Well, this will certainly be an easy college semester...

[possom813]

Financial aid denied me for completely 150% of the hours required for the degree but not obtaining the degree.

I was sent an email this morning stating that it was denied. I found out Wednesday morning that it was in the denial stage and I needed to appeal. So I did the appeals paperwork because I only lack 2 classes to complete the degree.

The letter stated that I should attempt to complete them at the University level.



So yay, there's that. I'm going to miss that extra 6-800 bucks this month that comes from the Pell Grant after classes and labs are paid. But I'll live. Just sucks that I was almost there, and now I have to wait because I had no idea that this would/could happen with the GPA, Deans Lists, Presidents List and all that jazz. I didn't know there was a cap, and no one told me.

Just under 1k for 2 classes and it has to be paid by the 20th for late registration. Right after Christmas...they could have warned somebody :x

On another note, I was able to speak to two different 4yr colleges today and explained to them the situation and they said it shouldn't be a problem for financial aid to pay for the two classes I'm lacking for the degree because they're required for the Bachelor's program. But I was so hoping to say I have an A.A. in May when I start interviewing for supervisor positions. Hopefully my charm and funny looks will make up for lacking the degree;-)



Alright, I'll quit griping, just a crappy day today.

Edit to add, before it's asked, yep, I have 150% of the hours on the plan. But my first two semesters were still figuring out what I wanted to be when I grow up and the advisors/counselors never informed me that this outcome was a possibility.

[Blammer]

hey, you'll get it done and have a degree. Good one you!

I have a degree and am currently employed in a job that has NOTHING to do with what I studied. :)

[Pipefitter]

Plumbing and pipefiting apprenticeship program REQUIRED me to sit through basic electricity (what I called electricity for dummies) even though I provided them with college transcripts from a state college stating that I had 4.0 grades in analog electronics, digital electronics, PLC programming (both Allen-Bradley and GE-Fanuc), as well as industrial electricity (electricians study guide for code test). I never even opened the book, and aced every test in 5 minutes or less..........

[possom813]

The end goal is at least a Master's in Criminal Justice.

If I have my way, and can figure out how to pay for it when Financial Aid is no longer an option, I'd like to achieve a Doctorate in Sociology to go with the Criminal Justice Degree.

When I spoke to the advisors yesterday(is it advisor or adviser? I keep getting the red squiggly under advisor, but that's how it's spelled on their doors), she told me that I need to suck it up this semester if the aid gets denied. Then hit the fafsa as soon as I do my taxes, and start applying for scholarships to the 4yr colleges because my gpa has been consistently high and I've made the Deans List twice and the President's List once. Only 75 Students at the school get selected to the President's List each year is what they told me. I was also invited to join a Psychology thing, I forget the terminology they used, but it was/is, evidently something like Honor Society for college.

I have to speak with the warden in the upcoming weeks, TDCJ has partnered with at least one school that I know of(with scholarships in criminal justice) that the warden can sign off on to recommend you for consideration. I'm not sure what the total value is, but every little bit helps I'm starting to learn.

[cheese1566]

If you were getting an extra $6-800 a pop from a Pell Grant, where did that $$$ go in the past?
Just curious.

[Plate plinker]

Man has to eat.

Question? Are you to received a tax overpayment check this year and would it cover your tuition? If so just use a credit card for one month and pay off the balance with tax money.

Other advice go crawling to the department chair with a box of tissues and some vicks in your eyeballs like Obozo and ask if there is anything he or preferably she can do to help. The department chair has mucho power.

[possom813]

If you were getting an extra $6-800 a pop from a Pell Grant, where did that $$$ go in the past?
Just curious.

I didn't save it, if that's what you're asking.

Last semester, I used it to put the finishing touches on the house, finished the carpet, and little stuff after moving in.

Semester before that, I bought shingles for the new house(by the by, if you need shingles, I found a place in Dallas that sells them for an extreme discount. 25 squares for $850)

Semester before that, Tires for the truck

Semester before that, I went back to work for the state, bought the 'new to me' truck so we'd have two reliable vehicles and used the money to service the truck(fluids, filters, plugs, etc)

Semester before that, It was used to help pay bills.

Semester before that, 1st semester, I used it to help pay bills. I had resigned from the state to get all of the non-online classes out of the way and the wife's check didn't quite cover everything, needed an extra $100 per month to cover everything.

[possom813]

Man has to eat.

Question? Are you to received a tax overpayment check this year and would it cover your tuition? If so just use a credit card for one month and pay off the balance with tax money.

