'ello 'ello.

How's everyone been? I've been missing CO as the weather here in Jersey has been: rain, rain, and more rain with 235% humidity on the few sunny days.

Anyway, I've made the decision to go back to school for a B.S./B.A. degree so that I can apply for a teaching visa to teach English in Korea or China.
The trouble rest with trying to find grants and scholarships to help pay for it. I've spent two full weekends on the web not really knowing what to look for or where to go. So if anyone has any leads or can point me in a decent direction, I would be grateful.

Thanks!

-Pat

Damn man, I didn't realize you left the area. Well that sucks.

I can't really help you though. Sorry.

Wish I could help you, but my last student loan was ummmmm 15 years ago...

FAFSA.gov.... start there.

also a good place to start is the FA office at the school you plan to go to.

SecondGenPAt wrote:'ello 'ello.

How's everyone been? I've been missing CO as the weather here in Jersey has been: rain, rain, and more rain with 235% humidity on the few sunny days.

Anyway, I've made the decision to go back to school for a B.S./B.A. degree so that I can apply for a teaching visa to teach English in Korea or China.
The trouble rest with trying to find grants and scholarships to help pay for it. I've spent two full weekends on the web not really knowing what to look for or where to go. So if anyone has any leads or can point me in a decent direction, I would be grateful.

Thanks!

-Pat

I'm assuming there is a Rutgers near you somewhere. As Chris said, talk to the Financial Aid office there and also ask to speak to the department head of the program you would be enrolling in (I assume you will have a heavy education bias with language emphasis). There will be lots of unique grants and funding programs. They may even know of some companies from China or Korea that are willing to fund your program (though that might require a contract, not that something like that would be foreign to you).

It will be helpful for you to establish residency in the State you want to attend school in first of all. Next, check out the state's education sites dealing with higher education. as an example, I did a quick google for NJ and came up with this: http://www.state.nj.us/highereducation/EOF/index.html; and this: http://degree.courseadvisor.com/qualify_leads/new?experience_id=800031&step_id=366


Also, investigate heavily the ability to transfer community college credits over to the school you would like to finish at. Using community colleges to fulfill some of your basic requirements can save you a ton of money every semester and it will be an easier transition to a full sized university.

Change your ethnicity. Locate any Native American blood lines. Quit your job, apply for unemployment.

Good luck. I couldn't get a dime of Financial Aid. Primarily due to the above mentioned reasons...

kingtut wrote:Change your ethnicity. Locate any Native American blood lines. Quit your job, apply for unemployment.

Good luck. I couldn't get a dime of Financial Aid. Primarily due to the above mentioned reasons...

I didn't think you needed FA to attend third grade.

It was a private school dude...

Weird, Pat usually doesnt like to make plans, then the word "premeditated" gets thrown around a lot in the courtrooms....

Why do you think I'm so quiet? Nobody plans a murder out loud.

Thanks for all the help so far guys, greatly appreciated!

kingtut wrote:Change your ethnicity. Locate any Native American blood lines. Quit your job, apply for unemployment.

Good luck. I couldn't get a dime of Financial Aid. Primarily due to the above mentioned reasons...

PAt is in a different situation though. His parent's income is not taken into consideration in determining eligibility for financial aid. Only his is, since he is an adult. The fact that the federal govt. and many funding agencies assume that kids are given college education money is BS.

PAt, I know loans are looked at as bad, but many educational loans have extremely low interet rates. IF one uses them as they are intended, then they are not neccesarily bad. Its the kids that get their student loans and buy crap with them that end up with problems.

Just saying this so you are sure to keep all of your options open. Sometimes education is worth the expense, sometimes its not. I really get the feeling that in your case, it will be worthwhile. unfortunately, my early academic pursuits seem to be questionable in value as I am 1.) no doing what I studied and 2.) limited in progression due to not having a different area of focus in my current career.

That's the thing Ryan, the E2 teaching Visa only requires a Bachelor Degree, it does not matter what it's for and I have no intention of using it for anything more than a prerequisite for the visa.
I've been looking into online degrees as that's my only option currently. I've found a decently priced school (http://www.tesc.edu) They accept my associates degree and a lot of my automobile ASE accreditations so I may end up having to only take the major, which is only 40 credit hours.
I will keep the loan idea in my head though as you make a valid point.

Shadowden wrote:PAt is in a different situation though. His parent's income is not taken into consideration in determining eligibility for financial aid. Only his is, since he is an adult. The fact that the federal govt. and many funding agencies assume that kids are given college education money is BS.

Wrong Sir. My parent's income was not taken into consideration. I was an adult, not living at home, etc. etc. same as Mr. PAt.

Shadowden wrote:PAt, I know loans are looked at as bad, but many educational loans have extremely low interet rates.

Don't listen to him PAt. Loans are bad, regardless. Don't let the "low interest" rate fool you. They do trickery (compound interest, etc.)

Shadowden wrote:Sometimes education is worth the expense, [not] sometimes [but most times] its not. I really get the feeling that in your case, it will be worthwhile. unfortunately, my early academic pursuits seem to be questionable in value as I am 1.) no doing what I studied and 2.) limited in progression due to not having a different area of focus in my current career.

Excellent point. May be the wisest thing I've heard from you yet:D

Best thing to do is to go speak to the finance/student services rep. What are you planning to go to school for?