Re: The fear of "Too Late"

[bomaye]

How far are you from a bus stop, could you look at places that are relatively convenient by bus?  Or, if your sister or dad will drive in the snow, try places around their work area and hitch a ride with them?

There is a bus-stop nearby. I guess at some point I'll have to actually learn how to take the bus then, but that will also hamper availability :/

Otherwise, you'll probably have to change tacks a bit, either focus on schooling or do something else to make money (internet stuff, look for local "make me a web page" type jobs on Craigslist) and start saving up for a car if you want to be aiming for getting a job first off. I feel like there's something else I'm not thinking of here.

I just don't know what to do with schooling, being an unmanly-man really limits the options. Also we're not really big enough of an area to get many website or internet type requests, a lot of businesses around here can legit operate just by having a facebook page and that's it.

[Enail]

There is a bus-stop nearby. I guess at some point I'll have to actually learn how to take the bus then, but that will also hamper availability :/

Because they don't have all-night bus service in your area, you mean?

I just don't know what to do with schooling, being an unmanly-man really limits the options.

What about the kind of thing you were thinking of before, something computer-y or writing-y?

Also we're not really big enough of an area to get many website or internet type requests, a lot of businesses around here can legit operate just by having a facebook page and that's it.

Check Craigslist every so often, something might turn up. There are probably small businesses that aren't based around a storefront that need a webpage from time to time, even if you can get one or two gigs once in a while, it's better than nothing.

[bomaye]

Because they don't have all-night bus service in your area, you mean?

Yep

What about the kind of thing you were thinking of before, something computer-y or writing-y?

I'd still have to afford to live somewhere to be able to do go to school for things

[Enail]

But you'd been thinking about going straight into it, so weren't you figuring on student loans for that? Of course, if you can save up beforehand, that's better.

[bomaye]

I literally know nothing about student loans or how any of that works, beyond that people get them to pay for schooling, nor do I know how people afford to live in places they go to school at :/

[bomaye]

Like I hate to sound useless or repetitive or helpless or whatever, but if I don't know about things like this, I tend towards freezing up because I don't know what to do, I blank out, I don't know how to put any of that information into context because I don't have a context to weigh it against. Things end up not making sense to me.

[Werel]

Buses sort of suck but are not hard to learn, especially if you're an adult who can read schedules. Worth considering for a start even if it eliminates the option of late-night shifts.

I literally know nothing about student loans or how any of that works, beyond that people get them to pay for schooling, nor do I know how people afford to live in places they go to school at

This is going to sound nuts, but bear with me: have you considered applying for diversity scholarships? My partner got a full "diversity" ride to a top university for being over 27, southern, and poor on paper, despite just being some white dude. Older students and people with unconventional life experience are actually a decent chunk of people who get scholarships, at least IME in the US. Don't know how it works up there, though.

Also: if there's a community college near you that offers any type of general education credits (writing classes, basic math/comp sci, etc.), even if they don't offer degrees in anything you want to end up doing, it's not a bad idea to get a couple of transferable credits under your belt. It'll let you get used to classroom existence again & seriously helps your chances of admission to other schools, vs. just applying cold. At least half the undergrads I'm teaching now are community college transfers, and they're generally better students than the ones who came straight to uni as freshmen.

edit: that freezing-up feeling is normal, shutting down when stuff's intellectually overwhelming is normal, I felt that way all weekend over a tough assignment; it helps a lot to break it into tiny chunks and set a time for just consuming information without expecting yourself to process or retain it. You've got time, you don't have to figure it out by tonight or next week or Christmas.

[Wondering]

Yeah, the community/junior college route is a good one to look into.

Also, how people afford to live in places where they go to school? Well, if you're living on campus (and larger universities will likely have housing for older students), that's often part of what the loan pays for. Living on campus also means everything's furnished and your meals are provided. So you don't need to cook or buy furniture. Loans can often be used for paying for off campus housing, too, and areas around colleges have a ton of housing just for the student population.

