I am from CA and now live in PA for about 4 years now and decided to go to college. I am really scared of soooo many things and would love someone to talk to about it, is there anyone willing to help?
No one in my family knows anything about college, hearing from so many others how they had help from their parents make you feel so alone. I have been working as a cashier for 2.5 years now making barely enough to get by and on my own has motivated me to go to college since graduating HS in 2012. Ive decided on Medical Coding which is in demand where I live and its affordable for me to get a start. Once I get my CPC for coding I would like to get a job from home after a year or so (once I get Exp) and go back for Medical Assistant. I finally got my financial awards which wil cover the tuition fee but not books and having to get cut hours from work I am scared about having to get a loan which I am eligible for 3500 for the whole year. I dont really want to barrow all that but I have so many bills and can’t afford books I dont know what to do. I am not comfortable with winter driving but try my best and having to drive 50 miles round trip to my school terrifies me. Is there programs that will help get books, my books are 500 for 4 books?
From your description above, I gather that you are attending a for-profit vocational school?
You will be stuck.
Your best bet is to attend a public community college, that is more affordable, and will cover your financial aid costs.
Search for a community college in your area that has coursework leading to LVN or something else you’d like to study.
These for-profit schools are in the business to make money off of you.
I am not sure what a for-profit school is but I am attending my areas community college.
Books can be purchase inexpensively online. If you are not sure about the books, email the professors.
Congratulations on making a decision to go to college and try to improve your income potential. No doubt making this kind of decision and all the changes to do this are daunting. If you don’t need the entire $3500, you could borrow less. I don’t know if there are programs to help purchase books, but there may be ways to pay less. You can buy books used or rent them which usually costs less. The school library may have copies that you can use. If you know anyone ahead of you in the program, you may be able to borrow their copy.
A lot of it will be independent learning. You have to be proactive about getting the help that you need, whether it be in office hours, study groups, or tutoring. Your professor will teach the way they’ve always taught whether it works or not, and lectures may end up being confusing. Learning on your own is a key skill you will need to succeed.
I have tried looking online and found a site called valorebooks and they did have all bt one of my books for cheap but was told I had to be very careful since all my books have access codes to them and most used would not come with them? Well I have my car payment and my other bills with work cutting my hours and wanting to make sure I have some study time set aside I may have to barrow to make up for the hours I will be losing even more to help pay for my gas as well. I was shocked to know it would cost me almost 200 dollars in gas a month just to go to school 3X a week!
Sounds like you may need at least part of the loan to be able to do this, given the cost of books and transportation. I don’t know anything about textbook access codes, sorry I can’t help you with that. Does your employer have another store closer to your college? Could you move closer to your college, even partway between your job and college? Does your employer have any educational assistance?
I am afraid the answer would be no to all those :-/
That’s okay. It is going to strain your already strained budget to do this and it is hard work that will take sacrifice but you won’t ever regret getting an education. Noone can ever take that away from you. Loans used wisely that are a reasonable amount to be paid back in the future are a reality for many college students.
Do you have an advisor at your school yet? He or she may be able to let you know what help is available in the event that you have some academic struggles. Knowing resources in advance could be really helpful. You can do this.
There are two school locations the one about 8 miles away does not offer the classes I need even tho it is the same school the one 25 miles away is bigger and has more I believe. I have been dealing with the closer one to get set up an everything but he is not informative or comforting so my anxiety so I have decided that maybe I should get in contact with the bigger school that I will be attending maybe they will help calm my nerves. I believe he is an advisor but hopefully I will get a nice caring one down where ill be attending.
Sounds like a good idea. Getting information about resources might help you with your nerves.
I am more scared than excited about going to college. I college learning anything like high school learning or teaching methods? I did so well in HS with nearly a 4.0 GPA for all four years. I guess I am afraid it will be all independent learning since I tried the online thing and ended up getting stuck with not enough help or teaching…
It is very easy to find PDF versions of books online for free. Just google the isbn and say PDF. I bought all my books New my first quarter. Second quarter found them online for free. It’s even more convienent too since you can carry your books on your laptop.
Did your books have access codes?
I would be cautious downloading PDF’s of books not in public domain. That may be anything from piracy to a virus trap.
What courses are you actually taking? It doesn’t make sense that first year freshman courses aren’t offered at the other schools, although this might be a certificate program that doesn’t lead to an associates. The more info you provide, the more we can help. Are you comfortable giving us the name of the school?
Penn Highlands community college. I am not sure why they don’t have the same classes as the other locatons they made it sound like they are a smaller location with less resources but yet the same school just offered in a different location. I am going for the medical coding then I told them (advisor) I will be going back for Medical Assistant in which they said I wouldn’t have to retake some other the classes that the coding class would cover them
It is a 3 Semester, I think its a program but like i said i could use some of the medical coding classes towards the medical assisting course. Here are my classes I will be taking SEMESTER 1: Microcomputer App, Medical Terminology, Basic anatomy and physiology, and health information and medical office. SEMESTER 2: Law and Ethics for health occupations, Medical coding ICD-10-CM, Medical Coding CPT, Medical terminology and anatomy for coding. SEMESTER 3: Basic disease process and pharmacology, Advanced medical coding, Financial management in health care, and medical coding internship.