Other advice go crawling to the department chair with a box of tissues and some vicks in your eyeballs like Obozo and ask if there is anything he or preferably she can do to help. The department chair has mucho power.

I can't act nearly as well as our President can...so that's out.

We'll get a tax refund, I'm not sure how much though. Last year was strange because we got around 4k back, never got that before? But I also was a full-time student and our household income dropped by over 30k. The unfortunate thing is we only have one cc, and it doesn't have but a $2950 limit on it(they kept increasing it from a 1500 limit and making the payment go up, had to send in a notarized letter for them to stop that ****) The available balance is around 1800, but it's taken us almost three years to pay that down after maxing it out. Trying to pay it off and get rid of it and I don't know what our tax refund will be. It would suck to use the cc and then not get but 800 or 1000 back for taxes and be stuck trying to pay that thing back down again.

[Plate plinker]

Option three if you have them......sell some guns. It sucks but you can always buy more later.

Seriously go talk to the department chair ASAP they have power and they know people.

Sometimes you can get a job from the school to pay for tuition. Many a student sat at a table in the computer lab to pay the bills. You know to keep the pedophiles away.

[possom813]

Option three if you have them......sell some guns. It sucks but you can always buy more later.

Seriously go talk to the department chair ASAP they have power and they know people.

Sometimes you can get a job from the school to pay for tuition. Many a student sat at a table in the computer lab to pay the bills. You know to keep the pedophiles away.

I already work a full-time job, 14hrs a day 4/4.

I'll attempt to make contact with the department Deans' on Monday.

As for selling guns, that's a possibility, but a couple of issues there. The guns I currently have are the guns that really can't be replaced. When we bought the house in June, I had sold off everything gun-wise that I could without regrets. The few guns that we kept have sentimental ties and would be extremely difficult to replace. Just not worth it when all I really have to do is suck it up for an extra 3 months before the degree is back on track.

I figure it'll give me time to take a small break and get some shooting in. I've got to look at the positives :-) I haven't plugged in my lead pot since we got moved in. I still have at least 5-6 trailer loads at the old house to move.

[Wayne Smith]

I don't know your situation in detail but it sounds to me like you need to abandon the Jr. College, the AA doesn't really mean anything academically (It may to your job) and transfer all those credits to your BA. Then go full bore on the BA. The 'psychology thing' is probably Psy Chi, the psychology honor society. It may be meaningful when you apply to grad school. Was for me.

[possom813]

I was only able to speak to a couple of 4yr colleges yesterday. I haven't gotten a lot of information because they're extremely busy right now and I was asked to call back next week after the registration has calmed.

What I did learn is that the two classes that I need to complete the A.A. are required for the Bachelor's program as well. I also learned that the initial idea of transferring to A&M Commerce after Navarro isn't going to work. They require at least one day per week of in-room learning. I'm not sure I can pull that off with the way my work schedule is.

I have found that the University of Houston Downtown Campus is in some type of partnership/deal with TDCJ as far as working around that schedule and making a large portion of the classes available online.

As far as I know, everything is transferable to the B.A. which I will start on in September. I just have to find the school that will work with me(looking like Houston) so I don't have to be on campus every week.


Had I known when I started what I know now, there would have never been a junior college enrollment. I blame myself for not doing more research on how college worked, but not much to do about it now. I've got everything in line to transfer, minus one science and one humanities. Both schools I was able to talk to offer those classes in their curriculum though.


I was looking over the degree plans and my completed classes/transcript paper early this morning and realized that there are several classes that I've taken(during the criminal justice degree time) that I'd taken almost exact copies of under a different name. College Algebra OR Business Math, I took both of those because the advisors told me I needed them for the degree. Sociology OR General Psychology, again took them both because I was told I needed them. Engl 2 OR Business English....you see where this is going.

So I've taken what are, essentially, duplicate courses for the degree, and wasted hours on the financial aid side due to not knowing and poor advising. Had I not taken the duplicate courses, then I wouldn't be un-enrolled for this semester and wondering what the heck happened.

[quilbilly]

You never know where a degree will take you. When I got my degrees I decided I didn't want to work in the field (for the gov't) so instead started a business then used my education to help my customers stay in business (in spite of the gov't). They have rewarded me with their business for 37 years. You never know where a trail will lead until you take it.

[Rufus Krile]

Be sure to check with Sam Houston State, too... They are closely tied to TDCJ at Huntsville. (and that is indeed strange advice coming from an old SFA alum... no love lost between them.)

