@mom2collegekids when summer comes again I’m definitely going to work. It’s not like I will be sitting around not making money. I’m totally a workaholic and that wouldn’t sit well with my nerves anyway. And if I most definitely have to, for the three short months of summer I’ll probably just deal with living at home (or maybe I can find someone else by then to help) so I don’t have to pay rent or anything.
I would love to go to community college but the problem is the whole not having a car or license thing. It would be perfect if they had dorms but they don’t. No way I’ll get there and back.
@courtneykur I’ve definitely thought of that too. The issue with that is that I have a friend who is doing online classes with the CC, but due to her placement scores on a subject, she has to drive there three times a week to take a class on campus. I didn’t do so well on a subject on the placement tests for the university (I blame it on the fact I haven’t been in school for years so I had forgotten eveeything, because I did fine when I was in school), so I’m sure I’ll be on the same boat as she is.
CC online classes are totally something I keep in my mind though.
Some CCs do have residence halls - but perhaps none of the CCs in your home state do.
If you are carrying credit card debt (and it seems that you are from what you have written above), your finances are not in good enough shape to be taking on student debt just yet. Give yourself some more time to aggressively pay down that debt, and when you have no credit card debt that would be the time to commit to college. In that time period, you might also be able to get your drivers licence and find a cheap used car so that you have more options for where you work and where you study.
Well, that major probably won’'t lead to a high paying career, so that’s another reason not to take on much debt.
Some CCs have apts across the street. Those are better than dorms because you don’t have to move in and move out each year.
WHERE would you get the $12k that you owe this year? Saying that you’ll make payments is meaningless if you don’t have an adequate source of money that would net you $2k per month.
Marine biology is a fine major, but it not a major where you are highly likely to be able to pay off an $84,000 debt quickly and that’s what you are looking at right now for four years.
You would have an easier time working to pay off all the debt you have now and saving up money.
I don’t know what state you are in, but in my state, a lot of the community colleges have articulation agreements with 4-year universities so that you do your first two years at the community college and the 2-3 years at the university to finish off your requirements. The merit awards for transfer students tend to be much lower than the merit awards for freshmen, but coming in as a transfer student will not affect your financial aid.
What state are you in? Texas has a set of common requirements that every student has to complete, no matter what their major is. If your state has a set of common requirements like this, you can take those classes at your community college for much less than what you’d pay at the university and then you can transfer to the university in a year or two. This would hopefully give you time to pay off your credit cards and any other debt and also build up some savings.