Overwhelmed. Need help for my tale of woe (please). Warning: it's long. :-(

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hello.</p>

<p>I am a 23 y/o student who is having a very tough time. For the sake of clarity I will tell you my long story from the beginning. (And please don't judge me as I have made very bad decisions in terms of my schooling lol)</p>

<p>I graduated high school in 2004 and enrolled in community college right after. I took a few classes (4) and only completed two and decided to withdrawal.</p>

<p>After this, I entered a "career school" (non-accredited) in 2006. I was enrolled in an Associates in Specialized Business program. About mid-way through this program I found out that this particular school was not accredited and I would have a hard time transferring these credits to a 4-year college. (This school does have enrollment agreements with two accredited colleges but they are too far from where I live and do not have a program I would be interested in.) So, I decided to leave and go back to the community college. All was well but I wound up withdrawing here too.</p>

<p>Fast foward to 2008. I re-enrolled in the career school which was happy to take me back. Unfortunately I had bad attendance and was terminated in the summer of 2008. After I paid back both the community college, and the career school, I decided to see if I could try and enroll in a traditional 4-year college. I was denied from every school I applied to. I hadn't earned enough credits at community college, and the career school credits where of no use (as far as I could understand).</p>

<p>I then tried re-enrolling to the community college but I was told that they could not "accept my financial aid due to having too many credits left to take". I was confused but what could I do? Without knowing what to do or where to go, I called the career school. They offered to take me back (again) as they now have new staff. They told me that I would be finished soon and it would be no problem, so, I re-enrolled as of 9/09. Classes were set to begin in October, which they did. From the first day I attended, they had problems with my scheduling. I was put in classes I had already received advance standing for. Apparently the classes I needed to take did not align with the schedule of the rest of the students. Their option was to put me in a class I already took (Psychology) for "attendance purposes" without me doing any work. The class was four weeks and I attended it for three. The teacher of this class told me to find out where I was going next, as this class would be ending soon. I was then approched by a former teacher who suggested that I work one on one with him to complete assignments in leiu of sitting through that class or any others that I have already taken. He said he would need to run it by the dean. </p>

<p>This monday I was to get word from the dean what the outcome would be. She brought me in her office and told me that I could not work with this teacher and that I needed to sit in class "like everyone else". I explained that showing up or doing the work is not a problem, I just don't want to be wasting my time. She said I could work one on one with another teacher to complete what I needed for my Legal Studies requirement. However, there was no teacher available for this until Thursday (today) and to come back then. Tonight I show up, ready to work and I am told by the Dean and the teacher I am to be working with that now they want me to attend school on Saturdays to complete my Legal Studies requirement. I was unhappy with this because a) I do not want to and cannot attend school on Saturdays and b) this is something that could be said to me on the phone, and not in person. I drove all the way there for no reason. After telling me I will be attending on Saturdays I was told (verbatim): "but you have to come in on Monday to see if you are really going to be coming in on Saturdays from now on. We have to make sure." What? I became increasingly irritated and explained that if my scheduling was going to be this convoluted, I should have been informed of this back in September. Also, I would have never re-enrolled if there was to be this many problems. I understand that I brought this upon myself in some ways, but I was never informed that coming back to finish my degree would cause such a hassle for everyone. What I really wanted was to find out what to do with my credits but since they offered to take me back, I figured it would be a solution to my problem and I could be finished quickly and on my way to a Bachelor's degree.</p>

<p>So the bottom line here is: I want to withdrawal. I am tired of getting the run around and also being treated poorly by the school officials. My questions are:</p>

<p>1) What happens to my financial aid? Do I owe the school?
2) Can I go somewhere else? Would I ever get into a 4 year school?
3) At the very least, is there an online degree I could get? Where do I go from here?</p>

<p>All I <em>really</em> want, is a bachelor's degree in the Social Sciences. I am afraid that I've messed myself up too much in order for this to happen. This can't be the only school on the planet. Help me please! :-(</p>

