should i go back to community college, stay, go, what?

Paying for College
1

<p>Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but my question is largely financial in root, relative to student loans.</p>

<p>I'm 24 years old, and have 56 credit hours towards a philosophy degree. For a long time my parents echoed the "get any degree, just get a degree" sentiment; I now realize how foolish I was for taking this advice. I'm not good at sales and don't want to be a lawyer. My GPA is mediocre. Frankly, I don't know what to do. I have 40-ish grand in student loans already, which is a massive burden. I know this kind of fiscal irresponsibility is my fault, and I'm ready to take smart steps towards living a financial responsible life. </p>

<p>So, now what? I don't like my chances at getting a job with a liberal arts major, particularly because I don't like where I live. My goal is to live elsewhere ASAP, and the jobs liberal arts majors get at my university are either A)in retail for 8 an hour or B)local sales-type jobs. I don't have any interests that translate to a career; so, I'll do anything. My math background is weak (I'm taking non-credit algebra 2 this summer. Embarrassing), but I'm working on improving it starting this summer at a community college. </p>

<p>What would you do in my situation? I can take 16 credit hours this summer to next and graduate with a BA in philosophy at age 26, but that seems irresponsible to me. I have floated the idea of enrolling in a community college med lab tech program, as well as a variety of other 2 year programs. </p>

<p>Does anybody have any general recommendations? Am I being silly in forgoing the liberal arts degree at this point, particularly with my math background? </p>

<p>Thanks so much.</p>

2

<p>I have more questions than answers for you. Does your college have a career center where you can sit down with someone and talk this through? Leaving college out of the picture for the moment - do you have any ideas on a career path that interests you? Why did you choose to major in philosophy - what career path or life goals led you to that? Have you ever done any vocational testing - the type of thing where you pay a few hundred dollars and take a battery of tests to determine careers that you might be a good fit for? What types of summer jobs or part-time jobs have you held? Ever done an internship? I think you have a lot of thinking to do about your future and your goals before spending/borrowing one more penny on a philosophy degree.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for your reply.</p>

<ul>
<li>I’ve sat down with counselors and taken quite a few career aptitude tests. I’ve never really felt much utility in either; the results are always counter-intuitive, and largely contradicting. I have some interest in biology, and think the med lab tech program might be an OK job. But really, how can I know I’m interested in high-level biology without doing it? You can’t, insofar as I can tell. It sounds OK aesthetically, but I might get into it and find I hate it. </li>
</ul>

<p>-I majored in philosophy because it was easy and I didn’t know what else to do. I was told to stay in college to enter the next level financially by my parents, so I did. Embarrassingly stupid in retrospect; I can feel people wincing just reading that silliness. </p>

<p>-In the past I’ve worked retail, fast food, and pretty standard unskilled labor in factories, etc. Predictably, it all sucked pretty harshly.</p>

<p>-Never done an internship. I applied and interviewed for a few, but was not accepted.</p>

<p>I just have no direction and no idea what to do. It all sounds bad. I don’t think I have any notable talents or interests that translate to a career at all. I’m at a point where I’m so riddled with guilt and general depression about my situation that I’ll do whatever is the most financially prudent. My parents co-signed my loans, and I certainly owe it to them to pay them off independently, if nothing else. That’s really the only goal I have in life at this point. I’m far beyond even attempting real happiness, enjoyment in my career, etc. I just don’t want to be a burden.</p>

4

<p>You need a decent job, ASAP. A short med-tech or lab-tech program just might be the ticket for you. One of my nieces did the med-tech program at her community college and was out in the working world before her HS friends had even declared their majors at their 4-year schools. </p>

<p>The advising staff at your local community college work with students like you every day. Stop by and talk with them about your options.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Thank you. That was my thinking, too. Just anything that I can do, fast, to help pay the bills. While the med lab tech program doesn’t pay great (35K-ish), there is potential with a BS degree down the line to make 50’s to 70’s.</p>

6

<p>Ok - some random thoughts and suggestions:</p>

<p>First, and no offense meant, but have you considered being screened for depression? Speaking to a therapist/counselor? Some of your comments make me wonder if that might not be the root cause of your problem. It’s hard to tell if depression is contributing to your lack of a plan, or if the lack of a plan is just making you depressed, but it is something I would suggest you look into.</p>

<p>I can’t see the point in staying in college the way you are describing it. But - don’t feel so ashamed. Many people have no idea what they want to do career wise until they are in their 30s. many people switch careers once or twice during their lifetime. Many people go back to school in their 30s and 40s - I think you are being very hard on yourself.</p>

<p>On the surface, the med lab tech job sounds promising - think about the aging of our population - sounds like a field where jobs would be available.</p>

