<p>I’m a college student who has just taken off for my spring trimester, who now has to find loans, grants, and scholarships to pay for school myself. I’ve applied to a few, but because I’m white, average height, and after a non academic major (culinary arts) it seems like I don’t have many options. The reason I’m taking a break is because my grades have plummeted after my five terms of school, so I now have to click out of any with GPA requirements. I really have no idea on how to do this myself, and reach the needed goal without putting myself under tons of debt, and I’m not even prepared to live on my own. What steps should I take to make this less of a chaos more ‘doable’?</p>
<p>Find a job, save up, talk to the school financial aid people while you do that.</p>
<p>After 5 terms you should have some good skills. Get a job in a restaurant, save some money and then decide where it makes sense to go from there.</p>
<p>I understand that certain restaurants have excellent culinary arts training. Locally, I heard a person compare her classes at a culinary institute with the training at Olive Garden and she gave high marks to Olive Garden – and she got paid while learning at Olive Garden. </p>
<p>I’ll encourage you to read “Waiter Rant” (book, but also a website) – you might find you have more than enough training to work in an upscale restaurant and that the work experience can do wonders to crystalize your thinking about what you want in life. You may also find that when you have time away from organized classes, you start to review what went well and why things derailed so you make better choices for yourself in the future (for instance, some people do great with essay exams and others never do).</p>
<p>Quit with the “because I’m white” whine. Sure, there might be college money for a Native American – but that student may come from a remote area with many, many challenges – same with other ethnicities. In today’s economy there isn’t any group that is coasting to easy money. </p>
<p>I’ll encourage you to learn about “Executive Function” (that aspect of brainwork that organizes tasks) – you can be really smart and not have that area of the brain work well. If that is a stumbling block, there are some remedies (Read “More Attention, Less Deficit” by Tuckerman). </p>
<p>Get off the sofa and start pounding the pavement. Find work (even icky work) and stick with it awhile. The college part can wait – and you’ll be in a stronger position to get some aid if you can show a couple years sustained work history.</p>