my tentative schedule junior year to finish out my major. However, I then found out that I did not take into account my senior seminar course, which I thought I was waived out of according to my counselor who I had during my first and second year.</p>
<p>But as oppose to dwelling on how this could or shouldn’t have happened, I am trying to find a solution. insomniatic, no disrespect, but get with the program and don’t try to drown me in negative comments 
I already have evaluated what I did wrong and now, I have learned from that life lesson and attempting to move on in a productive manner.</p>
<p>limabeans: I have 123 units however, I haven’t taken a required senior seminar to complete my B.A. degree.</p>
<p>That’s great that you aren’t blaming anybody else but yourself. Good luck!</p>