For applying for loans, call the financial aid department of any of the universities and ask to speak to a counselor. They will be able to tell you how to navigate the system. If it's like the US, you'll need to work on paperwork to see what you qualify for before you actually apply for the loans, but that's also something a counselor can tell you.


Actually, I just looked up the financial aid page of one of the universities in your province, and they have info right on their webpage about loans, grants, and scholarships, both provincial and federal. Poke around a bit on the college and university sites and see what you can find. (Very few colleges had webpages back in ye olden days when I was applying, so this option is new to me!. )

[eselle28]

This might be different in Canada, but in the US at least, many schools and particularly community colleges offer some online courses. Since transportation is an issue, you might want to see if the schools in your region do. If you're not used to being in a classroom and may have difficulty accessing one, that might be a good way of easing back into being in an educational environment. It's also a good way of getting in some classes and getting a degree underway before you make the bigger investment of moving or committing to school full time. One of the legal assistants where I work got half of her degree from our state college that way and is only just this year having to leave so she can attend classes in person at our state's flagship school.

[Enail]

Take it one step at a time. Read up a little so you can start to get a feel for it, ask us if you're not sure where to look, and then start a list of questions or things you need to know more about.

As well as the specific universities' websites, you can find general info on student loans here

You would also be eligible for some grants (money you don't have to pay back), such as a low-income grants(they'd probably assess your income separate from your parents). Those wouldn't cover your full tuition/expenses, but they'd reduce the amount of loan you need to take.

And I hugely second Werel's idea of taking some transferable credits at a local college, or even doing your first year or two there in a transfer program. It'll allow you to get back into practice in taking classes, and start getting a handle on the post-sec experience while still having the familiarity and money-saving of living at home. Or Eselle's idea of doing some courses online (it still counts as a regular degree even if you do some courses online).

[reboot]

I used to bike to school and work in ice and snow. Wide tires and waterproof shell pants made it doable, if not fun

But, if your mom will not let you drive in the ice and snow, she would be even less thrilled by you biking because it is way more dangerous

[bomaye]

Problem-ish things:

- The local community college is pretty limited. Online courses are basically online secretary courses that don't really get you anywhere, and I think there's a bunch of under-grad or whatever you call it for science degrees. There's also the thing where I don't want to have to deal with gender things that goes along with being a male secretary.
- I look at a lot of courses and things and go "I don't think I can do that" "I don't think I can do that" "Can I even get hired with that?" It's the same kind of freezing up thing as what to do next about even a part-time job. The classroom doesn't scare me, it's exiting the classroom with a piece of paper and going "Okay, now what?" and being right back where I am now, unable to turn things into an actual job.
- Trades, now I'm back on not being manly. I'm not very physically strong even when I'm fit, I don't do well around rough blue-collar people, I looked at some spatial mechanical thing they make tradesman take that was apparently "common sense, you don't have to study for it" and got half of them wrong. Freeze-up time again.
- I don't even have money for things like laptops or phones or the supplies you need for school life if I actually went somewhere.

I used to bike to school and work in ice and snow. Wide tires and waterproof shell pants made it doable, if not fun

But, if your mom will not let you drive in the ice and snow, she would be even less thrilled by you biking because it is way more dangerous

Yeah, I think I'm not into that kind of danger, I'm happy that you survived it though

[Wondering]

Since you have no problem with the classroom setting and there's a bus near your house, you're not limited to what the college is offering online. You can get to the school and take advantage of the full variety of in-person courses. Because I guarantee you that the bus goes to the local community college campus.

Grants, scholarships, and loans can cover laptops and books, as well as tuition.

[bomaye]

The community college is actually close enough that if my mom needs the car, it's just a quick drive, and if she doesn't, I can just park there for class. And it also doubles as a High School, I've walked home from there before.

It's just that since we're a smaller place, this chain of community colleges splits up what's available between different campuses, and one of the campuses is about a half hour away in a nearby city, which that is a bit more problematic.

Grants, scholarships, and loans can cover laptops and books, as well as tuition.

I thought that stuff was more for just covering classes o.O

[Wondering]

Depends on what kind you get. I had scholarship, grant, loan, and workstudy to pay for my college all working in conjunction. I had some money after paying for tuition, room and board, and books. Usually the financial aid just says it's for college expenses, which books certainly are and a laptop would be, too.

