Since my previous post was a little bit of a downer, I thought I would take today as an opportunity to share what is hopefully a little bit brighter news: I’m going back to school!
That should actually say that I’m trying to go back to school.
Until around this time last year, I was enrolled at a local community college as a part-time student studying Visual Communications. I was actually quite enjoying it and was looking forward to completing my Associate’s Degree and maybe even transferring to a university to finish a four-year degree when my time was cut short by the financial aid department. For whatever silly reason, they have rules in place where, if you’re a student for so long and still haven’t graduated, they place you on a hold where you can no longer use financial aid to pay for your classes. I tried to reason with them, but they weren’t interested in hearing anything unless I went through an “appeals process” in which I had to prove that I had some extenuating circumstances as to why it was taking me “so long” to complete.
Keep in mind that I was only going part-time because I also have to work and sleep like a normal functioning adult. I had also changed my program (I was initially going for Software Development), which slowed my progress down a touch. But I was very nearly complete — I think I still need to take my college-level math courses and a photography class to finish up. Now that it’s been a year, I’m hoping that they’ll let me re-enroll and actually use some financial aid to finish up. If not, then perhaps figuring out a “payment plan” for my last couple of classes won’t hurt my wallet too badly. I have a meeting with my advisor this evening, so hopefully, I’ll be able to figure it all out then.
I really enjoy going to school so I’m looking forward to the possibility of going back. The last couple of semesters were especially fun since I got to learn how to do a lot of the basics of filming and editing video in Adobe Premiere Pro and graphic design in Adobe Illustrator, both of which were really up my alley and were taught by a couple of really cool teachers. The photography class that I still have yet to take sounds like it would be a blast as well, though I don’t look forward to having to finally complete my college math courses. Math is the one class that gives me the biggest anxiety — and I’ve already completed two remedial math classes to catch up to being college-level. I’m looking forward to it being finished though so I never have to take another math class again!
All things considered, I know we live in a society based on capitalism, but I’ve really got my fingers crossed that the government decides to cancel student debt. The thought of eventually having to pay all that money makes my stomach hurt. Why is college so remarkably expensive, anyway? That’s a story for a different day though, I suppose.
Until next time…
[…] re-enrolled in my local community college, as I mentioned I was going to try to do in yet another previous post of mine. This semester though, I’m taking a Photography class, which is very cool and has me very […]