<p>Take a year off, wait until you’re 18, and apply as a low-income adult.</p>
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Gee, sounds as if you’re softening & realizing you might just not know it all. </p>
<p>But…why the but? After every suggestion, you shoot it down & come up with either an arrogant denial of the idea’s value, or a lone anecdotal negative story.</p>
<p>There are companies that will pay for you to study anything, I know that for a fact. It does not have to be related to what you are doing. The only thing is that you have to be able to perform your job while going to school. You need to do your research.
I agree with lots of posters here. If you don’t like the movie, rewrite the script.</p>
<p>“Opie, perceived whining is not attractive”</p>
<p>Perceived? Ok..</p>
<p>“You have to rise above the situation, find a way to cope, and plot out a plan for yourself that is best for you. That’s really your only option. Don’t focus on what you can’t do; focus on what you can.”</p>
<p>So nuts and bolts of it how is your statement really any different than mine? </p>
<p>A pat on the back, a kick in the pants, the message is absolutely the same. However, after a certain point the pat must become a kick, simply because the poster and this other one are turning down every possible option as “impossible”. They want to wallow, as that is far easier than trying. </p>
<p>While you are far nicer than I in dealing with some of this the world has pooped on me kids, there are also kids who would love to have half of what they have… sorry if the life really isn’t that bad, the whine is far to bitter for me to sympathise with. Just me. sorry</p>
<p>And, there are companies that prefer you study in an area they could use, but, you know what, the job experience in your area of study would be great! Even Stanford Medical center has 100% tuition reimbursement. Just pick a job in an area you would be interested in.</p>
<p>“forever. Or until I’m 30.”</p>
<p>Owe, that leaves a mark…</p>
<p>I used that tuition benefit several times in my employed life. And I wasn’t taking related courses. I’ve offered a tuition benefit to employees even though I knew if they took me up on the offer, and did well, they’d be leaving for greener pastures. </p>
<p>Depending on where you live, it could definitely be worth targeting several companies, checking out the benefits package and exploring how you could combine working for them with attending university part time. </p>
<p>For example, Stamford CT has a huge number of Fortune 500 companies who are likely to offer generous tuition reimbursement, and enough local universities that you could make it work if you could make the housing work. I’ll grant that in that specific location, affordable housing could be an issue.</p>
<p>Opie: I didn’t realize we were adversaries. I wanted to allow for the feelings of deprivation that do get in the way of achievement. I know from personal experience these feelings can be crippling, and people just saying buck up without understanding that really didn’t help.</p>
<p>On practical level, the solution may be the same. Empathizing with the pain may make it possible to someone to move on. Calmom has suggested that this empathy may not be appropriate in this particular case, and maybe that’s true, but that is the only difference in our approaches.</p>
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<p>Go to work for Columbia University or any major college where tuition remission is a perk for all employees (Columbia gives 100% tuition remission at their school/ affiliated schools and 50% tuition remission at any other school starting from day 1) Some colleges may require that you have a number of years invested before paying tuition benefits, but they will pay full tuition benefits.</p>
<p>Most major corporations will offer some type of tuition remission to all employees from the janitor to the CEO. Actually there is more latitude in having an undergrad paid for than there is having a masters because the employer may want you to get a degree related to the work that you currently do or a position that you may have the other skill sets in place to achieve.</p>
<p>I worked for a major corporation who at the time payed fulled freight for me to complete 2 1/2 Masters- 1 @ an Ivy & 1 @ NYU and 1/2 of a 2nd Masters @ NYU (they only paid over 1/2 because this degree was totally outside of realm of corporate life, but it helped me out in my current field). I only had to pay student fees and books as the corporation made direct payments to the school. </p>
<p>Currently they pay up to $10,000/ year in tuition benefits for undergrad or masters programs. I have a friend who was paying full freight for his son to attend a public school OOS. When the son messed up (not attending classes for a full academic year, just living on campus, internet gambling and gambling in AC), he brought his son home, son got a job working in the mail room lives at home and and attend classes locally at night.</p>
<p>EMBA programs are fully funded by the corportation and if a person is working in an area related to the business they will pay for Law School.</p>
<p>A comany with some of the best educational perks that I have seen are UTC (had a classmate who worked for them).</p>
