This might be lengthy.
I currently work on The Ohio State University Medical Center as a Senior Pharmacy Technician. It's an okay job as it allows for a decent bit of freedom as you mostly work alone making rounds between various halls and floors. And you can set your own pace, as long as your job gets completed. The only real bad thing is that there is so much nit picky, and bureaucratic bullshit that it's not funny, as with pretty much all government jobs, or just about any job now that I think of it. The biggest reason I work there are the benefits, which include full tuition to The Ohio State University. The only thing I have to pay is lab fees and books. Which to date have totaled $30 out of my pocket, which is pretty cool, heh.
Well, since I didn't go to college straight out of High school, which I really regret not doing, I waited 7 years and because of that I wouldn't be accepted into OSU unless I had acquired 45 credits from a "lesser" college. So, I went to a Community College for the last couple years. And just this last spring quarter, I finally was accepted into OSU, but still had to finish a math series at Columbus State Community College, while taking the last English class I ever have to take at OSU. It's taken me forever it seems, as I work about 45 hours a week, and I can only handle two classes most quarters, it's draining, and tiring, but doable. And I feel I don't do as well as I could if I was a fully time student, and part time employee. Thing is, when you work for OSU, and you want to go to school for free, you are an employee first, and a student second, and that is understandable I suppose, but I really don't like that mentality. If there is a class that you need to take, and it's only offered in the morning at 10:30am, and you work first shift as I do, to fucking bad, you can't take it, and they are not flexible about it. See, I think of my job as a "college job", and honestly, I'm sick to death of jobs, I'm ready for a career.
If I keep going to school like this, it's going to take me another 4-5 years to get a degree, which I feel is unreasonable. For the last week or so, I've been considering quitting my job, or at least cutting back to around 50% time or something in order to go to class full time, which I would prefer. Thing is, if I do that, my school benefit is forfeit, and I pay for it, and since I'm not rich or anything, I'd have to take out some hefty school loans.
I guess, I'm venting, and looking for some insight here. No one in my immediate family has went to college. And all of my friends who attend school, are supported by their parents or other family members, they don't have to work, and most of them have their families to rely on, I'm completely dependent on myself. And it's hard to get an idea of what it's like to take out loans and rely on that to pay for school and bills. The gf is very supportive and has helped me so much that I can't even begin to thank her enough, but she lacks some understanding of the whole paying for stuff with money process. Her parent paid for her undergrad, living expenses tuition, and everything. And she took out some loans to obtain her masters in social work, which I am very proud of her for doing. But when I talk to her about the whole thing, she just says "quit your job and take out loans", well, I would love to do that, but it would cost a ridiculous amount of money. She fails to factor in $18,000 for bills, rent, car payment, gas, etc. then another $10,000-$12,000 for tution, as well as miscellaneous cost here and there. That would be around $30,000 a year I would need for about 3 years. She seems to think It would be like $20,000 total to do all this.
I'm thinking; work part-time to cover some costs, take out loans for school and bills, I should get a little money from grants, and hopefully end up with about $35,000-$40,000 to pay back after I get a degree, which would take about 2 and half or 3 years. And I know it's a gamble, but both the majors I'm looking at are about $60,000 a year right off the rip. Assuming I can land a job. That works out to be about $5000 a month, even if I had a $1000 loan payment, and payed $2000 a month for bills and such, I would still have about $2000 to put in a savings account. Instead of the chump change I'm doing now. Which is crap. Now, these are extremely rough estimates, and it's assuming a retarded amount of things, it's just more my thought process, not actual figures or anything.
Whew! Okay, I'm just wondering if any one here has done anything similar, and if so, how did it go?