<p>Is there some adult in your life that you trust and respect that you can sit down with? Sometimes an adult other than a parent is best - less emotional.</p>

<p>I have a young cousin who had a little bit of a similar situation. He went to college with no clear major or plans - he liked to play video games - no real focus. He did not do well and left after one year. He tried to get a business degree in community college - very tough road for him - could not pass accounting. He finally switched to a general education degree at the cc and graduated with his associates degree. He got a job with Best Buy - then with Verizon - and just landed a new higher paying job in the electronics field. He supervises many people amd makes good money. Many family members encouraged him to complete a 4-year college degree - clearly - that as not meant to be. There are many other ways to be successful and happy.</p>

<p>So, those are my random thoughts for you. Hope I have been a tiny bit helpful. Good luck.</p>

7

<p>Because he’s already accumulated a lot of debt he needs to prepare for a good living.</p>

<p>Aren’t most of your credits so far for general ed/core curriculum? You may have some philosophy credits, but probably not enough to mean that you can’t change your major. You could probably end up with a philosophy minor. :)</p>

<p>Right now, your first priority should NOT be living elsewhere. Your first priority needs to be getting your degree as cheaply as possible since you’ve already have accumulated too much debt. :frowning: </p>

<p>Living elsewhere will just mean more debt when you graduate. Keep in mind that the more debt you accumulate, the more likely you’ll be stuck living at home AFTER you graduate because you won’t be earning enough to pay both rent, living expenses, car-related expenses, and a big payments on big debt.</p>

<p>What state schools are close enough to you to commute to from your parents’ home?</p>

<p>To further save money, you may need to get whatever lower division courses that you still need at a local CC. </p>

<p>Since you’re now 24, you can be considered independent for FA purposes. Perhaps you’ll now qualify for a Pell grant to help you pay for your tuition. </p>

<p>How much will your parents help each year with costs?</p>

<p>Right now, you’re not sure of a major. What about teaching? One benefit is that you might be able to get a TEACH grant. </p>

<p>Since math isn’t your strong suit, you’d either need to teach at a lower grade level or specialize in a subject for the high school level (or maybe the junior high level).</p>

<p>What are you good at? </p>

<p>English? Writing and grammar?</p>

<p>History/Social Studies?</p>

<p>Foreign Languages?</p>

<p>Sciences? </p>

<p>I don’t like the med lab tech thing because you already have too much debt. A job like that won’t likely pay enough to pay off that debt. You’ll be 26 or so when you graduate. That means that you’ll be spending age 27 - 37 paying off student loans. That is an important part of your adult life…not one that you want to be barely affording your student loan payments.</p>

<p>Right now, if you don’t borrow anymore, your payments are already going to be about $475-500 a month for 10 long years. That about the equivalent to 1 ½ to 2 car payments every month, in addition to your real car payment and all you personal expenses. </p>

<p>Will your parents help you pay back any of your loans?</p>

8

<p>Thank you both for your thoughtful replies. I really, truly appreciate it more than you could know. I don’t really have anyone to get guidance from in my real life on these matters.</p>

<p>I don’t know that I have any talents. I’m a reasonably effective writer, but I couldn’t see myself teaching English. I’m not intimately familiar with by-the-book grammatical structure, etc. Quite literally, I’m all about the money right now. I’m with all of you on that; I do wish to move, but I’ll put everything on hold just to secure a stable living.</p>

<p>Things like accounting will take me three years, maybe more, given my math background. Same for computer science, which is even more math-intensive. Even the two year higher paying associates degrees (radiology, etc) have a wait list. I would be 28 or so by the time I finish just about anything, I think.</p>

<p>I’ve thought about teaching, but my transcript is pretty mediocre, frankly. And doesn’t teaching require a masters degree to boot? Wouldn’t that be even more expensive (and for similar pay) than the med lab tech program? They both pay around 35 a year to start, insofar as I can tell, with one requiring graduate tuition and the other is free to me (pell grant at community college). </p>

<p>I guess it’s just a matter of doing the legwork and figured out exactly what the fastest route to a high paying major is, and doing it? More layered than that?</p>

<p>EDIT: My dad has said he’ll help pay back my loans, but he makes about 80-90 a year. He’s not rich.</p>

9

<p>What classes have you taken so far? Have you completed the core curriculum?</p>

<p>What is your GPA? You say that your grades are mediocre. What is your GPA?</p>

<p>What state are you in? Many states don’t require a masters to teach. </p>

<p>Right now, I don’t think you should limit yourself just because a particular career might take an extra year. At this point, it’s more important that you get a career that you’re going to like. You won’t be doing yourself any favors by graduating quicker only to find yourself in a career that you don’t like.</p>