<p>United Technologies is a company that beleives in education. If you work for any of their companies: Carrier heating and air conditioning, Hamilton Sundstrand aerospace systems and industrial products, Otis elevators and escalators, Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines, Sikorsky helicopters, UTC Fire & Security systems and UTC Power fuel cells, not only do they pay tuition & course books, they will give you time off to attend classes and they provide bonuses for completing your education.</p>
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<p>Oh to be 18 years old again when I knew everything. Everyone knows you can’t make partner at a law firm if you work before law school; everyone knows tuition reumbursment only works for engineers; everyone knows that CC’s stink everywhere except California so kids who can’t afford their EFC in the other 49 states should just give up.</p>
<p>Kids-- get a grip. I respect 100% your right to plan your life and career anyway you wish. However, it is both arrogant and lazy to make stupid comments about life’s realities which fly in the face of easily identifiable facts. Many good law schools prefer that applicants have full time work experience before applying; many corporations are happy to pay for a BA, MBA, JD, or even Divinity School if the employee makes decent grades and manages to show up for work occasionally. There are hundreds of lawyers who make partner every year at top firms who went to law school after working in another field first; there are successful people all over the country in virtually every field who graduated from a college nobody has ever heard of and took more than 4 years to graduate in order to pay for it.</p>
<p>If you all want to kvetch and whine about how tough your lives are-- go for it, it’s a free country. But in case one of your impressionable peers is on this thread, let me set the record straight-- lots of people with no money and little parental support go to college; lots of successful people started out at a college nobody heard of or at a CC that’s not in California; top Investment Banks do not engage in systematic age discrimination by refusing to hire 30 year old analysts (the costs of defending such a law suit would rival the GNP of a small third world country and the banks have enough trouble with their gender discrimination law suits right now to go looking for more).</p>
<p>I don’t remember the other stupid things I’ve read on here today so I’ll leave it at that. However, an editorial comment–educational debt can be a very good thing if it motivates you to work hard, focus on doing well in school and paying off your obligations as soon as you can, keep your other debts to the absolute minimum, etc. However, educational debt can be a ruinous thing if it’s used as an excuse for all the ways that your family, society, life, etc. have shafted you and left you unable to move on with your life after you graduate. </p>
<p>If I needed to borrow the amounts that are quoted here for undergrad, I’d be marching myself into my advisor’s office tomorrow to ask, “what is the most employable field for me the day after I graduate” and I’d focus on that. I would not be getting in line for an expensive master’s degree requiring yet more debt in order to be employable.</p>
<p>Just my two cents, or 100K whichever comes first.</p>
<p>MLEVINE - I am from MA - and do somewhat understand your dimema - I know the tuition situation in this state - and our state schools/U’s are NOT cheap - actually some of the more expensive state tuitions in the country - with very little aid for students. (Just a comparison for you - MA tuition for instate = NC tuition for OOS :))</p>
<p>Just offering an idea here - if you are financing your own education - no parental contribution - you may want to consider moving to NC - to a college town - become a legal resident after a year (work during this time - live like you are a student - cheaply) - and apply to one of the UNC’s (there are 16 of them) as a resident - low tuition - easy enough to do with loans - good education.</p>
<p>The $$ structure for the state schools in NC is much different than in MA - a heckofalot cheaper - and a good education. You could even go part-time - with the same end result - much much cheaper than in MA.</p>
<p>I know of many students in NC who work and go to school full time and manage it pretty well - and I agree with you - it would be very difficult to do in MA.</p>
<p>As far as education bene’s from companies - some do pay for ANY courses - some only pay for those having to do with ones job - so may be a difficult way to go - without a college degree.</p>
<p>OOO and FYI - few companies provide health bene’s for college kids who work for them - but… Starbucks does.</p>
<p>You need to make some decisions on how YOU will manage your life - if your parents are non financing you at all - it is up to YOU and YOU alone.</p>
<p>Again - just offering a valid idea to consider.</p>
<p>I never said they practice gender discrimination. I never said you can’t make partner if you work someplace else before law school. I said that it’s rare that a bank will see a 30 year old analyst or that a law firm will see a 40 year old 1st year associate. I’m saying by the time you’re in your mid 30’s you have other priorities. Sure it’s preferable, but more than half of all law students go straight to law school.