[1_Ogre]

Back when Radio Shack was still in business, they have more Master Degree'd people working for them than was funny. They couldn't get their megga buck jobs straight out of college. Go figure, guess they don't know what it means to "Pay your dues"

[NavyVet1959]

An Associate's degree is pretty useless in the real world. You might as well learn how to say, "Would you like fries with that order?" People who have them just seem to want to be able to say that they have a "college degree", regardless of how useless it might be. At the very minimum, you need a Bachelor's degree to even be considered for any sort of white collar job and even then, it's going to depend upon what you have the degree in. I would not have even considered hiring someone with an AA or BA degree. If they had a BS degree, they might get hired, but the chances were a lot better if they had an MS.

[WILCO]

$1,000.00 has you stopped dead in the water?

[sparky45]

Do what a loser that spent all her money on the Lottery; start a go fund me acct. @ www.gofundme.com . It's a legit way to raise some cash, and I bet you'll raise over the $1000 you need.

[WILCO]

https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/fJCiTHDWg8zkgr1truQYmQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9NTIxO2g9Mzg2/http://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/0184558a17f0b0947b868366698abf23


https://www.yahoo.com/music/powerball-reimbursement-fund-page-created-235504618.html

[possom813]

Yes, $1,000 has stopped this dead in the water.

I'm 34 years old and have around 1500 in the checking account right now, until the 1st. But, 6 months ago we paid cash for a 4br, 2ba house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by almost nothing. So yeah, killing our savings was completely worth it.

Unfortunately, we haven't built the savings back up in 6 short months because it's been a series of small things that needed to be done that kill our $200-300 per month savings. I should have everything back on track in another 3 months and be able to start putting money back in savings.

One income and a family of four makes it difficult enough to save, but we manage.

As for the degree, and 'would you like fries with that', not exactly. I've been in corrections since '09, not exactly flipping burgers. I want the degree so I can get myself into the administrative part of the career. The idea behind the A.A. was to use it as a tool to promote into a supervisory role. It's not needed for that, it just makes it easier to get there. While in the supervisory role, continue with the Bachelor's, and gain the supervisory experience that is required to get into the front office.

And as for the gofundme junk, no. It's not right. If I were to do that then I may as well apply for an Obamaphone

[NavyVet1959]

What part of Texas are you located in?

[edler7]

An Associate's degree is pretty useless in the real world. You might as well learn how to say, "Would you like fries with that order?"

Have to disagree with that one. All I had was an AA, made 60K/year 10 years ago. Got to retire (not a disability, but genuine retirement) at 50 years old from the state, and get 48K/year retirement. Maybe not the best, but surely not "You want fries with that" money.

[NavyVet1959]

Have to disagree with that one. All I had was an AA, made 60K/year 10 years ago. Got to retire (not a disability, but genuine retirement) at 50 years old from the state, and get 48K/year retirement. Maybe not the best, but surely not "You want fries with that" money.

OK, that's working for the government -- that doesn't count as "real world". :)

[mcdaniel.mac]

OK, that's working for the government -- that doesn't count as "real world". :)
AA will get you hired making $35k+ (that's 16/hr, Bout double what the Golden Arches will pay) in the computer realm and you can double that with experience, AA/AA gets you into lower-end nursing, paramedic, firefighter, police, etc. You know, all those "want fries with that" jobs that make the world keep running. :eyeroll: Not to mention trade programs.

Associates-level classes? Also way cheaper. I paid for a fulls semester at a Jr college out of pocket...$2.5k books included, that's about a third of what a state school runs and a tenth of what a private college costs, trade schools aside.

The snobbery is unbecoming, gents, and poor advice in a world where you can't walk in and get hired just for dressing right and being motivated.

[NavyVet1959]

The snobbery is unbecoming, gents, and poor advice in a world where you can't walk in and get hired just for dressing right and being motivated.

Call it what you will... I'm just relaying my experiences. The examples that you give are probably blue collar jobs, not white collar ones.

[mcdaniel.mac]

Call it what you will... I'm just relaying my experiences. The examples that you give are probably blue collar jobs, not white collar ones.
Trying to divide things by 'collar' isn't really relevant today. An IT professional starting at $45k or a resident nurse starting about the same...white collar or blue? Police?

This whole bachelor's or burgers idea doesn't reflect the job market today.