2

<p>I think you need to slow down, get out of the “career school” asap, and figure out the <em>real</em> information to put you on the path to an AA or BA or BS in Social Sciences. Put another way, don’t waste your time at a non-accredited school if what you <em>really</em> want is an actual degree in Social Sciences. The only time I’d advise someone to go to a non-accredited career school is if the person can see clearly how it will help them <em>immediately</em> get a decent paying job <em>immediately</em> upon graduation. For example, if the career school could be finished in less than a year or so, was not terribly expensive, AND the great job you’d get upon graduation when then support you through your 4-year accredited college plan, great. Do it. Otherwise, stop sinking your money in something that is just a side-show to your actual life goals.</p>

<p>Secondly, many students mess up their college path and go on to finish a degree. What you have described so far can all be worked with. Did you quit that career school yet? Do it now.</p>

<p>Third. You need to get familiar with how financial aid works - to talk to people and read actual documents from FAFSA sites online until you understand it inside and out. Also, to get familiar with all the scholarship, pell grants, cal-grants (for California students if applicable) available. The reality is that you need to <em>fund</em> your education and it will probably take a combination of a lot of hours working and saving money combined with some financial aid (if you qualify) or scholarships/grants (again if you qualify). If you qualify for no aid whatsoever, you will simply have to take 1 class at a time until you can figure out something else and work fulltime - thousands upon thousands of people do this every year.</p>

<p>So to try to answer your questions.</p>

<p>1) Yes, you owe your school/s any money due to them. Maybe you are able to withdraw early enough to not owe everything for this semester - but it doesn’t sound like it (usually one has to withdraw in the first 10% or less of classes - once that deadline passes you owe the money regardless if you drop or not). While the administration at the career college sound a bit inept, the bottom line is that you’ve been around them for several years now and you signed up for the classes. </p>

<p>2) Yes you likely can go to a 4 year school. The path is most likely going to a Community College part time, perhaps paying with cash (ie: no loans, which it sounds like you don’t qualify for currently). You may need to be at square one, since it sounds like career college credits aren’t accepted at the community college (and this is not unusual). Finish an AA or AS with the best GPA you can manage and MANY 4 year colleges will then accept you as a transfer student. </p>

<p>3) I don’t recommend an online degree… most of them are not very well regarded and they can often be as expensive if not moreso than brick-and-mortar schools. I see you needing a local community college where you can work with a ReEntry program. Lacking a ReEntry program, at a CC that has decent counselors to guide you through their AA/AS program. But remember that YOU need to read their college catalog from front to back and understand what it takes to get the 2 year degree. And while going to CC, YOU need to research the affordable 4year colleges nearby and figure out their minimum requirements for transfer and do well enough in your GPA to be a viable candidate (in today’s climate, minimum isn’t always good enough to get in… so figure out what the average student needs to have for a GPA to more or less be guaranteed acceptance as a transfer. For example, in California, the minimum GPA for most CSUs is a 2.0 but impacted majors is a 2.6 but in reality one should have a 3.0 in order to be competitive). </p>

<p>As for your question about Financial Aid. My understanding is that the federal program FSFSA requires that in order to be eligible for the aid, reasonable progress toward a degree needs to be maintained… thus, someone who flouders at a freshman or sophomore level for many credits beyond what normally is considered that 1st or 2nd year ends up being disqualified. I really don’t know the exact rules on this, but that’s what you should be asking about with a FA officer at a community college. Figure out if you are eligible (make sure they know your WHOLE FA history). Figure out when and if you will qualify in the future.</p>

<p>Network. Ask questions. Research options. But the biggest thing I can say is that you just need to do this one step at a time. I do recommend the AA/AS route first. And you need to find a mentor/advocate that can help you figure out the maze that seems to have eluded you so far. There is no short cut (ie: career school as a path to a Soc degree) and the reality is that you probably only have 2 classes toward your actual final Soc degree. That would mean you have 4, but more likely 8 years at part-time pace to get your Soc degree. So start strategizing how you can make a living while going to school part time.</p>

<p>And in case no one has counseled you on this yet - do not, do not, do not, especially for a Soc degree (which is generally a low paying career) take out more than the maximum 23K for your ENTIRE BA degree. I would recommend far far less. And if you are carrying a lot of loans already, I recommend you pay as much of that off as you can in the meantime. Nothing wrong with taking a year and working 2 jobs to hack away at useless debt.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>