Going into School Mode on Monday, Aug 1

I just received the following email from my department:  Greetings, On Monday, August 1, our XXXX Technology Workshop will begin. I'll be your instructor for this non-credit required workshop. Snoopy Brown is the peer  mentor who will be working with us. This is an online workshop that will help you get up to speed on all sorts of things you need to know before beginning your classes later in the month. JKLX students complete this material as a course. For you, it is a non-credit  workshop (which means you pay no tuition for it!). Succesful [sic] and timely completion is required for continuation in the XXXX program. You should read more about the workshop content on the workshop "syllabus" (LMNOP’S term for a syllabus):http://informationlink.edu. On Monday, you should login to QRST OR Q2, click on the link for the  XXXX Technology Workshop, and get started with the first of the nine units . Many students finish before the regular semester begins and I encourage  you to make that your goal. Students report they are better prepared for  their classes and less stressed if they finish the workshop before their other classes begin. Also, sometime in early August, you will receive an invitation to download the Blackboard Instant Messaging application (Bb IM). When you receive the invitation, be sure to install the download. Bb IM will provide a great way to communicate with faculty and other students. For more information and instructions, please read: http://ABCuniversity.edu. If you have questions, you can contact me by email at C.Brown@ABCuniversity.edu I also encourage you to contact Snoopy  at her email. Snoopi and I look forward to working with you! Charlotte Brown And so it begins. *fingerscrossed*

Getting Back on the Bike

You know, this going back to school thing is getting to be old hat. I've been doing it for so long that it's like riding a bike and the familiar stuff starts coming back, even if it's with a different school who does things differently, things are still the same. And I'm sure by the week of finals, I'll be pulling my hair out and ready to throw-up, praying to just make it to Christmas break at which time I'll gorge on a local buffet, take in a movie, read, and sleep a lot. One friend said he always spent a week in his pajamas playing video games after finals. :-)  He was gorgeous so that is always an awesome visual in my head. LOL

So yesterday I was checking on my financial aid--it's become more of a nervous tick than actually checking--and discovered that the financial aid refunds, i.e., the money I need to buy school supplies and to Live On for as long as possible will start being disbursed the first week of school. That doesn't necessarily mean that I will receive it the first week of school. That made me very, very, very nervous. Why? Because I can't afford to buy school supplies--including some technology and software that I'll need--like textbooks, etc., until I get that money.

Then I remembered:  Every university I've been to (and that's two not including this one) has advances or loans you can get to cover your textbooks.  AND if I buy early, I can get used copies which are generally less expensive.

At USC, your student ID card was also called your "diskresh" short for "discretionary card."  You could add money to it, or your parents could, or, if you were expecting financial aid, you could add any amount to your diskresh card up to the amount of your FA refund. At any time. That's the awesome part about the $42K year private universities. Everything runs real smoothly. And you could use it anywhere on campus including any of the restaurants / cafeterias, bookstore, Starbucks, etc. Oh hell yeah there's a Starbucks on campus. More than one. And you can get Wolfgang Puck pizza and there's a bar below the student union. With Liquor. *uhhuh*

At Chico, you could ask for a "loan," up to $500- and which included a $20- processing fee. I didn't do it every semester, it just depended on my need. I did it perhaps 2 or 3 times. And then they just take the balance right out of your FA.

So I started sniffing around on the financial aid page for my university, and sure enough, there was a form you could fill out and fax to the bursar's office to get a loan for $500-, with the $20- processing fee. So I printed it, filled it out, and faxed it over yesterday. More waiting.

Hopefully it will be here in a few days (??) so I can start getting used textbooks thereby saving some dough. Everything will help especially since tuition just went up 12%. Ow.

Is it School Yet?

Yes? No? No. Thirty-three more days.

Huh.

So I've still got time to freelance, read, watch movies, and do some writing of my own?

Cool.


***
For some reason, I am unable to leave comments on my own blog. Here is my response to the comment received from HD:

Now that you mention it, I'm supposed to start a one-unit class on technology we'll be using for the program on August 1. We have until the fourth week of the semester to get it done. *reminder*

J.
*

Association Conference

I just got an email from my advisor telling me about two upcoming conferences for my *new* profession. The first one is less than a month away...no can do; however, there is one in Mid-October that I might be able to attend. It's in Washington, DC, a place I've longed to visit for ages and ages.

Cost of the conference is slightly challenging, but I have a job interview on Tuesday for something I'm really excited about--*fingerscrossed* that I get it. If I do, I can totally make it to the conference. Then the problem would be getting the time off. Time or money, it's always something isn't it? Then the hotel costs are waaaaaaaaay more than I like to pay for a hotel ( $232 a night but it's with two beds--but if I could find a roomie it would cut that in half). Or hell, do they have Motel 6 in Washington DC? LOL  It would only be for two nights, but still, the cheapskate in me is a bit freaked out by that price. I'd want to stay a couple more days at someplace cheaper so I can visit the monuments, white house, congress, etc.

It's a great networking opportunity as well as a chance to see our capitol. What to do, what to do.

Hope and pray, and do my best.

