The advisers at my college aren’t available for at least another week but I have SO many questions.
I'm currently waiting to be "selected" by the FAFSA but I'm not entirely sure what that means The financial aid section on my college's website says its there. What does this mean, and is there anything I should do?
I'll be attending my first classes in September, its a bit late but its better than Spring. I have intermediate Math and English. My major is Liberal Arts but that is only so I can get my prerequisites out the way-- I do NOT intend on getting an art degree. Is it appropriate to take classes online (if there are any left)? Or is the workload from two classes enough?
I've spoken to many women on the wealthier part of town and a majority have a degree in STEM, Aerospace, or some form of Enginering. How can I prepare to get a degree in one of these fields?
3A. How do I sign up for work-study, and how do I get internships with those careers? I’m attending a community college in Florida, but may have to relocate to Texas or California if I can’t find housing.
Do community colleges offer housing and drivers ed classes?
First, Liberal Arts is not an ‘art’ degree. Liberal Arts includes English, history, government, foreign languages - and yes, sometimes art.
Some community colleges in Florida DO have housing. The Florida schools offer many classes online and in classrooms.
If you have work study in your financial aid package, see if there is a web page for student employment opportunities. If so, work study jobs will be listed there. If not, ask you FA office where to look for them.
Driver’s ed is not offered through colleges. In Florida, there are a zillion driving schools. You get the initial courses online (there is a drug and alcohol one and the written test), and then you get a permit. If you pay a driving school, they will pick you up from your house and give you the lessons, and even take you to the test on the last class.
The reason these women have done well financially is because they did well in very difficult math and physics-based majors. These are courses that require years of practicing math calculations, theorem and proofs practices. They also probably like their math tasks. The engineering field has some of the most difficult courses on college campuses. Many students start the programs but drop the major because of the difficulty. You really should have strengths and excellent grades in calculus, physics and pre-engineering coursework. You shouldn’t major in this if you only want to do it because you THINK it will make you wealthy.
You must be REALLY unfamiliar with California if you think housing is inexpensive and easy to find. California schools do NOT provide any financial aid to non residents. None.
Housing Is very expensive, small, and difficult to attain without a credit history and first/last month’s rent. Public transportation is limited in Southern California.
Read up on the majors available at your community college. You really need to understand what they involve. @twoinanddone gave you a good definition of what the liberal arts major involves. Keep informing yourself.
You may mean being selected for verification, which means you have to submit additional documentation to prove that what you put on the FAFSA was accurate (things like your parents’ W2s and/or tax returns). There’s nothing you can do so just sit tight and wait.
This. It also includes majors like mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science, which are all liberal arts majors too.
Two classes is part-time. If you want to be a full-time student, taking 2-3 more classes is usually the norm. Many CC students do take some classes online, so if that makes sense for you talk to your advisor and go for it.
Well, “STEM” is an often poorly-used catch-all. It’s true that some STEM fields have higher average salaries after college, but those tend to be computer science and engineering, with math and physics also giving some advantage. Biology and chemistry majors tend to make about the same as most social science and humanities majors straight after college, and other technical and mathematical majors (like information science) can vary a lot depending on the degree. The other thing is that career salary growth may or may not be slower - so for example, some majors like philosophy, economics, political science and international studies can catch up to majors like physics and math by mid-career.
The truth is wealthy people can have majored in any variety of things. You don’t have to major in STEM to be wealthy later on, and STEM isn’t a foolproof path to wealthy.
Work-study is something you need to be eligible for federally and then you are usually given a list of on-campus work-study jobs at the beginning of the school year. Internships are different - you have to apply for those, or network your way into them.
Some CCs offer housing, but they’re in the minority. Some CCs may offer driver’s ed classes but they’re usually part of a community-driven program and don’t offer credit.