Posts Tagged ‘children’
Posted by admin on July 6th, 2009
Years ago, when I graduated high school, I never thought twice about the debt I would rack up while attending college. I signed away on forms at the beginning of each semester not really grasping what was going to hit me once I took off that cap and gown. Six months into the real world, I started paying off the nearly $18,000 in debt I had accrued since my freshman year and I was one of the lucky ones! My parents helped pay for my tuition otherwise I would have been sitting on over $30,000 worth of debt. It puts a knot in my stomach to think of when my children are ready to go to college.
Are these loans really the best idea for our children? They’re starting their adult life in debt thousands upon thousands of dollars. Especially in these economic times where jobs are scarce, how can they even be assured a job once they graduate?
Is there a better way? There’s something to be said for schools where you cannot use Financial Aid. The costs are upfront and you know what you’re getting into, financially speaking. And, most of them offer payment options to make the cost a little easier to digest. I think even some 4-year colleges and universities have monthly payment options although I’m not sure how “affordable” they really are.
What are your thoughts/feelings? Would you still choose to defer the debt if you had an affordable option?
Time management is an oxymoron. We don’t manage our time, we manage our tasks to fit the time available. In doing so, we often are trying to fit more tasks into that finite amount of time.
When I started school, I convinced myself that it was the perfect timing. I was young(er), single, no kids, settled in a job, etc. My plan was that I would start and finish my PhD by the time I was 30 (in 2003).
I was determined not to let school get in the way of my life - I didn’t want to change any habits. I still wanted to work full time (plus overtime), hang out with my friends, date, spend time with family, etc. I actually didn’t talk much about being in school, keeping it quiet meant that it wasn’t intruding into anything.
I found that I was able to plan ahead for my classes. I often spent lunch hours doing reading or participating in online class discussions. That way I was able to enjoy my free time.
As time went on, school took up more time. I found that when the end of the term came, I needed to take 1-2 days off work to finish the final projects for the term. That process actually worked well for a while.
I really needed (and appreciated) the structure of the coursework. I needed deadlines.
As time went on and I progressed, the work became less structured and required more self-discipline. That’s where I’ve fallen short. It is now 2009. I finished my comprehensive exam in 2006 and officially became a PhD candidate. For the last 2-3 years, I’ve been working on TDD (That Damn Dissertation). The self-paced nature of this work has been a real challenge for me, and I hope to make significant progress with this throughout this year.
I would encourage everyone to become aware of how you best accomplish tasks and try to make the most of your time.
Posted by Sharon Cece on December 3rd, 2008
For many years I had toyed with the idea of returning to school, so most of my friends and family were not surprised to learn that I had finally put my goals into gear and in fact were very excited for me. My husband and children, on the other hand, had a mixed reaction. Naturally, they were very proud that I was finally going back to school to finish my degree. Their initial excitement wore off, however, as soon as it was made clear that everyone would have to “pitch in” with housework and family matters now that Mom/Wife would be spending more time studying and testing. To say this statement brought cheers of delight would be stretching it a bit, yet when push came to shove the family did adapt well to dividing up a portion of the household duties that were displaced by my studies.
One reaction that I did not anticipate came from my kids. They LOVED that mom was now a student, with all of the concerns, moans, groans and cramming that come with student life. They thrilled over my new position as “one of them”, with my nose in a book, brows furrowed over a problem I had trouble solving. One night they helped quiz me for a very tough test–this particular course was like studying a second language (and in fact, we were studying music in other languages!). I was experiencing quite a bit of testing anxiety, and the kids immediately flew into action as taskmasters, right down to imitating my mantra to them, “Now, keep studying and you’ll get it eventually, and no dessert until you finish”! I made it a point to watch what I said to them regarding their own schoolwork from then on, knowing most likely it would be used on me.
Looking back, there was not one person in my life who wasn’t excited and proud that I had made the decision to return to school. I think most of my friends and family expected it to happen, but when it finally became a reality there was a sense of “wow, good for you!” from all.
At the same time I was taking online classes, my husband and I were exploring financing for our two children’s college education. Both of us work full time in K-12 public education and wanted to pay at least half of the expenses for both children. My husband’s education was paid for by his father, and I was able to secure grants, loans and work study to pay for my four-year degree. My mother was a widow and I was able to tap into sources for low income students. Both of us obtained master’s degrees and paid for them ourselves, working full time and going to school at night.
We both thought our children would appreciate their education if they contributed towards their degree. We balanced this appreciation against having them pay for college entirely on their own, or perhaps graduating with a debt the size of a mortgage. The first FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid ) we filled out revealed that at our income level, we were “on our own.” We didn’t bother to fill out any more FAFSA forms.
As it turned out, my son spent four years in the Marines and is now able to attend college on the GI Bill. My daughter lived at home greatly decreasing her costs and we were able to fund her education using our savings and paying as she went. They are both seniors in college and soon the expenses will be over. My son wants to go to law school and estimates he will need $50,000 dollars to get this degree. He has asked us for help and points out that we did not have to contribute anything to his bachelor’s degree (siblings always keep score!) I’m mulling over how, so close to my own retirement I can appreciably help him.
I either paid cash for my online courses and took free courses paid for by a large urban school district. Many courses were underwritten by organizations who want to improve the education of inner-city children.
In the back of my mind, I would like to get an E-learning certificate from an online university based in Wisconsin. It would provide more knowledge to teach online. I can’t afford tuition if my son needs help with law school. Graduate tuition has skyrocketed in Wisconsin and is out of reach for me. Yet, my son’s dream of law school looms upon the horizon.
Posted by trinity9058 on July 16th, 2008
Everyone thinks that their lives are busy. Everyone is probably right. I, for one, know that my life isn’t just busy, its hectic. I have to work to pay my bills so my children have the things they need, I have to go to school so that I won’t be stuck in a dead end job my whole life, and I have to take care of my kids because, as a mother, that’s what I do. I am always going, going, going. I get up when my husband leaves for work at six a.m. and I go to bed when everything that I needed to do for the day is finished. The way that I accomplish all of this is with lists. I love lists. Whoever invented lists deserves some sort of award, like the Nobel Peace Prize. I’m sure that lists have saved countless people from doing bodily harm to other countless people. I do not, however, have schedules. My circumstances are forever changing and I have to adapt accordingly. If I have to be somewhere at a certain time, I will consult my list to see if there is anything else I can do while I am in the area. I don’t plan specific times for doing homework. I just have to do it while everyone else is otherwise occupied, which means directing people to activities that I have delegated to them. Delegation is a great thing. My family knows that my going to school will benefit everyone in the end so we all pitch in to do what needs to be done. This is the main reason I go to school online. It fills my need to better myself while leaving me enough time to work and be with my family. I have a work schedule that requires me to be at the office only four days a week. The rest of the time is for me and my loved ones. Another big thing that helps me is getting up before everyone and going to bed after everyone goes to bed. I know that this will not help everyone but I actually don’t do well on a lot of sleep. Over the course of my blog, I plan on getting a lot more detailed so if anyone has any questions or comments, don’t hesitate.
