As many of you know, it seems more and more likely I will go back to school soon to try a new a career. My choices are narrowed down to the engineering and computer fields. I want to go back for many reasons, prime of which being that I want to learn more about Science, and to end up in a career I like more than the one I have now.
My question is which scenario do you think is better?
I go back to school in Sept. I can sell my car and move home for a few years to save on rent. For sanity’s sake I can stay with my girlfriend whenever I need to. I would sell my car and have about 12000$ in the bank. I will hopefully have finished one computer class and two math classes online by then. I will be 29 years old. I could sell some of my music equipment to get that closer to 15000
I wait an extra year. Now I would likely have about 25000$ saved up WITHOUT selling my car. If I sold it that # would be closer to 30000$. I would be 30 years old. I could continue to take online math classes to prepare me for a science career.
The problem is I really really want to go back soon…but option 2 makes more financial sense.
I live in Canada. Tuition is cheaper and all #s are CAD
I wonder whether there’s another option. It would seem you’re reluctant to take on debt, and that makes sense, but perhaps you could get a cheaper car so you wouldn’t be without. Or even take on a small loan just for one year.
At any rate, it’s fantastic that you’re taking these positive steps for your future. Keep us posted!
Can you move back home, take 1 or 2 classes and continue to work? Or find a part-time job? If you’re interested in CS coursework then I would suggest this, the intro classes can take up a lot of time, and sometimes its just one class that you spend all your time on.
Option 3 (what I did): Marry an engineer and let him pay living expenses while you go back to school.
What?!
Seriously, the second option makes the most sense unless you plan on having some sort of income for the next few years while you go to school. I’m paying Québec rates for engineering, and tuition alone is about $4200/year, nevermind books (I actually buy very few other than coursepacks), bus pass ($70/month for old-fogey students over the age of 25), supplies and pesky little details like food, rent and clothing. I work in the summer, making about $8000-$10000 (it varied due to different reasons each year), which I’d say covers “school” for me, but my husband really pays for everything else, and it’s likely that come March or April, he’ll be adding more money to the joint account so that I can at least continue to do the occasional grocery or whatever.
$15000 won’t pay for four years of engineering. $30000 might. You’ll need to consider either getting loans, working, or marrying a sugar-daddy/momma
If you wait a year…think the girlfriend will still be around, and can she support the two of you? Would she want to? It’s a decision you have to make with her, because her expectations for the future might involve being able to travel or buying a house in the next 4-5 years, etc, which pretty much gets put on hold while you go to school (notice I said rent, not mortgage above!) I’m in my last year, and my husband does occasionally get annoyed at our budget, and it isn’t always easy, even though he’s very well paid.
Fortunately the GF and I are both trying to back to school, so we have similar goals and are understanding of the challenges ahead. I could live with my parents if I go back to school which means the GF wouldn’t be supporting me and I wouldn’t have to pay rent. I wonder if I take online classes for two years if that would help speed up the process (or at least lighten the load) of obtaining a degree. Athabasca College offers many online university maths, and since I have a degree I have completed any fine arts elective requirements. In two years I could probably complete 6 -8 classes online.
I always have the option of substitute teaching while I go for a degree. It’s easy mostly brainless work that could help pay the bills.
The unmentioned option is that I could pull my teacher pension out early. I am told I can do that somehow… I think though it should remain as pension.
Are you over 25? Can you tell me more about your scenario?
I teach at a college and wanted to mention a few points:
Online classes are great - but they too cost money and not all of those classes might transfer credits to the school you want to attend. Either take online classes from the school you want to attend, or at least make sure the credits transfer.
Most schools will let you try to “test out” of some classes - there is a fee, but cheaper and faster than taking the entire course. If you think you can test out of a few courses, do so.
Community colleges are generally cheaper than regular colleges/universities and offer at least an AA degree, allowing you to finish lots of your Gen Ed courses (Math, English, Science basics). You can also take night classes, or some weekend classes to fit your schedule.
Talk to Financial Aid at the school. You don’t have to take the entire package - maybe you only need a smaller amount of money to make up the difference. You can save even more if you buy your books and supplies online, instead of using the student bookstore (full retail price) - get used books, go to discount software sites like academicsuperstore.com that offers HUGE savings for college students.
Forget about how old you are now or then. I have lots of students who are “older” and they generally do better - they often have a different perspective and don’t get caught up in school drama and focus on their studies. BTW, I had one student start school at age 64 and graduated at age 68! But have lots of students in their 30’s, 40’s and even a few today in their 50’s. Never too late!
Athabasca University is legitimate. Does it carry the same reputation as the major universities (U. of T., McGill, Western, etc.)? No, but for a first degree to get you into the workforce, it is just fine. If you are a regular guy, looking for a solid degree rather than the heights of the academic or business worlds, then Athabasca is a good choice that makes balancing school and job easier.
Where it would not be the best choice is for social interaction that often leads to professors helping their top students advance in academic and post-scholastic careers. Personal guidance along the way, and powerful letters of reference, make a great deal of difference if you intend to grab the brass wring. Don’t expect a mentor to take you under his or her wing through distance education. Remember, when it comes to landing the right job, often who you know, and who is willing to stand up for you, is as important as what you know. The flip side of the coin is that if you intend to continue on to further degrees, you had best start at a school where you can finish at or near the top of your class, rather than finish in the middle of your class at a school that has stronger students competing for grades against you. The trick is to find a balance.
There are a lot of match-book on-line schools out there, so you are wise to take great care before enrolling in one, however, Athabasca is not one of these blights on the education topography. Alberta was ahead of the curve when it came to distance education, so it set up Athabasca U. early on, and has continuted to ensure that it is up to snuff.
