For the last several months, I have been jumping through the hoops to apply to University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and been accepted. The last time I was in school was 1998, and I struggled my last semester because I was both unwell and homeless, so I dropped out and couch surfed until I got on my feet again, and went to work.
Now I’ve been on good medication for several years now, have insurance and have worked hard in therapy to prepare for this. I’m moving out to my own place with a room mate (a net gain for Mum in rent, lower utilities here at home and we pay utilities for where we live that she was paying) this week, got my books, have money saved for my parking pass — and the tuition bill came in today. $3,585.00 for the semester, including student fees. Not bad, right? I get a huge tuition break as a returning adult student that I will lose if I have to drop out. ($275 a credit hour vs $480) Mum lost her shit. I kept her abreast of what it would cost since I got into the tuition break program months ago, she just decided that meant it would be $1500, not $3600.
I don’t qualify for student loans or grants, because I had loans that were forgiven when I went on disability. I do not make enough on disability to pay rent, kosher food, utilities, phone, gas for the truck and save for school, even with a room mate. And frankly, with a high school diploma and a disability diagnosis, about all I qualify for is fast food, which pays $7.25 an hour here and will lower the $1000 I get a month from SSDI, so I still won’t be able to save — or eat the food I cook.
My therapist, my meds doctor, and my academic advisor all agree that this is a fantastic opportunity for me. I’m a junior, so I only need 4 semesters to graduate, and all the classes I have to take now are for my minor (religious studies) and my major. (anthropology) All the gen ed other than statistics, algebra and my sciences (geology and biology) are out of the way. My GPA is a little sucky right now (2.4) due to having dropped out my last semester and having been homeless, but I feel like I can bring that up with a good semester, and I’m registered for 13 hours, all degree path, no electives or anything like that. Enough to be full time, not too much to overwhelm me as I get back into the swing of things in academia.
Mum doesn’t believe in higher education. She feels I am too old (50), and my degree is not in a “good field” (medicine, engineering, business) so I won’t get anywhere once I graduate. She also has this weird idea I can just “start a podcast” and get rich off it because I’m “smart”. I don’t know the first thing really about all that, other than it takes some pretty high end equipment (computer, microphone, software) that I don’t really have access to, and I have no idea what I would talk about every week. I’m not saying it’s not a possibility, I’m just not in a position to do that right now, and I would rather focus on trying to actually go to school, I can think about that on winter break.
I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do with my schooling — finish my bachelors and do a 2 year masters program in Archaeology of the Biblical Near East in Tel Aviv, followed by a year long doctorate program at the same school. My goal is to do some field work in Israel on early Hebrew settlements, publish some papers, maybe teach — with a side interest in Jewish community building for the 21st century, using what we know about early Jewish life to inform new ways to connect to modern Jewish life. That I can probably get some grants for when it comes, but I have to worry about now, that will sort itself with essays, recommendations and good grades.
The thing is, how do I pay for it? I don’t currently qualify for any scholarships with a 2.4 GPA. I’m also not technically Jewish yet, so I don’t qualify for traditional Jewish scholarships. There may be scholarships I can apply for next semester if I do well, but I have to get this semester paid for first. If I can come up with a good portion of it, she will probably pay the rest. School starts August 17th, the same day I need to be paid in full, or on a payment plan. (A payment plan would be 4 payments, which would be $946.25 for the first payment (including a $50 fee) then $896.25 for each of the 3 following payments during the rest of the semester. The semester ends at Thanksgiving this year, there is no fall break.
I did write to my rabbi right away after Mum flipped out, so there may be a possibility of funds from a source she might know of — but I haven’t heard anything from her yet, most likely she will tell me she is working on it in a day or two.
I’m also supposed to be moving in on Friday, and we still have half the trailer to clean. We’ve gotten my room mate’s end sorted and ready, but mine is a disaster area. I have a lot of things on my mind right now, and even with an emergency therapy session today, I’m kind of freaking out.
So. If you are in a position to help me get a semester under my belt, please PM me? I’m not sure if I can authorize multiple people access to my account at the school, or if I need to coordinate a lump sum payment at this time, I can probably call the financial office tomorrow and see what they say about it. I only need help with tuition, my books are already purchased and I have money for my parking pass. I just need to get my foot in the door.
EDIT: PayPal is Mortifyd@gmail.com on the advice of commenters.