[edler7]

OK, that's working for the government -- that doesn't count as "real world". :)
My "real world" counterparts made more per hour, had better equipment to work with and used the latest technology soon after it hit. My area had 1960's technology and equipment when I started and still had some of the same equipment in daily use 30 years later. My part of the government (mental health and corrections) definitely got hind tit in the pecking order.

[possom813]

I'm just outside of Athens. About an hour and 45 minutes from Dallas or Huntsville. An hour from Tyler, 1/2 hour from Palestine.

For what it's worth, I flipped burgers in high school and was offered an Asst. Mgr. position the day I turned 18. I took it for 25k per year but wound up moving onto a better job making 27k and a flat 40hr week instead of 55+.

Now I've been working in corrections for the state for the last few years, really nice insurance and decent salary.

[NavyVet1959]

The IT professional is definitely white collar. The nurse and police would be grey collar according to this link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey-collar

Other pages I saw listed them as blue collar.

[NavyVet1959]

I'm just outside of Athens. About an hour and 45 minutes from Dallas or Huntsville. An hour from Tyler, 1/2 hour from Palestine.

For what it's worth, I flipped burgers in high school and was offered an Asst. Mgr. position the day I turned 18. I took it for 25k per year but wound up moving onto a better job making 27k and a flat 40hr week instead of 55+.

Now I've been working in corrections for the state for the last few years, really nice insurance and decent salary.

One thing that I've noticed is that the Louisiana universities are noticeably cheaper than the Texas ones.

[dragon813gt]

Call it what you will... I'm just relaying my experiences. The examples that you give are probably blue collar jobs, not white collar ones.

I'm in the HVAC trade which is obviously blue collar. Everyone wants a bachelors degree. Plenty of job postings online for all to read. Many of them will accept a decade in the field as an equivalent. But many of them won't. An associates degree is worthless in my field. They are more prone to hire someone w/ no degree for a lower wage.

[NavyVet1959]

My "real world" counterparts made more per hour, had better equipment to work with and used the latest technology soon after it hit. My area had 1960's technology and equipment when I started and still had some of the same equipment in daily use 30 years later. My part of the government (mental health and corrections) definitely got hind tit in the pecking order.

Even in the IT profession, sometimes you get the "privilege" of working with "legacy systems". At least with them, the bugs are *known*. :)

[NavyVet1959]

I'm in the HVAC trade which is obviously blue collar. Everyone wants a bachelors degree. Plenty of job postings online for all to read. Many of them will accept a decade in the field as an equivalent. But many of them won't. An associates degree is worthless in my field. They are more prone to hire someone w/ no degree for a lower wage.

I've known a *couple* of people who only had a few hours of non-core courses left for their BS degree that I would not have a problem hiring because all that was missing were some of the useless courses in English or other such courses that are only put into the curriculum so that the people who made the mistake of getting English degrees could have a place to work. I would actually hire them before I would hire someone with just an Associate's degree. An Associate's degree had the stigma of just doing the minimum to say that you had a degree. Besides, the first two years, you don't learn anything that employers in my field would consider useful. Some career fields have lower standards and maybe it makes a difference for them. But in my field, not only did you have to have a BS or MS, it needed to be from a good university, not some junior college or "cow college". And a degree from "University of Phoenix" was pretty much laughed at. It was considered as not much better than one of those proverbial "mail order degrees". The degree you choose and where you get it is going to stick with you for the rest of your life. Choose wisely.

[MaryB]

Online degrees are losing the stigma they once had. Here in MN the state college system offers online degree programs that are the exact same coursework as the in person classes. In a few cases you may be required to show up on campus, like speech class...

[mcdaniel.mac]

I can do everything except speech and lab courses without being in class in person. Handy when you work full time. There's not a lot I will gain from being there that I can't get from corresponding directly with the professor or tutor, as I'm an adult and don't need to practice being at a place at a particular time.

[NavyVet1959]

Online degrees are losing the stigma they once had. Here in MN the state college system offers online degree programs that are the exact same coursework as the in person classes. In a few cases you may be required to show up on campus, like speech class...

Yes, there are reputable universities that offer online course and *then* there is the University of Phoenix.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Phoenix#Controversies

Regardless of how poor your high school GPA might have been or whether you flunked out of some other real university, University of Phoenix will gladly take your money.

Call me old fashioned if you will, but I think that there is something to be gained by the academic interaction that you get with other students. Maybe not so much in those useless liberal arts courses, but definitely in the engineering courses that I took.

