I'm a cross between WisChief& jl80: joined the Navy, and currently drawing my G.I bill, and also working part-time(30-35hours) at the Post Office.

Wish i'd taken school more seriously, but my sister graduated with a 3.95 GPA, scored high 20's on her ACT,(I scored mid 20's, but a much lowerGPA), got a full ride scholarship to Michigan State, and is now further behind in College than me. She dropped out to join the Navy, and I have yet to figure out why.

save me roughly $11,000 a semester - 11k per semester?!?! :eek:

HC, I had a sister who went to Harvard, and with no finanical assistance. Then she did her graduate and doctoral work at the University of Michigan. Should'a seen her bills...

Of course, she's making 6 figures and living in LA now (works for Kaiser Permanente as a researcher), and I think she's paid them all off...

I'm the other end of the spectrum, hehe.

btw, thanks frank and brock for the kind words. I appreciate it.

HC Chief,

I meant $11,000 a year. Haha, if I was paying $22,000 a year, and living at home, I would have to sell most my blood and a couple organs to afford school.

I've had a long day, it's been a real busy newsday over at NFLScoop, and I'm in desperate need of some z's.

lol frank :)

Kyle- why did she complete her studies at Michigan rather than Harvard?

Bob Dole would have to agree that you should only attend college because <b>you</b> want to, not because someone else expects it. Bob Dole was basically booted from the house and was not ready to attend/apply himself the first two times around. When Bob Dole went back, it was because Bob Dole wanted more from his life and determined that a college degree could go a long way toward making that happen. Made all the difference in the world. First time GPA 0.0, second time GPA < 1.0, third time 3.92.

She studied microbiology at Harvard, then apparently (as I recall) did her graduate/post grad work at Michigan because it was tops in the country in epidemiology, her chosen field.

Epidemiology, by the way, is the study of disease (epidemics) and not skin (epidermis) which is a common misperception. Just for everyone's info...

As for the 22,000 per year you and Frank were talking about, if I had gone to Michigan in '92 (almost did), my yearly tuition would have been 23,000, which was why I went to a small school in Virginia, James Madison University, for about 12,000...

Shudder to think how much tuition there for an out-of-stater is now.

Bob, you're exactly right. I wasn't ready for college, but I did manage to make it through just a shade under 3.5. for 5 years. If I had it all to do over, I'd probably have waited a year or two to decide what I wanted to do. Of course, if I'd done that I wouldn't be about to move into a new house with my future wife, so I'd say things have turned-out okay in the end.

Still, my kids won't be pressured to go to college, although it will certainly be...recommended as an option for their future.

kyle - yikes! scary field...

Still surprised she went to Michigan - most of the ERI centers are located on the East coast (MA & MD)

I studied nuclear medicine(pre-med actually) for two years before switching to computers (decided I wanted to graduate before the age of 30) ;)

Yeah, not sure what she's into now, but I know she did some study of both HiV and chronic fatigue syndrome in the past.

nasty, nasty business she's in...

Grants and/or Loans...paid it all back too...

Chi- Thats a pretty damm impressive story. If I or anyone of my friends tried that at 17 we would have drank the money and smoked the profits. Still less mature than I should be.

Kyle- I expect an autographed copy for all the wonderfull insight I've provided. :D

After High School, I was managing a SONIC and doing quite well. Met a guy that would become my husband, got married had a child, worked at the local Pizza Joint as manager and stuck my foot in a floor safe shattered the naviculuar bone in right foot...workmans comp sucks...

Went to Jr College on pell grants 4.0 No expense

Went to State College...had scholarships and grants. Found out loans were available and decided that the extra money would be great...CAN WE SAY STUPID

Total student loan bill for myself and hubby 40,000
over 500 monthly in loan bills for UNNECESSARY money. We could have lived without.

Final GPA 3.94
(Dad Died in 97 received two C's)

College was about 40% my parents, 40% my beloved alma-mater (which had a need-blind admissions policy) and 20% loans, scholarships and work.

My graduate work has been at a state-school, so the taxpayers of Illinois (God bless us) are really footing the bulk of the cost. My employer and I have each picked up about half of the bills. I took out a $8,000 loan for the master's degree and paid that off about 2 years into my Ph.D. coursework. I hope to get my dissertation done in about a year or so.

Worked two jobs through high school and paid for the first year with the help of a loan. Dropped out half way through my second year with the intention of perhaps going back.... ended up working 2 jobs -- roughly 60 hours a week just to realize I was better off at college. Paid for what I could in cash, and took out loans when I needed to. Sent in resume for an internship at Sprint that will hopefully go a long way in paying for next year, and I'm sure I'll go back to serving over the summer, too.

Northwest Missouri State is a very reasonable school when it comes to the cost of tuition, room/board, food, etc. My roommate transferred from Iowa State and owes $45,000 after a year and a half of out of state tuition..... insane

Worked part-time, lived at home [thanks Mom & Dad!] and got some timely help from my parents [thanks Mom & Dad!].

I love mathematics and envisioned myself going into math as a career. I quickly determined that one of two things result from a mathematics degree:

1. You are brilliant and work on theoretical mathematics, your expenses paid by grateful institutions and grants.
2. You are not brilliant and you teach.

I was forced to admit that I was not brilliant and I had no interest whatsoever in teaching [no offense to teachers intended, but it is certainly not for me].

That is when Engineering caught my eye. I got to play with some pretty hot mathematics but I could also make a pretty good living.

xoxo~
gaz
Engineer by default.