<p>What about something with social sciences. Do you like history and such?</p>

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<p>-I’ve taken a myriad of humanities and social science courses. Mostly philosophy, psychology, and a sprinkling of history and political science. I’ve completed most of the core curriculum, short math (which can be subbed for “logic” in the philosophy department at my university, at which I’m currently on financial aid probation for this year due to forthcoming freak-out). </p>

<p>-My gpa is a 2.6. I have a plethora of Withdrawals, basically for the same whiny reasons I’m giving you now: mid-semester breakdown, recognize I’m just mindlessly pursuing courses that probably won’t get me a job, have a minor pathetic breakdown, stop going to class. My transcript is atrocious. Seriously, it’s ugly. I’ve gotten an A or B in every class I’ve actually finished. Lots of F’s in there.</p>

<p>-I’m in Ohio.</p>

<p>-I like **all **the social sciences. A lot. Particularly psychology, philosophy, and political science. But my transcript is atrocious; even a bottom tier grad program is unlikely for me. That, and I personally know a PHD in American History from an ivy who is highly motivated, yet makes 20-something grand a year, with no benefits, teaching online courses. He can’t get a job. Anywhere. I hear this is common, and it scared me away from the social sciences. Particularly when coupled with the fact that it seems moot anyway, given my god-awful transcript.</p>

<p>I just don’t see what I can do with a degree in history besides sales and law, the former I know I can’t do and the latter I know I don’t want to do.</p>

11

<p>Get the degree as quickly and cheaply as possible. You can then take vocational or certificate courses that are pretty cheap to augment that degree in an area you like. But not having that degree is a problem.</p>

<p>I have an Arts & Sciences degree with a Business Certificate that I got course by course after college. So do a lot of folks. Even a listing of pertinant courses can perk up the degree.</p>

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<p>cpt, which degree? just any BA, you mean?</p>

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<p>Any degree. As I have told my kids, they are majoring in getting a degree, any degree, as fast as they can do so. It doesn’t matter. Your problem right now is not having a degree. My husband has majors in just about every subject, including philosophy, theatre, working for him. The job prospects have to show some knowledge of some business and math but not in the form of a degree.</p>

14

<p>There are not many jobs that require a specific degree. You can be a CPA, doctor, lawyer, anything with any degree. You just need to pick up the courses needed for the area in addition to that degree. Don’t diddle around at this point trying to get a specific degree in something. You can work towards that later. Get the danged degree now!</p>

15

<p>I understand the principle but don’t really agree with the “get anything quick” philosophy in this case because he doesn’t seem to have much of an idea of what a good career match is (the lab thing is all about the money) and will lose his eligibility for aid once he’s completed a BA/BS. If he needs to take a broader spectrum of courses to better determine a field of interest, it’s much better to take them now at a CC with funding than later when he has to pay out of pocket on top of paying student loans.</p>

<p>A couple of observations…first, accounting and math are NOT closely related fields. I have a BS in Accounting and there was little complex math involved (thank goodness, as serious math is not my forte either!) other than stats, which is not difficult unless you’re unwilling to study and practice. It’s more about understanding accounting principles and methods and how to apply them, loads of tax law, and a healthy dose of economics. Sounds awful, but actually very interesting both in theory and in practice and it offers very useful life skills too. It requires a logical mind, common sense, and good organization skills…my guess is the same would be true for a philosophy/history major. It would be difficult to acquire the knowledge necessary to pass the CPA exam without at least a BS in accounting. But even a two year accounting degree qualifies one to work in many corporate, non-profit, and even government jobs. Accounting skills are extremely portable and translate well for the HR, purchasing, insurance, financial planning, and retail business management fields. (If it’s all about the money, retail management can offer a very good salary, relocation, and benefits if you’ve also got great people skills.) </p>

<p>If the sciences interest you, the lab tech program may give you a good start on a career and you can likely find an employer to fund a higher level degree. If you haven’t taken any sciences yet, start with one or two courses at a time. The study skills needed to master chem/bio are much more intense than the liberal arts.</p>

<p>As far as your loans are concerned, you do have a few options. Obviously, you don’t want to incur more debt but the monthly payment does not have to be calculated on a 10 year schedule when you’re just starting out. You can opt for Income Based Repayment, which will be limited to 15% of your annual gross income. If you end up working in the public sector (government, hospital, etc.) you should be eligible for forgiveness of any remaining loan balances after 10 years. IBR and public service loan forgiveness apply only to federal student loans…not any private loans you may already have.</p>

