Finish my BA if I don't know what I can use it for?

Mommyg8

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 12:28 pm

amother wrote:

Credits may no longer be accepted towards a program, especially when being transferred, but they don’t technically expire.

I just googled this. Google is talking about college credits, op likely has alternative credits that are evaluated for credit through ACE and NCCRS. These are organizations that may or may not exist in the future. Also, College board (clep) only keep scores for I think 20 years, so how will you get the credits after that if you haven't yet transferred them to the college you are graduating from?

amother

Natural

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 12:46 pm

Mommyg8 wrote:

My credits are already all transferred to Excelsior.

amother

Blue

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 12:55 pm

amother wrote:

My credits are already all transferred to Excelsior.

Just keep in mind that a future college may not accept the credits you have (they aren’t expired, they just aren’t recognized) but so long as Excelsior stays in business, you should be able to pickup in ten years and finish off your degree there.

ora_43

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 1:40 pm

You should finish!

Reasons:

1. There are many jobs that prefer applicants to have a BA.

2. There are Masters programs that accept people with undergraduate degrees in a variety of programs. Why throw away 95 credits just in case you want to get a BA in a different field? Keep your 95 credits, add a few more, and if you do end up wanting to go into a different field you might be able to just start with a Masters.

3. You aren't sure what you want to do. The best way to figure out what you want to do is to move forward with your education/career and learn from experience (ie figure out what tasks you like and which you don't, what fields interest you most, etc). In your case, that means finishing the BA - whatever classes you have left might help you get a better sense of what you find interesting, and the degree will make it easier to get an interesting job (see #1), which will also help you figure out what you want to do.

4. It's unlikely to get any easier to finish in the future.

(All this is assuming that you're fairly close to finishing - like, at least 70% done - and that you won't have to go into major debt to finish)

amother

Copper

Tue, Aug 14 2018, 2:28 pm

amother wrote:

What's holding me back?
Firstly the $$. I simply don't have the extra money now, but I may need to dig into savings. Otherwise I risk throwing out all the money spent so far.

But mainly, I guess is patience and motivation. I feel like it's worthless, so why am I doing it?
It feels like a complete waste of time and energy.

Its not a waste of time and energy. You wont always be where you are in life right now. I dont know you but I'm assuming your fairly young maybe a few kids. One day your youngest will be in school and you'll want to have a satisfying something to do in life when your older and not feel restless. You'll have that degree in your back pocket to use as a springboard. Most programs for masters will accept any type of BA as the pre requisite.
Do it now. It is SO much harder to study the older you get. Your brain just wont be as into it. If you finish it now you will thank yourself later on in life.

as for motivation needed.
ACTION PRECEDES MOTIVATION. What this means is you dont need motivation to start, you just need to do one tiny thing to get started. call up the college. Inquire when their next set of classes are. Ask them to mail you the forms. Whatever you need to do. That one tiny step of ACTION will be all the motivation you need, as soon as you took that one tiny step you will find that its easy to continue. Ask a friend to get the forms for you. Ask a friend to find out when their next semester is etc.. and go from there.

amother

Natural

Thu, Aug 16 2018, 4:10 pm

monkeys wrote:

Just do it! You are so close to finishing!

Thanks for all answers and encouragement!
I'm gonna start this daunting task.. I'll come here if I need some more of a push Wink

Step A: Call Excelsior and pay up, so I don't get dropped out.

amother

Natural

Thu, Aug 16 2018, 4:39 pm

amother wrote:

amazing! You can do this!
Nu? did you call? I ca be your motivator if you want Wink

Lol. you made me smile.
yes, I did it. Whoosh! $550 out of my pocket, how amazing (not) is that?

Now I need to finish my application for federal aid. For some reason I don't think I qualify.

Maybe one of you know- would they approve it if I'm doing it through a program like ECC?

I started doing the Federal Aid application yesterday but got stuck at the part where they asked me about about my adjusted gross income on my 2016 tax return. I went into turbotax to get it.. but it seems you need to pay $$ (yeh always $$) to download past tax returns. PSA to all to always save your tax return even if you are doing it digitally and you think it's probably saved somewhere..

Now I need to pull up my W-2 at home, and calculate what that would've been..

amother

Natural

Thu, Aug 16 2018, 4:48 pm

Next, I need to dig up the writings I started doing for one course, and stopped mid-track. Think it's on my mom's computer. Emailed her. Done.

Then I need to get a lap top to complete the writings. Ask dh to bring home laptop he shares with friend. Done.

