Grad School Hell
Why did I decide to go back to grad school? Ah yes...because I'm INSANE.
Seriously, though...like two Master's degrees weren't enough, now I'm going for a third. At least I hope this one will land me a full-time job once I graduate as my student loans will be in the six figures by the time I'm done. Ugh.
I am currently going to Rutgers as they have a phenomenal Social Work program. Also, I figured being an in-state student would work out the best for me financially. They charge $662 a credit for in-state grad students, which considering the cost of college these days really isn't a bad deal. However, I did not look at the fine print. I signed up for their 100% online program which charges a rate of $1,200 a credit. How I missed this is beyond me, but I finally realized the difference when I got my first bill last fall. Still, my loan was covering the cost at the time so I figured the cost was worth the convenience.
Fast forward to last week: I got my tuition bill for this upcoming fall and now my loan is not covering everything as I am scheduled to take eight credits instead of six. This means a good $1,400 will be coming out of pocket. If I had a full-time job, this would not be a big deal. However, living the life of an adjunct professor is a bit of a nightmare to begin with as you never know if a full-timer will take one of your courses. Now that enrollment is down at all three of the colleges I teach at I now have to worry if the courses are going to run at all. This means that a payment plan isn't really an option because I don't know how much money will be coming in each month and we don't have nearly that much in savings. Sigh. So I called up the financial aid office. I know how these things work. If a student can't pay the bills they'll find the money somehow, usually out of an endowment fund. Isn't that why I donate money to all my alma maters every years? Well, there is no money for online students. The bastards not only charge twice as much for online students but they don't put any money aside to help them out when they cannot afford the tuition? WTF?
So, I've been a nervous wreck all week and been in contact with the powers-that-be at the college trying to find an alternative. One has me still in the program but taking less classes, which means I would not graduate until December 2016. Uh no. The other option was switching into their "blended" program which is two years online and one year face-to-face. OK, the thought of driving to Newark or New Brunswick is not a happy one, but if it'll save me $20,000 a year---the blended program is charged the normal in-state rate---then I'll be happy enough. I may lose the fieldwork hours I did over the summer and I'll have to take an extra class in the fall, but I think that's worth a $20,000 savings, don't you?
The problem with the blended scenario is that I have to really cut down my teaching hours. I originally had eight classes going for the fall and now I'm down to five. I'll admit eight was way too fecking much to begin with but five should be enough to provide enough income to be comfortable. That is if they all run. Ugh. Either way it looks like I'll be doing the blended program. I'll let you know how that goes.
Seriously, though...like two Master's degrees weren't enough, now I'm going for a third. At least I hope this one will land me a full-time job once I graduate as my student loans will be in the six figures by the time I'm done. Ugh.
I am currently going to Rutgers as they have a phenomenal Social Work program. Also, I figured being an in-state student would work out the best for me financially. They charge $662 a credit for in-state grad students, which considering the cost of college these days really isn't a bad deal. However, I did not look at the fine print. I signed up for their 100% online program which charges a rate of $1,200 a credit. How I missed this is beyond me, but I finally realized the difference when I got my first bill last fall. Still, my loan was covering the cost at the time so I figured the cost was worth the convenience.
Fast forward to last week: I got my tuition bill for this upcoming fall and now my loan is not covering everything as I am scheduled to take eight credits instead of six. This means a good $1,400 will be coming out of pocket. If I had a full-time job, this would not be a big deal. However, living the life of an adjunct professor is a bit of a nightmare to begin with as you never know if a full-timer will take one of your courses. Now that enrollment is down at all three of the colleges I teach at I now have to worry if the courses are going to run at all. This means that a payment plan isn't really an option because I don't know how much money will be coming in each month and we don't have nearly that much in savings. Sigh. So I called up the financial aid office. I know how these things work. If a student can't pay the bills they'll find the money somehow, usually out of an endowment fund. Isn't that why I donate money to all my alma maters every years? Well, there is no money for online students. The bastards not only charge twice as much for online students but they don't put any money aside to help them out when they cannot afford the tuition? WTF?
So, I've been a nervous wreck all week and been in contact with the powers-that-be at the college trying to find an alternative. One has me still in the program but taking less classes, which means I would not graduate until December 2016. Uh no. The other option was switching into their "blended" program which is two years online and one year face-to-face. OK, the thought of driving to Newark or New Brunswick is not a happy one, but if it'll save me $20,000 a year---the blended program is charged the normal in-state rate---then I'll be happy enough. I may lose the fieldwork hours I did over the summer and I'll have to take an extra class in the fall, but I think that's worth a $20,000 savings, don't you?
The problem with the blended scenario is that I have to really cut down my teaching hours. I originally had eight classes going for the fall and now I'm down to five. I'll admit eight was way too fecking much to begin with but five should be enough to provide enough income to be comfortable. That is if they all run. Ugh. Either way it looks like I'll be doing the blended program. I'll let you know how that goes.
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