[mcdaniel.mac]

I'm a decade older than most of my classmates. I don't quite know what they could teach me.

[drklynoon]

Possom,
I work as a non-traditional/ transfer student admissions counselor at a school here in GA. If you have any questions I may be able to help. In addition, we do have a completely online CJ BA. It is going to change to a BS in the fall so there will no longer be a language requirement. Do not feel alone in receiving poor advising. I work everyday with students that have been at two year schools and earned 120+ credit hours and still do not have a degree. Going to the junior college first is a great way to save money but you need to work off of the university of choice's degree catalog to choose classes. One of the hardest aspects to higher education is that you need to work backwards. For instance if you eventually want a Phd. you need to find out what programs and prerequisites that Phd. program want and then work backwards to your starting point. It is a difficult process but if you do it right you can save a ton of bank.

[NavyVet1959]

I'm a decade older than most of my classmates. I don't quite know what they could teach me.

It's probably more prevalent in engineering courses where you are working on projects that you can kick around ideas with your classmates. Not so much on the course where you are just memorizing facts so that you can spit them right back out on the tests.

Of course, spending time / working in the computer lab was also a great way to meet appreciative girls who only had to take a single computer class and even the beginning class was too difficult for them or girls who were taking the more advanced classes and they ran into problems. Well, at least I found it that way, but I was probably 8+ years older than most of the students that were in the lab since I dropped back into college after getting out of the Navy.

Working full time at night and trying to go to school full time during the day is a recipe for burn out though. I learned that lesson during my first 2 years in college before eventually going into the Navy.

[dtknowles]

The school I went to had an AS degree that came with and Airframe and Powerplant cert. Yes, that is blue collar and not all the credits applied to the Engineering BS degree but the A&P would provide a good income while you slowly worked off you engineering degree and you would probably become a valuable Aircraft or Engine Manufacturing Engineer. There is a limit to how many MIT trained PHD level Aerospace Engineers Industry needs.

Tim

[MaryB]

I needed to pick up java programming so I took some on campus classes... all today's students taught me is that our high schools have really been dumbed down!

[NavyVet1959]

I needed to pick up java programming so I took some on campus classes... all today's students taught me is that our high schools have really been dumbed down!

Well, Java programming... That kind of explains it... Blame it on Microsoft... They made it where *any* idiot can write code and that's exactly what you get... :( I haven't been all that impressed with the quality of the developers that are coming out of colleges these days. They might be OK for the front end GUI stuff, but for the back end stuff where they have to actually design a *real* system? Nawh, not so great...

[edler7]

all today's students taught me is that our high schools have really been dumbed down!

You got that right. After retirement, I was an adjunct instructor in the physics department of the local university for 6 years. A lot of freshmen were in 90 level classes for mathematics and English. They had to be brought up to a high school graduate level in their first year of college, yet apparently had high enough scores for admission. :???:

[NavyVet1959]

You got that right. After retirement, I was an adjunct instructor in the physics department of the local university for 6 years. A lot of freshmen were in 90 level classes for mathematics and English. They had to be brought up to a high school graduate level in their first year of college, yet apparently had high enough scores for admission. :???:

The problem is that the kids end up taking the basic math courses in high school instead of the ones that they will need if they go into any sort of technical field. They'll take General Math or some sort of Business Math and that's about it. The ones who know they will be going into science or engineering will take Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, etc and in their high school science course, they'll take Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. If the university just looks at GPA, then the student who got a 3.5 GPA taking the easy courses will likely be accepted before the student who got the 2.75 GPA, but took the most difficult courses.

[Electric88]

Financial aid denied me for completely 150% of the hours required for the degree but not obtaining the degree.

I was sent an email this morning stating that it was denied. I found out Wednesday morning that it was in the denial stage and I needed to appeal. So I did the appeals paperwork because I only lack 2 classes to complete the degree.

The letter stated that I should attempt to complete them at the University level.



So yay, there's that. I'm going to miss that extra 6-800 bucks this month that comes from the Pell Grant after classes and labs are paid. But I'll live. Just sucks that I was almost there, and now I have to wait because I had no idea that this would/could happen with the GPA, Deans Lists, Presidents List and all that jazz. I didn't know there was a cap, and no one told me.