Tuition Hike: It's Official

University officials voted yesterday for a 12% increase in tuition, which affects me personally. For me, this is an increase of $682- a year, which comes right out of my pocket. And this is actually double the amount of full tuition in 2007.

That's just tuition. There are other charges like associated students, student health, etc., that will come out of my financial aid.

Then I'll need textbooks; a USB headset with microphone; a 2007 or greater version of Microsoft Office (I own 2003, and am using 2010 starter, which sucks); I'll also need an external backup drive--this is required of my department, as well as multiple flash drives, which I have two of now.

My feet are starting to feel a bit chilly.

And one last thing:  Neither GE nor Exxon paid one frikking dime in taxes last year. Too bad I'm not a big corporation.

Now We Wait

School officially starts end of August, and although there are a handfull of things I'll need to do for school before then, basically, it's just the waiting time.  Some of the things I want to get done during that time:

• Finish editing and get published a poetry compilation from a favorite poet / friend
• Research and work on my novel some more
• Read  as many fiction novels as I can
• Watch as many movies as I can
• Swim as many days as I can--it's a short warm weather season here
• Get my house in order--I may be putting my study area in the living room. We rarely use that room since we can't afford cable or dish. I occasionally watch a movie on our 32" analog TV, but usually I watch movies on my laptop. My husband and I picked up a desk the other night. It was just down the street from us, in someone's front yard with a FREE sign on it. It's light-colored wood, very heavy, very big, and has no drawers. It's perfect--mostly because it's free. It's tall enough that I can fit a filing cabinet under there, which I badly need. Right now our bill files are in a milk crate--organized, but not easily accessible. I'll get a picture of the desk once we bring it into the house. Right now it's on the patio.
• Keep looking for a part-time job--no way can I do school and work full-time. I just don't have that kind of energy or endurance, although I am slowly increasing my exercise
• I'd love to visit some friends, see my sister and nieces, and attend a school reunion for my husband in Southern California the first part of August. We'll see if we can pull the money out of our butts for that.
• I'd also like to get up to Chico to see friends and just walk around downtown--the shops there are great!

On Monday, I want to call and verify that my current student loans are still in an unemployment deferment. I checked online, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the information is right. I want to talk to a human to make sure all is in order (and doesn't prevent me from getting new loans. *ahem*)

So right now, it's just one day at a time. Soon, it will be more like one hour at a time. Heh.

Prepping for Classes

There's a class being offered tomorrow by my new university, online. It's on the APA writing style. That's the American Psychological Association. And it's my least familiar style. I think I only used it in archeology and geosciences when I was an undergrad, and had to keep it handy to continually reference it. Since I'm so unfamiliar with the APA style, I thought it would be a wasted opportunity not to take the free class.

As an English major, I am (was) more well-versed in the MLA and Chicago stylebooks, yet it has been three years since I used either of them with any regularity.

And there is another class on Tuesday on using the APA as in-text citations and electronic citations. Both very valuable skills to have. And a good way to shake off some rust.

So Tuesday and Wednesday I'll be taking those two classes and adding an APA stylebook to my semester's purchases when the time comes.

Of course, there is also THIS to help speed things along. I like speeding things along. I'm a slow writer, so I'm all for anything that can help shorten that process.

Oh. And Happy Fourth mis amigos Americanos! :D

***

Due to a family pet emergency, I was not able to take the classes live. Fortunately, they are recorded and available at any time. They're on my agenda for tomorrow.

Loan Counseling

Did that yesterday, online. It was SIXTEEN pages, and each page had a 5 question quiz. So you had to actually read the thing. *yawn*  Like I'll remember. LOL

This isn't the last step, though. Not by far. Now the school needs to send me something else to look at / read / quiz / sign.

The last time I got financial aid, I didn't do any of this. I did have to submit my taxes each year at Chico and USC. I had a heckuva time convincing USC that they wouldn't be getting my parents' tax returns since I hadn't lived with them for over 20 years and my dad wasn't going to turn them over anyhow. LOL And I had to do it each year I attended there.

So we're moving forward. And none of these balls could have gotten rolling until I was enrolled, hence the anxiety. Plus, I always worry about fuckups. I worked at a big insurance company in the 80s, and every once in a while, they would fuck up my paycheck--pay me in pennies instead of dollars; or .40 instead of 40 hours--and I started getting a feel for when it was going to be fucked up. And I was usually right. Usually about twice a year. So there is still room and time for more upfuckery by the university. Until the night I take my first class, I won't be comfortable about school.

Next Step

Today was the first day I was able to accept or decline any financial aid awards. My aid is all loans. I accepted all of it, though, because if I am unable to find a job--even a part-time one--I'm going to need every penny I can get my hands on. I'm not crazy about taking on more debt, but at this late date, it's my only option. Hopefully next year I'll have more options as far as grants and scholarships because I'll fill out the FAFSA before the early filing deadline.

Now I have to take "loan counseling," which is required of all new borrowers. Since I've never borrowed through this university, I'm considered a "new borrower." It's done online. Of course.


Off to do that, now.

Ta'!