I don't know if you have workstudy in Canada, but it is a way to get job experience. I put my two workstudy jobs on my resume when I was right out of college.

Is there a bus to the CC half an hour away? Because that's not an insurmountable distance, depending on the transportation.

[bomaye]

Is there a bus to the CC half an hour away? Because that's not an insurmountable distance, depending on the transportation.

It kind of looks like 12+ hour days if I'm reading the routes right (I could very much not be). There's a "long" way and a newer short way (the 30 minutes one), but transit only seems to take the long way, and they only have a few buses going back and forth all day

[reboot]

Bomeye, does the community college offer online classes? The ones near me are about 70% online with maybe one day in a classroom per week if there is a lab component or once a month for presentations. If yes, you might only have to do a few 12 hour bus days before snow melts and you might be able to bike/drive.

This all assumes you have the self-discpline to do an online course (I do not). If you are not sure, you might want to try a single course before jumping in.

[bomaye]

Bomeye, does the community college offer online classes? The ones near me are about 70% online with maybe one day in a classroom per week if there is a lab component or once a month for presentations. If yes, you might only have to do a few 12 hour bus days before snow melts and you might be able to bike/drive.

This all assumes you have the self-discpline to do an online course (I do not). If you are not sure, you might want to try a single course before jumping in.

The only ones I'm aware of are the Secretary type ones (my sister took one, it was fairly useless, and she was actually told this by the people who hired her for that kind of job, she got it for different skills), and I guess some of the lecture course credits for university transfer are online. Anything that's actually useful is not done online.

[Enail]

Government student loans/grants for full-time students in Canada are meant to cover (along with any other sources of money) tuition, books/equipment, an amount for computer (a pretty low amount/year if you need to buy a whole new computer one year, though), and an amount for living expenses if you're not living at home.

There's a calculator to give you a rough estimate of the annual loan/grant amount. If you did part of your degree locally and then transferred to somewhere out of town, you would get a smaller amount the year(s) you're living at home than when you're out of town.

I'm not sure if workstudy is something more specific in the States, but many programs here do offer some kind of practical work placement, co-op (between school and an employer) or internship. They vary a lot in length and style.

Problem-ish things:
- I look at a lot of courses and things and go "I don't think I can do that" "I don't think I can do that" "Can I even get hired with that?" It's the same kind of freezing up thing as what to do next about even a part-time job. The classroom doesn't scare me, it's exiting the classroom with a piece of paper and going "Okay, now what?" and being right back where I am now, unable to turn things into an actual job.

What about them makes you think you can't do it or be hired with it? (Is that the case for things other than the trades?)

Is there a bus to the CC half an hour away? Because that's not an insurmountable distance, depending on the transportation.

It kind of looks like 12+ hour days if I'm reading the routes right (I could very much not be). There's a "long" way and a newer short way (the 30 minutes one), but transit only seems to take the long way, and they only have a few buses going back and forth all day

College and university usually don't have courses in a straight full-day block Mon-Fri, you schedule each course individually and there's usually some flexibility in how you set up your schedule (eg, a course you need is available two different days of the week or times of day, or you can take it in the fall semester or the winter semester. Or maybe you can choose between two courses, and those ones are offered at different times. Prerequisites (courses that you have to take before you can take another course), mandatory courses and courses only offered at one time/day mean that the flexibility is limited, but there's usually some).

So you might be able to schedule your courses in a way that works better with the bus schedule, maybe to have shorter days or to have the long days but only have to go in 3 or 4 times a week instead of 5.

[CP96]

Is there an option for distance learning for university? In the UK we have the Open University. Is there something similar in the US at all?

[Wondering]

I'm not sure if workstudy is something more specific in the States, but many programs here do offer some kind of practical work placement, co-op (between school and an employer) or internship. They vary a lot in length and style.

