Help! College! Life-planning! *cut*
I am mainly looking for advice from people who have been in my situation before. But it'd still be nice to hear from anyone. :3
So here is my situation. I graduate from high school this year, I have never had a job. I have no college fund.
Here is my plan:
I plan to work for a year before actually going to college, then starting college in the fall of 2012. Which means I would be working from July 2011 through August/September 2012. Since I have no college fund, I would have to rely on scholarships and loans to go through college.
However, I am not the best student. The only way I can get scholarships is by me being gay. So that's not really a perfect payment option. I also don't want to be in debt for very long (or at all) after college.
So, I plan to get a job at the beginning of 2011. I will work there throughout school. I will then either see if I can get a full-tine position or if I have to find a full time job or another part-time job.
I did the math, kind of. If I make minimum wage ($7.25) and work full time, I will earn roughly $15,000 a year before taxes.
Would that be enough for 2 years of community college then onto 2 years of state college? The reason I am doing 2 years of community college and 2 years of state college is because it would save me money and the credits are transferable.
Do you have any suggestions?
Also, no, my parents will not help me with college.
However, I can live at home if I pay $200.00 a month. I won't have to pay for utilities or food. And I don't need a car so I don't need to pay for insurance or car payments. The university and multiple plazas are within walking distance.
Ouch. And here I am, wanting to move out next year. <:
I'm in a similar position to you and in Australia (I think the whole of Australia), there's this program called "HECS" which is a loan with no interest as long as you earn less than 40 000/year.
I would suggest not wasting a year with work and no studies as you could just do part-time work at a fairly good rate (~$10/h) which will be like, $200/week if you work 20 hours. Is there a centrelink equivalent in wherever you live? Or something that provides benefit if you live away from home because you could live with roomates which is another option.
Without an external source of income / free moniezz, you will have to work full-time. Which means part-time study (if there is available), no study, or full time study as well (which is legal in Australia at the very least. XD)
At a time like this, It all really depends on how much support you can get from other people. If you feel up-to it, you could also get a variety of part-time jobs (which incidentally pay more than full-time jobs / hour) for the summer holidays. Go nuts, waste yourself working, if there are no laws preventing you from doing so.
Also, this is probably not the best thing to advise you with, but if you /really/ are strapped for cash, I don't see the problem in "being gay." Unless you are asked to be in a legal relationship or if you have to kiss a guy in front of a jury or or if you have to return the money if they find out you're not gay or you end up not being gay, you could ******** your way into getting assistance. If your 'sexuality' is all it takes to get assistance, I don't see it as a large hurdle. It's unethical but we gotta live, right? <:
Ooh. An Afterthought :D. Another thing you could possibly do, is be a tutor. They get paid a relatively large amount of money and if you are good enough in motivating students and teaching them, it's a relatively easy method of creating cash flow.
Just think outside the circle about it. Who said it's a box. <:
