Turns out, four introductory courses that I need for the Graphic Art Degree are running in the Spring. It is not too late to sign up. I filled out the FAFSA and am eligible for full Pell Grant, Stafford Direct Student Loans, and Work Study. All my jobs were work-study jobs when I was in school before. If my overheads had been as low, and my prospects as high then, and if I had known then what I know now, things would have been much better for me during that time. I would have taken out a student loan and bought a car, so I would have tremendously better employment prospects.
In a two-year school, you don't get your funds from scholarships or financial aid until February or March, and classes start in January. You get just enough of your Financial Aid money to cover books at the start of the Semester. Then you get half of what's left of student loans in February and the other half in March. If anything is left of your scholarships or Grants, you get it in March or April. Classes start in January, this year it is on the 12th. It would be at least a month before I could start seriously car shopping, and it would still have to be a very cheap car. It would at least be a car though, and I could answer "Yes" to application questions about dependable transportation, plus I would be studying for a high-demand, high paying job that is creative.
I can do it all over again, and replace the car, which will also get rid of my obstacle for the investing I was to be doing. An ugly car keeps a person from being taken seriously, as does appearing not to have one, so wither way I was going to be toast. Going to school will also limit my availability to potential employers and narrow down my options in certain ways, too. On the whole though, it would probably still be better as far as forward progress.
Here's the dilemma: If I do it all over again though, and major in the right thing this time so I will be able to get a job and be creative, I will lose my unemployment and the other assistance. Treatment for depression and anxiety, which were aggravated very badly by the events of the past year, will stop because I will lose my health insurance. Taking six credits or more knocks out food stamps and medic-aid unless you are disabled or have children under 12. Going to school at all can knock out unemployment. 70% of people who apply for work-study jobs do not get them, because there aren't enough to go around. It will be a risk, because I'll either find a job very quickly or life will be asking much more of me daily, while giving me a lot less to do it with, for however long.
When I started school before, I gave up my food-stamps, which was my only income at the time, risking not being able to survive in order to hopefully live better. I thought, "If I don't do this, I will never find a good job, and I will always be dependent on someone. I will try this and if I don't make it, then at least I will die doing my best." That's what I thought. I did not major in the right stuff though, because I did not know any better.
If we go ahead and buy this house on CFD under the right terms, my roommate's rent will offset some of this but not all. So I have some investigating to do to verify that the right terms are indeed available. Either way it will still be a risk to take.
My RCIA Class could be jeopordized if I take a full 12 credits, because the only possible 4th class will overlap it by 50 minutes. Even then, I could only do it if someone gave me a ride home on Monday and Wednesday nights. With 12 credits, unemployment would be guaranteed to be gone, but I am not sure if it would be absolutely gone if I took less. I will have to find out.
If I don't go through with it, then I may have very little chance of much improvement until Spring or Summer. It could also be longer, because there would be a huge gap in my employment by that time if I can't find something right now.
I will update when I have my answers.
Godspeed.
~Mother Star
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