Just under 1k for 2 classes and it has to be paid by the 20th for late registration. Right after Christmas...they could have warned somebody :x

On another note, I was able to speak to two different 4yr colleges today and explained to them the situation and they said it shouldn't be a problem for financial aid to pay for the two classes I'm lacking for the degree because they're required for the Bachelor's program. But I was so hoping to say I have an A.A. in May when I start interviewing for supervisor positions. Hopefully my charm and funny looks will make up for lacking the degree;-)



Alright, I'll quit griping, just a crappy day today.

Edit to add, before it's asked, yep, I have 150% of the hours on the plan. But my first two semesters were still figuring out what I wanted to be when I grow up and the advisors/counselors never informed me that this outcome was a possibility.

I had the same thing happen to me. I was two courses away from completing an associates degree when the community college told me no more funding. They said I could appeal it if I wanted to, and I did. They gave me the money on a provisional basis that I take only those two classes, and that it was a one time shot. I wouldn't be allowed to borrow anymore after that at the community college level.

I knocked those classes out, and was able to switch over to a University where I started the electrical engineering program. Just keep plugging away at it bud! It's tiring, but I'm told it'll be worth it one day lol

[dtknowles]

You got that right. After retirement, I was an adjunct instructor in the physics department of the local university for 6 years. A lot of freshmen were in 90 level classes for mathematics and English. They had to be brought up to a high school graduate level in their first year of college, yet apparently had high enough scores for admission. :???:

That was already the case when I entered college 40 years ago. They had a screening test for Calculus class admission, if you could not do the algebra you have to take the remedial course for no credit before you were admitted into Calculus class.

Tim

[Wayne Smith]

Possom,
I work as a non-traditional/ transfer student admissions counselor at a school here in GA. If you have any questions I may be able to help. In addition, we do have a completely online CJ BA. It is going to change to a BS in the fall so there will no longer be a language requirement. Do not feel alone in receiving poor advising. I work everyday with students that have been at two year schools and earned 120+ credit hours and still do not have a degree. Going to the junior college first is a great way to save money but you need to work off of the university of choice's degree catalog to choose classes. One of the hardest aspects to higher education is that you need to work backwards. For instance if you eventually want a Phd. you need to find out what programs and prerequisites that Phd. program want and then work backwards to your starting point. It is a difficult process but if you do it right you can save a ton of bank.

This is the best advice you will get. Read his last few sentences twice and you will see that this is the advice you needed a couple years ago. Start applying it now.

[gsdelong]

Am I missing something here, it sounds like you put a lot of your "school money" into your house. It should be a no brainier to take a $1000 equity loan against the house at almost the cheapest rate you can get?

[possom813]

I had thought about taking out a loan against the house, but it's only 2 classes.

After talking to the other colleges and all that jazz, there's simply no reason to take those classes at the jr. college level. I'll still have to take them, but the 4yr schools both require the classes and I can't take them with the Bachelor's Program.

[MaryB]

I was writing a cell app for a local insurance company... it was all front end that filled out forms on the mainframe... which used cobol... yeah that was not fun!


Well, Java programming... That kind of explains it... Blame it on Microsoft... They made it where *any* idiot can write code and that's exactly what you get... :( I haven't been all that impressed with the quality of the developers that are coming out of colleges these days. They might be OK for the front end GUI stuff, but for the back end stuff where they have to actually design a *real* system? Nawh, not so great...

[NavyVet1959]

I was writing a cell app for a local insurance company... it was all front end that filled out forms on the mainframe... which used cobol... yeah that was not fun!

Yep... Having to interface with some of those legacy systems whose idea of "interface" is a 9-track tape drive can be "interesting" at times. At best, they can poll a directory to see if any new files have appeared there. The idea of IP level connectivity did not exist for them. Sometimes you could write another program that acted was waiting for a TCP/IP socket level connection from remote applications and that program put the message in a file for the COBOL program to read and process. Sometimes you might have that program running on a different type of system (PC or UNIX) which then either FTPed the file or mounted the directory and created it directly. There's other choices, but it depends upon what you have available to work with. Sometimes, your choices are pretty crappy.

[Wayne Smith]

I had thought about taking out a loan against the house, but it's only 2 classes.

After talking to the other colleges and all that jazz, there's simply no reason to take those classes at the jr. college level. I'll still have to take them, but the 4yr schools both require the classes and I can't take them with the Bachelor's Program.

I'm sorry but your last statement makes absolutely no sense. The BA program can't 'require' classes that they don't offer. They can't transfer in credits that they do not have a comparable class to apply this credit. The only way this would be true is if the classes were on the High School level. If that is the case you can probably comp them.