Ok now I take a rest. LOL

amother

Copper

Thu, Aug 16 2018, 5:53 pm

Amazing! You did great! Took a lot of little steps today.
Most people get some type of financial aid through fafsa maybe not a ton if you have a higher income but definitely something. Don't know much about Excelsior.
What comes next? What else do you need to do?

Mommyg8

Fri, Aug 17 2018, 12:55 am

OP, I don't know if you are still here but you asked about FAFSA...

You can only get FAFSA if you are taking an actual class, and I think you actually need to take two classes, but I'm not sure. This is why I took some classes at a community college and used the extra money to pay for clep's, etc. You can get money towards Excelsior classes as well, and may help you pay for the capstone, but it will probably not cover the entire cost. Check with your advisors as to how this will work.

amother

Natural

Fri, Aug 17 2018, 11:50 am

amother wrote:

Thanks. You're really encouraging.

I just spent about an hour trying to figure out my income tax for 2016, and other questions from my 2016 tax reform trying to complete the FAFSA application..

Turbotax would only allow me to see it if I upgrade to plus for $.. so tried figuring out myself based on w2 form but got so overwhelmed. Tried signing into IRS website to get my transcript but it refused to allow me to create an account.. since couldn't verify my info.
And after 3 times it won't let me do it again for 24 hours. Felt so overwhelmed and frustrated that I just decided to plug in the numbers that I think were right. And I hit submit.
Probably wasn't a good idea. But, I have no patience for nonsense every step of the way. Sad

Hopefully it is right, and hopefully I get some aid.

Now what is next?
Need to pick up laptop from mil, and find started writings on moms comp... yeh everything is all over. Then I need to start doing the writings where I left off.

Having simcha this shabbos and going away, and loads of stuff to prepare still..

So to be continued IYH. Thanks for listening.

amother

Natural

Fri, Aug 17 2018, 11:51 am

Mommyg8 wrote:

Yes, I'm here alright!
Thanks for the answer.. I just submitted the application.. and we'll see what comes next.

amother

Natural

Tue, Aug 21 2018, 4:50 pm

Hey copper! U still here? I miss my cheerleader Wink

A few things I worked on:
A) Started taking math course in Geometry. Thank G-d the materials not that hard, since we learned a lot in high school. So far listened to the first 2 lessons of the course, each one about an hour each. I think there's 8 more to go. Plus I need to do some practice examples to make sure I got it.

B) Wasn't able to get yet my started writings, today going to my mom and should be able to get it.

C) Got back email from US Dept. of Ed. that my FASFA application has been processed. Yay!
They indicated one correction needed but I went back and that's the correct info.. so hopefully all is good. Now I need to sit tight and see what I get.

Today I hope to do another lesson (or two) in math when I get home from work.
Getting there, getting there.. slowly but surely.

amother

Natural

Tue, Aug 21 2018, 4:53 pm

Oh another thing I want to take care of is figure out a way to get internet.
right now, we have a laptop that is not only ours, plus I'm using a hotspot from a smart phone which performs reeeeaaallly slow. Combined my tools are not very reliable. Mad

I need to figure out if I should get proper internet service plus a laptop, even though it's not something that was in the budget.

amother

Copper

Tue, Aug 21 2018, 10:16 pm

amother wrote:

Hey copper! U still here? I miss my cheerleader Wink

Yep Im still here! Your doing amazingly!
Notice how you wrote geometry wasnt too hard cuz you took in highschool- now imagine pushing yourself to do this in 10 years from now miles away from highschool and your brain doesnt remember a thing! Arent you glad your doing it now Wink

amother

Copper

Tue, Aug 21 2018, 10:21 pm

amother wrote:

I need to figure out if I should get proper internet service plus a laptop, even though it's not something that was in the budget.

wow if your doing everything online that has got to be hard without the right tools or internet. How did you do the first portion of your credits without these?

So far - the geometry and these writings that you started and need to finish- how many credits will those give you ? ( I didnt do excelsior so not totally familiar with how it works. I attended actual classes at 3 credits a course. and did 6 classes a semester so I knew I was walking away with 18 credits a semester by a specific timeline. ) but not sure how it works with cleps and stuff.

amother

Bronze

Tue, Aug 21 2018, 10:29 pm

When I was in college getting my BA, there was a middle age woman in one of my classes. She said that when she was a girl she started going for a degree and when she had just one class left, she stopped because she did not know what she wants to do. She had just decided that she wants a specific job that needs a degree and so she went to college to try to take that class. The college told her that the requirements has changed since so many years had passed and she had to take many classes again. She was really disappointed that she did not take that one class so many years earlier. It is great that you started again to try to finish your BA.