MouthyGirl.com

Going to College During a Recession

With the economy in bad shape and people out of work there are more and more people turning to the internet to find something to do there to make a living. For some, this is a successful endeavor with minimal overhead. For others this just isn’t going to work. Let’s face it, we’re not all cut out to do marketing, blogging, or make videos, some of us are best at the jobs available and needed in the real world.

For those of us that do well in a real world setting, being unemployed during a recession can be devastating or it can be an opportunity. What better time to earn a degree than now? If you do a little research you’ll see what kind of jobs will be around in the future, at least as long as your career might last, and obtain a degree in something enduring while the economy picks itself back up and begins to function normally again.

You can obtain a college education and devote time and energy to learning a new, enduring career field instead of sitting at home collecting unemployment scanning the job listings for what you used to do. This is the perfect time to discover the careers that will be around for the next 100 years and keep from trying to find a job that may not have as many slots to fill because of new technology and the evolution of how the world does business.

If you’re unemployed, or even if you’re not and you think you want a career change, the first thing you should do is fill out and submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Then you should start researching schools in your area and degree programs to find out which school will have the program of study that you will want to follow. Once you’ve picked a few schools that you’re seriously considering attending, log back into your Financial Aid application and ad those schools to where you want your financial aid information sent.

The next step is to apply for admission to the colleges you are considering. You can typically call the school admissions office and get information, sometimes you can get onto the school’s website and have them send you an information packet that gives you more information about their school and typically includes a catalog of classes and degree plans.

Until recently I’ve thought for a long time that web design is what I wanted to do with my time and energy, and a degree, now I’m not so sure. I find I’m a bit more interested in the creative side of things, the writing that you see and not so much the back end creation of a website. I’ve set MouthyGirl up and been running it problem free long enough that I think this is the extent of web construction knowledge I’ll need, at least for the time being.

I’m 30 now and realizing my time is short on this earth, I want to do something fulfilling. I’ve more research to do, but so do you if you want to go back to school.

So what do you think, is this a good time to go back to school? Are you interested in gonig back to school? What would you major in if given the opportunity?

Tags: attendance, blog, blogs, college during recession, economy, education, energy, followers, going to school during recession, job, news, recession, technology, unemployed, want

What Will I Be When I Grow Up

Last week, someone casually mentioned to me that this would be an ideal time to return to school full time to obtain the kind of degree that would allow me to do the job or have the career that I want rather than settling for what my current abilities will allow for in the job market.

Initially I dismissed the idea thinking that it just wouldn’t be financially possible for me to do that. Then over the weekend I started doing some research on the idea. After doing some math of course. The math worked out, much to my surprise so of course, I had to start researching what I would major in if I were to go back to school full time.

Let me first tell you, I’m not a very good student. I have to work extra hard not to be distracted, because I’ll be honest, it doesn’t take much to distract me, it’s not as simple as showing me shiny things but being a blogger, I am naturally distracted by the internet. As I write this, my internet is not up, I am only writing and yet the temptation is beginning to really wear me down.

So naturally, I have my doubts about being able to be a full time student. Successfully anyways. However, I have always felt that if I could finish a bachelor’s degree, I would have a lot to contribute so now that there is actually opportunity for such, I can’t exactly back away now and say, oh no, that’s not for me. Well, I could but then I’d be mad at myself forever.

So from the research I’ve done, it’s looking like the University of Texas at Arlington or Texas Wesleyan University might be the two leading, and closest, universities to offer a discipline like what I’d be after.

They both offer a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Communication Technology and I would minor in Journalism. Wesleyan is actually my boss’ alumni college, his eldest sons’ and a current associate attorney, and a former attorney’s so that’s one thing in Wesleyan’s favor. But they still can’t beat UTA.

The University of Texas at Arlington is actually my first choice and that’s because I’ve attended classes there before, I know the campus fairly well, or at least the buildings where I had classes, and the big bonus is that tuition would be free for me because I make less than $65,000.00 a year. I make WAY less than that.

I’m so in.

Here’s why this is something I’m seriously considering. I don’t want my son to start life like I did. In debt. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but from the moment I found out I was pregnant with my little guy, I’ve wanted to give him every advantage I could, and this is just one more of those that I’d like to give him.

If I am successful, my son will be the first of my mother and fathers’ children and grandchildren to go to college, finish college and go forth with a degree, that was actually paid for by his parent. I would like for my son to start life fresh, with a degree and a clean slate. I’ll take out loans, work a second job, whatever I have to do to facilitate his college career being as unadulterated as possible with work and worry about money. Sure, he’ll work – but not like I’ve had to during school. I’d like him to work for play money while his mom handles the expenses, so that his mind can focus on what’s important, the education.

So am I going? Common sense points to yes, finances point to yes, the economy even points to yes. This is still a fairly new idea to me, ideally I’d go this fall, or the fall of 2010, in order to be finished before my son graduates from high school. I still need to think about it some.

If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

Tags: arlington, attendance, bloggers, bonus, boss, cleaning, college educations, communication technology, discipline, economy, education, father, hell, job, journalism, mobsters, mom, money, news, parents, son, surprise, technology, texas wesleyan university, university of texas at arlington, want, worry

Celebrating Life

Today, this afternoon rather, we’ll celebrate my mother’s 50th birthday. Her actual birthday was on Thursday but this was the best time to celebrate for her.

So today we’ll celebrate her 50th at the church she attends, among her friends and family. I hope I remember to bring my camera .

My nieces and nephews will be there, cousin, sisters and brothers in law, and of course, my Grandmother. I treasure family gatherings more and more lately, even though my relationships with some of my family has been rocky, it’s still important to appreciate them, and be glad that we’re still here to do so.

Today is a day to be thankful, appreciative of life. Knowing that no matter how low our economy sinks, we still have each other.

I think it’ll be fun.

Yesterday we spent a few hours at my sister in law’s for our nephew’s birthday. The kids all had a lot of fun, and J held the pinata, being sure to keep our 11 year old from beating it to smitherines on the first try. He was one of the biggest kids there. This weekend has been full of family, yesterday J’s side of the family and today, my side of the family.

Great way to close out February and start March.

Hope you’ve all had an equally wonderful weekends. Tell me about it!

Tags: attendance, brother, camera, celebrities, economy, friend, friends, grandmother, relationship, relationships, thankful