[NavyVet1959]

The BA program can't 'require' classes that they don't offer. They can't transfer in credits that they do not have a comparable class to apply this credit. The only way this would be true is if the classes were on the High School level. If that is the case you can probably comp them.

I've seen some of the satellite campuses for the University of Houston have degree programs for classes that require classes that they do not offer locally. You have to go to one of the larger campuses to take the class. They didn't offer any of the freshman or sophomore classes at that campus. Seemed kind of strange. The university that I went to for my BS degree did not have that sort of thing and I'm pretty glad since back then, it was a good 5 hour drive to the main campus.

[Geezer in NH]

I didn't save it, if that's what you're asking.

Last semester, I used it to put the finishing touches on the house, finished the carpet, and little stuff after moving in.

Semester before that, I bought shingles for the new house(by the by, if you need shingles, I found a place in Dallas that sells them for an extreme discount. 25 squares for $850)

Semester before that, Tires for the truck

Semester before that, I went back to work for the state, bought the 'new to me' truck so we'd have two reliable vehicles and used the money to service the truck(fluids, filters, plugs, etc)

Semester before that, It was used to help pay bills.

Semester before that, 1st semester, I used it to help pay bills. I had resigned from the state to get all of the non-online classes out of the way and the wife's check didn't quite cover everything, needed an extra $100 per month to cover everything.
So the money was not spent on schooling it appears

[gsdelong]

You probably don't want to hear this but this does not sound like a money thing.

A person who can buy a house for cash does not let $1000 stop them from anything

Only from what you have posted and asked for responses on it seems like maybe you have been going to school for a long time and have gotten used to being a student and these two classes keep you from having to join the real world.

In no way am I trying to be negative, just trying to get you to think about it.

Being in my mid 50s and doing very well for myself, I still wish I did not see those 4 years in college as going to take forever.

[Wayne Smith]

I've seen some of the satellite campuses for the University of Houston have degree programs for classes that require classes that they do not offer locally. You have to go to one of the larger campuses to take the class. They didn't any of the freshman or sophomore classes at that campus. Seemed kind of strange. The university that I went to for my BS degree did not have that sort of thing and I'm pretty glad since back then, it was a good 5 hour drive to the main campus.

That is multiple campuses of the same college. The University of Houston does have those classes, just not here! I know, I hate that too.

[possom813]

I've not been in school for a long time to prevent me from joining the 'real world'. I work 50+ hours per week, and have been for quite some time. So please, get the notion that I'm a 20 year old kid out of ya'lls thoughts. I've been enrolled for 6 semesters. The first two semesters were wasted because I had no idea what I was doing. I had thoughts about being a nurse, but after the practical and the nastiness associated with that, not for me. The second semester my degree plan was changed and they stuck it as an accounting degree and I was in a couple of core classes and an accounting class. I'm not soured by that, I'm actually happy I took the accounting class and learned a little bit about how the process works. But it was wasted. It was after that semester that I decided on Criminal Justice and got serious about schooling. Making the Dean's List and the President's List my first and second semesters enrolled.

We scrimped and saved to buy our house for cash. We saved for probably 6-7 years, every extra nickel we could because we wanted out of the city.

So when we bought the house, we paid cash. The house needed some work because it was a foreclosure. That killed every bit of savings we had. It was against my better judgement because it was nice to know that if anything happened that we had the cash in savings to cover it, ie, financial aid being declined. When the house came up for sale, we sold just about everything that was gathering dust was sold to cover the cost of the house.

I don't make a fortune. With no overtime, I'd take home under 25k. We just bought a shiny new car in September. I didn't want to, but our old car(that we were upside down on) decided to crack the intake manifold and the dealership said 3-4k in repairs and the second opinion was just a couple hundred under that. Re-read, no savings at this time. So we talked to the dealership and they put us in a brand new car for about 100 more per month than we were paying. And the payoff is about 18 months longer than what we were going to pay on the old car.

The two classes that are left are a Science and a Humanities course. I apologize if it didn't make sense the way I wrote it. Those are required for the Bachelor's Degree. The 4 yr colleges offer those two classes as part of their program so that I can take them at the 4yr college to receive credit toward the Bachelor's. I don't have to take them at the junior college level. Hopefully that makes sense.

And no, that extra few hundred each semester did not go for schooling. It went for housing, and equipment to be able to go back and forth to school, you know the stuff that is needed in life. I bought the new-to-me truck because the old truck had over 200k on it, and it was a V10 getting less than 7mpg around town. I got a good trade-in value on it so I bought the 2003 with the v8 and get about 12mpg around town. Averaging 15-17 on the hwy.


