First I would just like to apologize for how long this may or may not be. I am a little anxious about my situation and might start venting in the process. I am a 25 year old community college student who has been attending school off and on for about 4 years. I’ve struggled with social anxiety and a few other personal issues since moving back home to Michigan from Georgia and it has hindered my progress a little.But I’ve been attending therapy and trying to get my life in order and I’m ready to move on. Anyways I currently have about 68 credits mostly in basic science and social sciences.My goal starting out in school had been to go into the nursing field. My grandmother was a nurse for quite a long time and she kind of “pressured” me into pursuing it with promises of job stability and a decent pay. (I also work part time as a nurses aid at an ICU at a local hospital.)
Anyways at my grandmothers behest I’ve decided that nursing isn’t really the field for me. And have decided instead of getting my ADN I will transfer to a four year university this winter semester and try to figure out what it is I want to really do. (Medical School has always been in the back of my mind, when I hear doctors conversing about the different body systems just the sheer amount of knowledge that they have fascinates me.) Long story short this fall semester I applied for financial aid to take a couple more classes before I moved on to a 4 year and my financial aid was rejected due to how many credits I had. I tried to appeal but a week before classes started I get an email saying that the appeal has also been rejected. So now I am forced to pay for the classes with a credit card.
Meanwhile my grandmother and mother both feel that I am not doing enough right now and should start thinking in the short term and suck it up and go for the nursing degree which would, give or take, take about 3 years to complete with the waitlist. I have always felt that my best bet would be to move out of her house and live on my own maybe in a dorm room on a university campus but due to my age I did not think this was possible. I feel at this point in my life (especially considering my age) that is the best course of action right now. She constantly pushes the subject of nursing down my throat and it makes it very hard to focus on my goals because I do know that there is a level of job security that comes with being a nurse. The profession just isn’t for me.
My question is are there dedicated people that I might be able to speak to about some financial advice? The Financial Aid office at my school kind of blows me off every time I ask about federal loans and private loans. Ive always been very good with money and my credit score is pretty good. I’ve been reading a lot of articles about the dangers of student loan debt and that is something that I am very conscious. Any advice at all would be appreciated. I’ve even thought about putting my medical school aspirations on the back burner and getting a degree in Laboratory Science so that I might be able to financial support myself a little better. Is moving out on campus an option for me? And how dangerous are private student loans? Any type of article or resource material you have would be greatly appreciated. The idea of university scares me and I’m not really sure what to do. Thanks so much!
Have you considered any of the other allied health programs? (rad tech, respiratory, sonography, whatever)
Even if your credit score is good, you wont be able to take a private loan yourself unless you have good income.
You’ve done the FAFSA for this year? You were awarded nothing at all?
Have you talked to the 4 year school that you would want to transfer to? Have you applied? You could talk to their financial aid office too.
Yes I’ve considered doing Surgical Tech at the community college but I’m curious as to how I would pay for it since they have already rejected anymore financial aid there.I’ve done the FAFSA for this year for most of the universities in my general area and accepted some of the aid from one of the universities closes to me. But it doesn’t look like Ill be able to attend this semester because my intentions were to do one more semester of community college and then transfer in fall and i’m a little behind in signing up for everything at the university. I’ll probably go Monday and see if I can rush and pick up a few classes. Would you happen to know anything about financial aid and staying on campus?
Your aid package from the university should have detailed all of the financial aid that you would be eligible for if you were attending that school. It should list any of the federal student loans you would be allowed to take yourself.
You would need to compare the aid amounts to the costs of attendance to see if you would be able to afford dorm with your aid package. Dorms aren’t cheap though, so it may be cheaper for you to look for a room in student apartment/house.
Your challenge is that you probably have too many credits to continue to receive aid at community college. IF you have 68 credits, there is an expectation that you would have completed a degree. If you need to finish your surgical tech degree at community college, then you may have to pay for it.