Sorry if this is the wrong location for this post, going to try to keep this relatively concise.
I am 25 years old and have been in and out of colleges since I was 17. I’ve attended three schools, one community college and two four year institutions. I am currently academically suspended from the last college I attended for non-completion of classes. I have a 2.31 GPA overall, which plummeted after attending this last university, from an already low 2.88.
The condensed version as to why is simply mentally struggling while attending school, paired with affordability and balancing it within my life. I’ve spent semesters taking too many courses than I could handle in order to qualify for full-time status, so I could get full-time financial aid. In short, I stopped attending a significant portion of these classes when I couldn’t handle it mentally, without withdrawing. Prior to these struggles I have always been a good student, I’ve never had lower than a B in any class I actually applied myself in and finished, and had been hovering between 3.6-3.8 GPA and was a part of an honor society.
I really just want to know what options I have, what I can do to finish a degree, preferably from a school that I respect, or if there are some sort of “Fresh Start” options I am unaware of. I’m in a better place than I was, particularly when it comes to being able to afford to take classes as slowly as needed to balance everything. I’ve always had dreams of graduate school and maybe even something as advanced as law school, and I want to know what I can do to revive those aspirations, and not see them completely wasted due to a few years of difficulties.
You can achieve your goals. You only need to go half time to get federal aid. If you haven’t completed two years, you can finish at community college, get good grades, and transfer to a state u (our state has automatic transfer with priority registration, coming out of community collelge).
Alternatively you can join a degree completion program at many schools, or just attend part-time. Lesley University has an adult learner program as does BU, in my area.
It is fine to work (working helped one of mine stay organized) and take 2 classes. Two classes generally gets aid in our experience.
Two of my kids went the traditional route and my third just graduated at 32 and worked all during their 20’s. It is working out fine. You can do it!
How have you felt in online courses in the past? If this option works for you, you can complete a legitimate four-year degree this way. Law schools accept these degrees. This is often much cheaper than attending in person.
I appreciate the replies everyone. The last semester at my most recent university was fully online, which didn’t necessarily help my ability to stay on track, but I did enjoy the format and I had no issues with it a semester I had during covid.
My main concern is really just grad school and further, I was unsure if I could really get into anything like that in my position. I may be able to finish out undergrad at my current university once the suspension ends.
Definitely going to continue to work on my mental health as a priority.
Massachusetts is offering free tuition and fees at community colleges and even some state colleges. If you can live in the state to gain residency, there are different programs to help you. Unfortunately, just living in Mass is crazy expensive, so there’s that problem to conquer.
I helped a student in a similar situation and found this program at The New School, which was a good fit for them for geographic reasons:
One thing that probably helped them is that they had about 2 years between the last bad semester and the time of application. They hadn’t done anything huge over the two years, but had regular work experience and had successfully taken some classes on a part-time basis at a community college, so a bit more of a track record showing that they were ready to try a more typical college experience again. Do you feel like you are in that kind of place yet, where you could demonstrate that you’ve matured and are better prepared?
As others have said, your goals are still possible for sure, but your mental health is a priority. Don’t put any pressure on yourself to fit a specific timeline.
Others will probably be able to address the grad school question, but take one step at a time.