I’m saying I’m going to go straight to law school because I know this is what I want to do, so I’m going for it.</p>
<p>nyu- you certainly should do as you wish and go to law school right after college, but believe me, you will have plenty of 37 year old classmates who turn into first year associates!!! And the life experience they have is going to make them very competitive when interviewing for law firms or clerkships.</p>
<p>future nyu= do what works for you but don’t pretend to be describing facts when you do so. If a top firm had a choice between two graduating law students at U Penn or Columbia with identical GPA’s-- but one had done a Gap year before college, then a Marshall or a Rhodes, or Teach for America after undergrad and that same individual was planning to do a federal clerkship after graduation (so add another two years); and thus the choice was between a 30 year old first year associate vs. the straight to law school do not pass go 25 year old, the 30 year old will win every time. It’s only in your mind… and because financially you can afford it… that there is a preference for the 25 year old. Which is great but don’t spin your own life as reality out there in the marketplace for the thousands of others who take another path, either due to significant accomplishments (i.e. the Rhodes and federal clerkships) or hardships (self-financing, the need to work after undergrad to pay off loans before incurring new ones).</p>
<p>You will all get to the same place soon enough… third year, burnt out, stressed out cogs in your firms billing wheels, so enjoy the journey.</p>
<p>I was thinking about trying to transfer to UVA and getting residency. Does anyone know how difficult that is, or if I would need to take a year off?</p>
<p>Q: How long must I be domiciled in Virginia before I can be considered "in-state"?
A: A student, parent(s) or spouse must be domiciled in Virginia for at least twelve continuous months immediately preceding the first day of classes. This means the student parent(s) or spouse must actually reside in Virginia during this period while simultaneously demonstrating their intent to be domiciled in Virginia. Intent is demonstrated by, among other things, paying resident taxes to Virginia, obtaining a Virginia drivers license, car & voter registrations.</p>
<p>Q: Who is considered an independent student?
A: Any student past the age of majority whose parents have surrendered the right to care, custody and support and have not claimed the student as a dependent on federal and state income tax returns for at least twelve months prior to the date of alleged entitlement.</p>
<p>[U.Va</a>. Office of Admission > Admission Information > Virginia Domicile](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/status.html]U.Va”>http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/status.html)</p>
<p>“Opie: I didn’t realize we were adversaries. I wanted to allow for the feelings of deprivation that do get in the way of achievement. I know from personal experience these feelings can be crippling, and people just saying buck up without understanding that really didn’t help.”</p>
<p>I didn’t think we were, but also why do you assume I don’t understand? Yes, these situations can be crippling (even I have experienced them) but you either decide to stay in the chair or you try and walk… wallow for a while, not a lifetime… </p>
<p>the bad guy isn’t always really bad, just a bit more direct, and the nice person isn’t always the most helpful. :)</p>
<p>“and the nice person isn’t always the most helpful.”</p>
<p>But they have an easier time filling their dance card. ;)</p>
<p>So, if I went to UVA for a year and lived off campus, paying taxes and registering to vote, could I get instate tuition the next year? Or will it need to be before I enroll?</p>
<p>That may be a possibility - but - not a guarantee that they will allow that - there is a process to go thru with the school to gain in-state status and they may - or may not - grant it. May be worth looking into tho. You may want to inquire about that directly with the school before you venture off to attempt doing that.</p>
<p>big question - do you have the stats/grades for UVA cuz it is a tough school to get into for any OOS’er</p>