In the Life of Ash - College? Really?

Yesterday I had a meeting with the student advisor at Reeves College. One of the first things I noticed with talking to a couple Reeves people over the phone and from my meeting yesterday, these people are all so nice. (1 point). They're also very helpful and considerate of individual situations (1 point). For those who didn't know from Twitter, I've been looking into their graphic design program and met with a lady yesterday to get more information and ask any questions I had to make a valid (and oh so serious and life changing) decision.

Something ironic - one of the girls I had worked with (who also got laid off with all of us), had enrolled at Reeves college (for a medical assistant, or something like that in the health field). She agreed with how wonderful all of the people seem there.

Anyways, their program seems really great. I'm kind of excited at the possibility of enrolling for this program (and school in general!) - I'm glad it's strictly graphic design and computer-related courses, because if it was like the Grant Mac program (which includes multiple hand-drawn projects, portfolios  I believe, I would be so screwed. With all my awesome quirks and personality traits and my ability to use words to write fantastic things, I was left out of the 'artistic', drawing, sketching gene of my family {my brother got that}). So in other words, phew! Dodged that bullet. (1 point)

I have lots to think about now. I'm pretty sure I really, really want to take this program. The opportunities from taking it are fairly wide open (1 point) and one of the main selling points for me is that it's something creative, different day to day - I need a career that would keep my creative juices flowing and keep me intrigued. I can't do the robot work thing anymore - punching in numbers, doing the SAME thing day to day, boring work. I think it's time I need to really jump the gun and do something I want to do. (1 point - for the creativeness).

So, summing up the goods - great program, great people, they help at the end of the program to soup up your resume and find work at a company you would really like (2 points).

The downsides include the tuition - it is about 12,000$ (I nearly dropped to the floor when she mentioned this - I'm such a financial wizard, careful with my spendings, not liking to lay down lots of cash on things... When I bought my car a few weeks ago, that was a strike in the heart enough!). I don't know if this tuition is normal or what the tuitions are like nowadays (it's been a while since I have seriously looked into post secondary full time.. like 5 years people), but the good thing is that this cost covers tuition AND the text books. (-1 for $, but +1 for including text books). I hear text books really kill students.

I would need to take out a student loan. One plus is that I at least have 3 years of the Rutherford scholarships from high school (I think it totals to 2,500$) and I could very well be applicable for other bursaries, scholarships or grants. Who knows! I think they help with that too, when you enroll, it automatically searches for what bursaries, grants, etc, apply to you. Really? When did that happen? From what I remember, students had to physically research and find scholarships that they could possibly be eligible for and write into them, hoping they would receive or win or whatever. Grueling process, trying to find anywhere that would give you the $ to help you pay off your skyrocketing tuition. But from what I gathered yesterday, they will look for you... How do they know if my grampa served in WWII? (I think there's probably some kind of scholarship for that, who knows). Any thoughts?

Also a painstaking thought is juggling school, work, $, etc, etc. *hyperventilate*. I think one of the worst processes would be trying to find a job that would let me work full time throughout the summer, knowing that I would have to switch to part time in the fall. The course runs 1-5pm Mon-Fri, so I would only be able to work mornings.

Oh - and apparently a lot of things in my life hurt my ability for a student loan (or how much I would be eligible for, rather). 1) I have a savings account. Yes. Of course I do. We grow up having EVERYONE tell us to save money, to squirrel it away, open a savings account, etc, etc. Now I'm going to get dinged because I HAVE one, and according to the gov't I should be using this while in school and watching it dwindle away to nothing. Um, excuse me gov't - this money could be saved for emergencies or for buying a house. It's there for a reason, I haven't used it for a reason. 2) My common law live in boyfriend makes money. So? How else to you expect him to live?? Of course he makes money, and yes I do live with him. So in other words, because he needs to LIVE, I get dinged because he makes money. Nevermind that he has a huge business loan to pay off now (that he just took out a couple weeks ago btw), because he made money last year, this means he should be able to support me while going to school. Apparently the gov't doesn't take into account the fact that we pay rent, bills, and, oh, I don't know, need food?

Anyways. So, lots to think about. The lady (her name is Janice, I guess I can stop calling her 'that girl'), gave me some things to take home and mull over (I mentioned how I need to talk it over with mumsy because she is the woman of all wisdom and helps me out with HUGE decisions like this.) She mentioned, hey, if you want to bring mumsy in next week or something, that's perfectly fine! Maybe she has questions that you haven't asked or forgot to. Ironically, mumsy will be in the city sometime next week and, as elementary as it sounds, I think I'll "bring her in" to discuss all of this more. Hey. My mama knows what's best! And also she's overly excited about the possibility of me going back to school and I mentioned her coming in to the college and she got all excited about that too. I guess it's a good thing because she would understand the things I didn't, ask things I forgot to ask, etc.

Well, I guess I babbled on enough for now. Gotta go shower and such, I have a day filled with bridesmaid dress fittings and shoe shopping. Friend's (@spencerjmarie) wedding is in just over a month, yikes!

Thank you for listening!

-A