Ingrid really sorry to hear this. I had to take out loans to help pay for college and found the entire process extremely convoluted and most aid offices quite unhelpful. Ultimately, I think our schools and government should be supporting students who are working hard to supplement loans with their own income, not punishing them by reducing your ability to take out a loan.
I cannot afford to go back to engineering school
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Re: I cannot afford to go back to engineering school
#22>>"Students should be warned that doing a paid internship can negatively impact your ability to finish up paying for school."
Students should be warned that crossing the highway blindfolded if unsafe.
Students should be warned that the stove could be hot if you leave it on.
At some point, people need to take personal responsibility for their action. They need to understand how their actions effect them positively or negatively and balance out those decisions. People need to understand that there is nobody that is going to hand hold them through life.
Re: I cannot afford to go back to engineering school
#23It's lame when a distant internship won't provide rent, but also possibly this person is going a too expensive school? It sounds like between the two internships combined they'd have made around $30k total, no? If so, that seems like just barely enough to cover living expenses and a year at a public university with $4 to $7k in tuition and fees a semester. Though it would be lame to have to spend 9 months off school…
She goes to University of Pittsburgh, which is a public school.
Re: I cannot afford to go back to engineering school
#24This is broken, and it shouldn't be this way. There are far too many broken bureaucracies in modern society, both governmental and corporate. And most of these impede those with the fewest resources or capabilities to work around them. Just because we've been trained to think that government or corporate policy is supposed to be complex and broken, doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to improve. Without a ridiculously…
I worked a full time job during my undergrad for the same reason: my parents' income was above the threshold for government support, even though my parents didn't support me. It was frustrating that other people whose parents earned a tiny bit less but did pay for them to live and study, would also get a huge lump of free money from the government each year. But ultimately, not getting free money made me independent…
My parents repeatedly said they would support me, then didn't, after not letting me get loans (I had a pretty nice scholarship, but it didn't cover housing in a major city or fees or food).
I couldn't see that being possible with today's college costs.
Re: I cannot afford to go back to engineering school
#25Every time the idea of basic income is discussed I think that universal healthcare, subsidized education, and - possibly - targeted infrastructure spending are much better approach. The system is set up in a way that OP (and I am sure many others) found herself in this strange valley, where you are damned if you do, damned if you don't.
The reason that economists like basic income is that each recipient is free to decide how to apply that income to best advance their lot in life. Any other breakdown, and you get more overhead of policy and administration because you are determining for a population some some mix of programs. The risk that you fall into some policy gap, just as in the article, is increased at that point; and the government is then paying both the benefit, and for a higher administration cost to qualify people and distribute the benefit.
Re: I cannot afford to go back to engineering school
#26This is broken, and it shouldn't be this way. There are far too many broken bureaucracies in modern society, both governmental and corporate. And most of these impede those with the fewest resources or capabilities to work around them. Just because we've been trained to think that government or corporate policy is supposed to be complex and broken, doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to improve. Without a ridiculously…
The flip side to this is I know someone who went through the legal steps to have their parents money not be counted as theirs and got huge scholarships. Trick: Their parents still supported him and were worth about 100 million. So he got a nice Mercedes(2 actually, he crashed one) and cheap college.
It's a flawed system, but simply not counting your parents money is an even more flawed system.
Re: I cannot afford to go back to engineering school
#27It's unclear if her financial aid was grants or loans. If they denied her grants I'd say this (while unfair by current standards) is reasonable. Given her internships, it's reasonable to say she could probably pay for a chunk of her degree and certainly afford loan payments when employed later. Now, of course, one wonder's why we are offering loans and aid to people who can't get such a return on investment ( regardl…
If I remember correctly, FAFSA also limits how much money the federal government will lend you.
Re: I cannot afford to go back to engineering school
#28Across this country, this very month, legions of rubes will be getting low-interest student loans to enroll in psychology, general studies, and undecided major degree programs, paying $40k per year, only to drop out shortly thereafter with a huge financial hangover and little ability to pay for it. In contrast, an electrical engineering degree will easily pay for itself, particularly if you've managed to bootstrap yo…
You say with great conviction that EE is the way to go, but with the world being what is is, who can predict the future these days?
In the early 2000s a degree in chemistry was considered a safe bet, especially with a biochemistry PhD tacked on. Then there was the 2008 recession, the great round of layoffs at the major pharmcos, combined with the offshoring of early discovery. If anyone says they feel cheated I'm not going to disagree. I'm not going to use the word "rube", and neither should you!
At the moment medical school is what the kids at my university are shooting for, that used to be the ticket into a safe career, but one thing is clear: healthcare in this country is in need of reform. I cannot say how it is going to look, but I will not say that taking out five-digit loans for medical school is a good idea.
And who can tell about EE? If they offshored chemistry they will offshore design. It's going to happen, the pharmaceutical industry has provided the blueprint.
Re: I cannot afford to go back to engineering school
#29>>"Students should be warned that doing a paid internship can negatively impact your ability to finish up paying for school." Students should be warned that crossing the highway blindfolded if unsafe. Students should be warned that the stove could be hot if you leave it on. At some point, people need to take personal responsibility for their action. They need to understand how their actions effect them positively or…
She's not complaining or asking to be handheld. She's warning her fellow students that working to make money will impact the ability to pay for school.
It's counter intuitive. It's not obvious at all. It's barely mentioned or talked about. It can cost (and it did cost her) a college degree.
I don't disagree with the sentiment of your remark, but it's completely out of place here. She's simply warning others not to do the same mistake, since it's an easy one to make.
Re: I cannot afford to go back to engineering school
#30It's a crazy system indeed and it's not only for scholarships that marginal tax rates on the poor with benefits are often extremely high. Other examples include people on disability who lose their benefits forever if they try to work full time, even if they fail after a week.
It's going to be hard to change things because every little rule has people making a living a living of it.