Work study in the US, at least when I was in college, were jobs on campus that were set aside for people needing financial aid and who qualified for workstudy. You were allowed a certain number of hours a week to work, not to exceed 20. I was a copy editor on the school's alumni magazine and also a writing lab tutor. One of my friends was a receptionist for one of the academic departments. One of my other friends was a painter. They were minimum wage jobs, but you got paid monthly by check. Now, this was 20 years ago, so I don't know what, if anything, has changed in that time and if different schools did it differently back then, but if you qualified for workstudy, you were guaranteed a job on campus as long as you asked for one. They were all posted on a specific workstudy job board at the financial aid office.

   Problem-ish things:
   - I look at a lot of courses and things and go "I don't think I can do that" "I don't think I can do that" "Can I even get hired with that?" It's the same kind of freezing up thing as what to do next about even a part-time job. The classroom doesn't scare me, it's exiting the classroom with a piece of paper and going "Okay, now what?" and being right back where I am now, unable to turn things into an actual job.

What about them makes you think you can't do it or be hired with it? (Is that the case for things other than the trades?)

That's my question, too. What kinds of courses can you not get hired with? Are you looking only for trade courses?

[Enail]

Oh, yes, at least some universities have those too.

[bomaye]

What about them makes you think you can't do it or be hired with it? (Is that the case for things other than the trades?)

That's my question, too. What kinds of courses can you not get hired with? Are you looking only for trade courses?

Anecdote and statistical stuff that university grads are far more likely to be underemployed or not find their degrees all that useful. Or that I've never been in an office environment before, so I'd be a fish out of water in that kind of area. Or even just that I don't really have good IRL people skills or first impression stuff, so it also kind of feels like no matter the level of education, I'm still playing from behind.

That even does go for trades too, you kind of have to know someone willing to take you on as an apprentice, among other concerns about trades

[reboot]

Most intro programming classes are primarily online because, duh, computer. Also trade related classes like CAD.

Bomeye, have you actually researched any of this or are you just repeating what you have heard? And by research I mean going onto the school's website and looking at the specific courses to see how many days you need to be in the classroom. Gutting out 12 hour days in the months you cannot drive 1-3 days a week, knowing the days will be shorter when the snow melts.

[bomaye]

Most intro programming classes are primarily online because, duh, computer. Also trade related classes like CAD.

I have a 10 year old computer with an out-of-date operating system, I don't use tablets or phones or anything modern like that (if I had money I'd probably have a cheap phone, but I don't really get excited by that stuff), I don't otherwise have a passion for programming (I did a bit of C++ and html in high school for a computer class), and I live in a place where there's no real programming jobs or programming firms. I've heard from programmers, you have to constantly keep up with new innovations and new languages and new technology, and you can easily be replaced or have your wage driven down by offshoring because it's just computer stuff.

I'm not a optimist by nature, I can't see myself succeeding with something that you constantly have to outrun or otherwise be on top of in non-working hours?

Bomeye, have you actually researched any of this or are you just repeating what you have heard? And by research I mean going onto the school's website and looking at the specific courses to see how many days you need to be in the classroom. Gutting out 12 hour days in the months you cannot drive 1-3 days a week, knowing the days will be shorter when the snow melts.

My mom won't let my drive to another town with her car, so it wouldn't just be snow or ice-type months. Also it's probably noooot 12 hour days for the most part (I can't read bus schedules ) but there's definitely enough potential for missing a bus and then having a spare 4 hours of absolutely-nothing-to-do-in-a-cold-place that could put the day close to double digits. Also I straight up wouldn't do it if there was the chance of missing the last bus of the day (seems to be around 5 PM)

Looking at the offerings for that campus, most degree-type classes seem to be three hours long (there are distance options for a number of specific courses). That specific campus leans towards being the business school campus. If I was doing that stuff, I'd also try to get in on co-op (workstudy-type stuff), so I'm also unsure if buses would work for that or not. There's no class schedules really posted from what I can tell.

Trade-type classes seem to list total hours spent in the classroom and now the amount of time in each class, or some of them are long-day type lectures (I see one that's 10 hours long). Likewise, also no real schedules from what I can tell. I think those ones tend much more towards longer hours.

[Sponsored content]