I think that about covers all the questions about my financial situation and not using the few hundred dollars extra from the grant for schooling, but expenses related to schooling, like having a place to live.


I'll take my licks for not having any extra money right now.

I called the school today and asked the lady I spoke with about taking the two classes. One should be offered over the summer and the other should be offered as an 8wk course the second half of this semester. She said as long as they have enough students enrolled it will be offered. So probably going to go that route and finish the A.A. just because I want to, and I'll have a the cash available by then.

Less than a week is hard for a guy to put together a grand without selling stuff I've worked hard to get. Catching overtime isn't too difficult though.

Had I known anything about the financial aid being denied last month(they said they sent an email, I never saw it), then I could have tried to get a couple of days of o/t and this wouldn't be an issue.

So I'll complete the A.A. as soon as the courses are offered, unless they don't offer them again until September. In September, I should be enrolled in either the University of Houston Downtown, or somewhere similar.

[SSGOldfart]

Well sorry to hear about all the set-backs,but it does sound like your track to finish your education,the cost is unreal these days,I have two in medical school now,please don't remind me what that cost.I haven't read your whole thread but maybe you could work out a loan,using your guns as collateral,your both working and have a house paid for,that's a lot more than most your ages.I'm sure this is just another bump in the roadfor you

[possom813]

Well sorry to hear about all the set-backs,but it does sound like your track to finish your education,the cost is unreal these days,I have two in medical school now,please don't remind me what that cost.I haven't read your whole thread but maybe you could work out a loan,using your guns as collateral,your both working and have a house paid for,that's a lot more than most your ages.I'm sure this is just another bump in the roadfor you

The time has passed to make the payment. It would be due by close of business today for late registration.

I've put a gun in a pawnshop one time to borrow money. It was a S&W .44mag Mountain Gun. New in the Box. I pawned it for $300. I went to pick up about a week and a half later and they told me I'd have to come back tomorrow to get it because it wasn't stored at the pawn shop.

I came back the following day to pick it up, and they could have, at least, cleaned off the powder fowling from around the cylinders. I don't know how much they shot through it, but it was no longer un-fired...After that experience I'll never pawn another gun, I'll just sell it if I need the money bad enough to pawn it.

[NavyVet1959]

I have two in medical school now,please don't remind me what that cost.

I guess you should be glad that you have two that can *get into* medical school. Too many of the kids I see these days would have a tough time even getting into *study hall*. :(

Gen-Slackers... :(

[SSGOldfart]

I've seen some of the satellite campuses for the University of Houston have degree programs for classes that require classes that they do not offer locally. You have to go to one of the larger campuses to take the class. They didn't offer any of the freshman or sophomore classes at that campus. Seemed kind of strange. The university that I went to for my BS degree did not have that sort of thing and I'm pretty glad since back then, it was a good 5 hour drive to the main campus.
Yep we ran into this all the time while I was on military active duty, I didn't finish my 4th yr. Because IV classes wasn't available at the satellite campuses,and a little war had started in Vietnam,so we took hands-on experience over school and after the spring of 68,I never wanted to see another IV.

So possum813,

Sir are you just venting or looking for a helping hand??
I'm kinda direct in asking questions I sent a PM??

[SSGOldfart]

I guess you should be glad that you have two that can *get into* medical school. Too many of the kids I see these days would have a tough time even getting into *study hall*. :(

Gen-Slackers... :(
Yes Sir,my youngest son,set his sights on being A MD,from the day he joined the Army,and it was a surprise when my oldest decided to go back to school,he wants to cure PTSD,now works a full time Job and still goes to school as a full time student,they both served and have some GI Bill of there own,and mine covers some of their cost,but it ain't cheap

[possom813]

Just venting, I'll have everything back on track in a couple of months.

It was just bad timing and failure to plan on my part. I was depending on something that I 'thought' was good to go and it bit me in the rear.

So just venting, I've been looking at the bright side of no class for a few weeks and will be able to get some stuff done around the house that has been needing to be done.

[ksfowler166]

And as for the gofundme junk, no. It's not right. If I were to do that then I may as well apply for an Obamaphone
You could always do an intra family loan. Even though its called an intra family loan friends or in this case forum members could loan you the money you need. Though I would highly recommend using a loan site for such a thing as it protects both parties and makes things more professional as well as easier to transfer money.