Quote:
Originally Posted by genuinegirly
Ok - so you'd like to go back to school and you're 21. You'd like to live in a city. You're on the east coast already so it makes sense that the first big city you dream of is New York.
You're going to have to plan things out well if you don't want to get destroyed by NYC. Remember Hal is in NYC - read his blogs as well as Cyn's. Hal did something similar to what you want to do - he moved out there fairly impulsively with only a high school degree and has run into a few brick walls along the way - but of course he doesn't regret the move.
Here's what I want you to do: Think.
What about a city environment appeals to you?
Make a mental list.
Can you find all of these in another setting that will be less expensive than NYC?
If not, move.
But first - ask yourself if you're ready.
Since you have your GED, you should consider attending junior college. This is something you can start right now (classes start mid-January at most schools). With straight A's on a junior college transcript and an AA / AS degree, you can transfer to just about any university with ease.
By the time you're 23, you want to be ready to transfer to a university. Why? At age 23, you're considered completely independent of your parents for financial aid purposes. You're going to have grants and low-interest loans thrown at you left and right the minute you apply for them. These won't come from the federal government - they'll come from the school itself. Scout out universities that offer full tuition stipends plus a bit of cash for living expenses to low-income students. All University of California schools offer such a perk, including UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, UC San Diego, UC Riverside, UC Merced (it's called the UC Grant in Aid). Almost all reputable private schools offer such a perk: Harvard, Stanford, Yale, etc (if you can get in, they'll pay your way).
Be smart about this. You're a smart guy. I expect you to succeed at life.
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He will also be Pell Grant eligible at 23, depending on income. That's $6000 of free money from the federal government to go to college and get educated.
I think it's better to do as genuinegirly suggests and invest the $ you've saved up in an education. Yes, sometimes getting educated means a little debt, but I think you'll find it's less than you expect provided you use all of the financial aid resources available to you through the school, go to junior/community college first, and do well in school (potential for scholarships). Going to community college should allow you to be employed and go to school at the same time; I was able to handle 15-credit quarters with a 20-hour work week. Furthermore, in this economic crunch, you can choose to pursue a degree that will end up in a guaranteed career (and yes, those options are still out there, look at nursing/healthcare) when you graduate. Presumably you will end up in a job where you are comfortably able to pay your student loans.
Just don't make the same mistake I did--though I wouldn't trade my English degree for anything in the world, without a teaching certificate it's not really a great degree to have in my part of the world. So I'm going back to school. I'll be taking on some additional debt in the process, but I'll be getting a degree in early childhood education and development (along with that teaching certificate) that will give me the qualifications necessary to get a steady salaried job with benefits. According to my calculations, I'll be comfortably able to pay my own expenses--including the loans I had to take out to pay for the second degree--once I'm graduated.
And there's no reason you can't find a 4-year-school in an urban area when the time comes.