I dropped out of college when I had my first baby...I was almost 21 and had been going part time due to having to work since my sophomore year. I had about 45 credits.
I went back to school 18 months ago (had to repeat a handful of things due to their age and/or policies at my new school) and am now one class from getting an Associate's degree in Gen. Ed. (it's called an AGEC) that is certified to transfer as a block to many colleges, including the 3 public universities in my state.
The decision I'm having trouble with is that initially I planned to transfer immediately and get a BA...in something. Anything. Just to be able to say I finished it. But my heart's not in that. I can't find a workable program with a major I can see myself completing.
I'm a very part-time freelance photographer and just getting my feet wet with writing online and I plan to continue pursuing both. I don't *have* to make a considerable amount of money, but I'd like to, for a multitude of reasons. My primary committment is to our home and four children, whom we homeschool and one of whom is medically fragile. Dh is supportive of whatever I want and expects to be the sole breadwinner. I realize I am VERY lucky and I want to make a responsible decision that is the best thing for our family financially. The pricetag on the BA is a LOT. We have a HUGE balance on our student loans, mostly dh's, and it's very important to both of us to pay them off in the next 5 years so we can then pay off our mortgage.
I think I feel that it'd be more practical to pursue something that could lead more directly to paid employment, even if it's freelance or I'm self-employed. I don't feel that having a BA in Liberal Studies is necessarily going to translate into paying work as there as there's no specific training for a particular field in there.
I have a few other options instead of pursuing a BA at this time--all are significantly less expensive than the $160-$450 per credit that finishing my BA would require:
1) eLearning Design - a fairly new offering at my CC....a certificate would require an 21 additional credits and an AAS would require 18 additional credits on top of that 21 so 39 total...$70/credit and most every course would be benefitical to me as a self-employed person...there's a focus on writing online content and several of business/marketing courses with the AAS. Supposedly I can design online course content at the lower-division undergrad level and work from home with this.
2) Stop at the AGEC and finish my CPP, which is a professional photography certification...teaching workshops is something I've considered and this would help with credibility.
3) Another certificate or program...have considered childbirth education certification and even becoming certified as an organic gardening instructor....any suggestions? My school has a Creative Writing certificate and they likely will add an AA in the future...if I did the cert. and they do add the AA, I would then be able to "upgrade" to the AA.
I'm so torn. I really don't think it would be *right* to spend $20k+ more on a 4-year degree I really have no intention of using directly. And my mom thinks it'd be plain stupid to earn 39 more credits on top of the 70+ I have...for a second Associate's degree. She even thinks another 21 credits for a certificate would be crazy. My dh is very supportive of whatever I decide but he thinks the AAS in eLearning Design would be most likely to lead to paid work.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! I have to decide soon. It's time to register for Spring (late start) and I need to know if I'm registering at all and if I am, what it's going to be. I've never felt so indecisive in my life!!
I went back to school 18 months ago (had to repeat a handful of things due to their age and/or policies at my new school) and am now one class from getting an Associate's degree in Gen. Ed. (it's called an AGEC) that is certified to transfer as a block to many colleges, including the 3 public universities in my state.
The decision I'm having trouble with is that initially I planned to transfer immediately and get a BA...in something. Anything. Just to be able to say I finished it. But my heart's not in that. I can't find a workable program with a major I can see myself completing.
I'm a very part-time freelance photographer and just getting my feet wet with writing online and I plan to continue pursuing both. I don't *have* to make a considerable amount of money, but I'd like to, for a multitude of reasons. My primary committment is to our home and four children, whom we homeschool and one of whom is medically fragile. Dh is supportive of whatever I want and expects to be the sole breadwinner. I realize I am VERY lucky and I want to make a responsible decision that is the best thing for our family financially. The pricetag on the BA is a LOT. We have a HUGE balance on our student loans, mostly dh's, and it's very important to both of us to pay them off in the next 5 years so we can then pay off our mortgage.
I think I feel that it'd be more practical to pursue something that could lead more directly to paid employment, even if it's freelance or I'm self-employed. I don't feel that having a BA in Liberal Studies is necessarily going to translate into paying work as there as there's no specific training for a particular field in there.
I have a few other options instead of pursuing a BA at this time--all are significantly less expensive than the $160-$450 per credit that finishing my BA would require:
1) eLearning Design - a fairly new offering at my CC....a certificate would require an 21 additional credits and an AAS would require 18 additional credits on top of that 21 so 39 total...$70/credit and most every course would be benefitical to me as a self-employed person...there's a focus on writing online content and several of business/marketing courses with the AAS. Supposedly I can design online course content at the lower-division undergrad level and work from home with this.
2) Stop at the AGEC and finish my CPP, which is a professional photography certification...teaching workshops is something I've considered and this would help with credibility.
3) Another certificate or program...have considered childbirth education certification and even becoming certified as an organic gardening instructor....any suggestions? My school has a Creative Writing certificate and they likely will add an AA in the future...if I did the cert. and they do add the AA, I would then be able to "upgrade" to the AA.
I'm so torn. I really don't think it would be *right* to spend $20k+ more on a 4-year degree I really have no intention of using directly. And my mom thinks it'd be plain stupid to earn 39 more credits on top of the 70+ I have...for a second Associate's degree. She even thinks another 21 credits for a certificate would be crazy. My dh is very supportive of whatever I decide but he thinks the AAS in eLearning Design would be most likely to lead to paid work.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! I have to decide soon. It's time to register for Spring (late start) and I need to know if I'm registering at all and if I am, what it's going to be. I've never felt so indecisive in my life!!
But I know that with proper care and feeding, it could be a reliable second income for us. I thought perhaps the business classes related to the eLearning design degree would also help me run my business. I'm not 100% sure my heart is in the eLearning design thing though. I'm almost wondering if maybe just taking a few biz classes or perhap a double major in biz for my associate's would be beneficial.