<p>Finally, please try to find a field that holds some interest for you other than financial! It’s so hard to get up in the morning to go to a job one hates, just to earn a paycheck. That just feels like a life sentence and really affects the entire outlook on life. If you can find a degree that can offer many career choices, as accounting did for me, that would be an excellent area to explore.</p>

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<p>*My gpa is a 2.6. I have a plethora of Withdrawals, basically for the same whiny reasons I’m giving you now: mid-semester breakdown, recognize I’m just mindlessly pursuing courses that probably won’t get me a job, have a minor pathetic breakdown, stop going to class. My transcript is atrocious. Seriously, it’s ugly. I’ve gotten an A or B in every class I’ve actually finished. Lots of F’s in there.</p>

<p>-I’m in Ohio.</p>

<p>-I like all the social sciences. A lot. Particularly psychology, philosophy, and political science. But my transcript is atrocious; even a bottom tier grad program is unlikely for me. That, and I personally know a PHD in American History from an ivy who is highly motivated, yet makes 20-something grand a year, with no benefits, teaching online courses. He can’t get a job. Anywhere. I hear this is common, and it scared me away from the social sciences. Particularly when coupled with the fact that it seems moot anyway, given my god-awful transcript.*</p>

<p>don’t worry about your transcript. Yes, you might not get into a top school, but that’s not important at all. If you get your act together over the next year, you can get accepted to some state schools. Which state school can you commute to?</p>

<p>You’re sabotaging yourself because of fear. </p>

<p>you like social sciences…so go for that. For now, go to a community college and finish getting the lower division classes you need. </p>

<p>I don’t know what’s going on with that PhD from an ivy who can’t get a decent job. Something is not right about that. At a minimum, he could get a decent job at a local state university. He’s not the norm, so don’t let his inability to get a decent job deter you.</p>

<p>What about criminal justice?</p>

17

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<p>I know/have heard of a few people like that, and I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on. There are some people who have very strong preconceived notions of what they should get, and are unwilling to settle for anything less. So in his mind, it’s probably better to live in near poverty than try to fight for a teaching position at a (gasp!) public university.</p>

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<p>Your gpa is not horrible. It sounds like you can do well in a wide variety of humanities and social science classes if you do not drop out of them. Sounds like you are dropping the classes because of psychological issues and not because you cannot do well in them.</p>

<p>You might consider getting a four-year degree as cheaply as possible, maybe commute to one of the state schools in Ohio, and there are many accessible with not a lot of commuting around the state. Get a four-year degree in anything, and maybe consider a career in librarianship. You can get into a program with any ugrad major and get a masters degree in librarianship in one year after ugrad. Kent State’s program requires 36 credit hours, which can all be done online. They want you to have a 3.0 ugrad gpa, which you could probably do, but they will admit on probation with an acceptable score on the GRE.</p>

<p>A huge number of librarians are people who lack math skills but have academic talent and are interested in a wide variety of subjects. I know it is a longshot recommendation and may not suit your personality, but you are already nearly half way to the bachelor’s degree and getting into library school for the most part only requires a ugrad degree and a decent gpa, and graduating from most programs can be done in one calendar year.</p>

19

<p>^^^</p>

<p>I think he’s afraid that when a prospective school sees his transcript that they will see Withdrawals and a few F’s and won’t accept him. </p>

<p>I think if he moves past that, and spends the next year at a CC getting strong grades, he can overcome that for many state schools. </p>

<p>I also think that someone posted a very good idea about seeing someone about possible depression. Sometimes people get depressed when they feel that they aren’t on the right track, or that they’ve missed opportunities, or that they aren’t where they should be. You need to consider seeing a therapist who can diagnose and then refer to a physician if a Rx is needed to help you through this. </p>

<p>Best to you. :)</p>

20

<p>I agree that there are some issues there that involve fear, uncertainty, depression. As a mom of a kid who had many credits but no interest in any particular subject, I had to go through this same thing. He was whipped this way and that with every excuse and reason not to forge through in a specific path. In a case like that, if you really want to get a move on, get the danged degree, the best job you can find and then as you peel through the layers of what is available, you can take additional courses in the area that your career leads. But get that danged degree, and that is a big check mark off of your list. </p>

<p>Sure, there are certain directed majors that are more job friendly. An accounting major on the CPA track has a great chance of getting a job in that field. Nurses are in high demand. If you have a special technical skill such as medical transcription or technical writing, air traffic control, etc there are jobs ear marked for you. But that involves a commitment and a bunch of courses to take to get those qualification. If you are floundering around with no idea of what you want, better to get that degree as soon as you can and then get a job. Opportunity and interest will then show you more specific routes. You’ve really spent enough time trying to find that specific interest and have not yet gotten there.</p>