Take care if you intend to transfer credits to another university, for it can sometimes be a bit of a problem, not because Athabasaca is an on-line school, but simply because universities in Canada tend to be pretty jealous of each other when it comes to transfer credits.
If money is very tight, consider apply to universities that offer co-op programs, in which the school puts a great deal of effort in finding career related jobs for their sudents every other term. The University of Waterloo is exceptionally good at this. You earn money every other term rather than every third term, and you end up with tremendously valuable job contacts in your field who have actually seen how good a job you do.
DMark, that is good advice for Americans, but I’d be hesitant to follow that path in Canada, for here there is a very significant difference between colleges and universities (and yes, I have taught at both). Colleges here usually do not offer AA degrees or the like. Occasionally they will offer degrees in specific programs, such as a B.S. in Nursing, but the number of degree progams at our colleges is very small.
Aside from the odd inter-institutional agreement for a particular program, our college credits in Canada usually can not be transferred to universities. The general ed courses (math, English, science basics) taken at college almost always have to be re-taken at university. Yes, there is academic jealously between instutions that impedes credit transfer, but when it comes to colleges in Canada, there is good reason for this, for the academic standards in colleges for general ed courses are tremendously different than academic standards in universities, such that universities would quite rightly no more give credit for a college course than they would for a high school course. The whole “start at a junior college and transfer to a senior college” approach that is very successful in the USA simply does not apply to Canada. Also, at the other end of the pipe, there is usually a very large qualitative difference between general studies grads depending on whether they graduated out of a Canadian college or a Canadian university.
Where our Canadian colleges really strut their stuff is in many of their technical trade programs. It is very much program dependant. Some programs are excellent. For example, here in Thunder Bay the local college advertises its aviation technician program with “Do you want a great job with fantastic wages?” They are not exaggerating. Similarly, there is a line-up of employers seeking graduates of their medical imaging technology program. Unfortunately, other courses, such as law and security / law foundations courses that are often popular at Canadian colleges, are a waste of the students’ time and money, for almost no students who hope to become employed as police officers end up being admitted to police college.
Canadian colleges are a bit of a dog’s breakfast, for they catch what is not otherwise addressed by the high school and university systems. On the one hand, they get the dummies who flunk out of high school and can not find a job, who float about in “upgrading” programs and general ed programs, never getting much past basic literacy, if even that far. On the other hand, Canadian colleges also develop technology and skilled trades programs that universites for the most part do not have the foresight to get into, which attract excellent students who graduate with highly marketable skills.
I think Canada is missing the boat when it comes to integrating colleges and universities, for it is a pity that students cannot flow from one to the other more easily, as they find the learning environment that best suits them. It is also a pity that the development of new programs is impeded due to the tendancy to categorize programs into colllege type or university type, rather than simply draw resources from a variety of institutions as necessary and get on with the job.
Given your previous academic and workforce accomplishments, would you be able to get into the Athabasca MBA? An MBA of any sort tends to make one a bit more marketable (on the theory that the more letters behind one’s name, the better.)
I’ve never investigated getting an MBA in something like science because I only have my high school sciences and maths. I did a music degree with a double major in english. I don’t want to get a bachelors from Athabasca because of the inability to network with people through online studies. However, I thought that if I took some classes (say three maths and three comp sci classes) I would be better prepared to enter a full program, and it might free up some time in my schedule to study more once enrolled full time. Athabasca offers an IT degree in comp sci. I am interested more so in software engineering. If i continue to teach for two years and save up the 30000$ or so, then I could go back full time, and get my degree as FAST as possible. It wouldn’t be as intense either since I will have done some prep work for the program at least for a little while.
I can always sub teach while studying, but I’m the kind of person to go into something full throttle. I’d rather not work and study at the same time if I can avoid it through saving money.
Consider saving money by doing the math and comp sci upgrading on your own rather than through a school. That way you can be ahead of the curve when you enter university, but you won’t be out of pocket for the upgrading other than the cost of the texts (I have found that having a few texts that each approach the same subject a little differently helps me get past problems that hang me up when I only use one text).
Yes, I;m over 25…as I was when I first returned to school! In my case, I have another degree (BSc) and worked for a few years but loathed my job and couldn’t imagine any other job in the industry (or related ones) that I felt I could do for the rest of my life. I married after my first degree to a man my age, and eventually decided on the career path I wanted and went back to school for the degree that I needed to get the jobs I want. My husband has his master’s degree and works full time. He’s paid well, but we still “live like students” in many ways - I drive the car I bought 12 years ago, he has his dad’s old car, we don’t own a home, we don’t have kids, we can afford to travel somewhat but not as much as we’d like, etc. I can’t wait to graduate (one more year!)
You mention in a few posts that you want to learn about “science” and I’m wondering just what you want to get out of that? Unless you specifically choose a degree in physics or chemistry or biology or whatever, you’re not necessarily going to learn what you seem to be looking for. My husband is a software engineer (not really working in that field though), and he’s done very few “science” classes - they were all math, computer programming, optimization, hardware, signal processing, etc.
Honestly, figure out what job (or job type) you want, and get the degree/further education you need to do that job. Please don’t go to university hoping it will end up pointing you in a direction you want to go in. I did that the first time, and I see kids doing it all the time now, and it just doesn’t work that way. It’s too expensive, too time consuming and too difficult to do something you don’t really want to do.
Based on this thread, I’d tell you to take a couple general classes while working for the next year or two, talk to people in the industries that interest you, and make a choice that will get you where you want to be…not just one to get you away from where you are.
(I’ve been told by classmates that their parents would kill them if they followed my advice, but damn, so many of them don’t even want to be engineers and don’t know what they want in life.)
