I work 50 hours per week hard labor. How the fuck do I go back to school? I want to do something like environmental science, ecology, marine biology, mycology for my bachelor’s and from there I’m not sure but I can’t keep breaking my body like this. I’m in the US, have no support network, and worried about how much everything costs and how to thread the needle of housing, food, tuition, loans, etc after quitting my job.
I went back at 29 after dropping out at 19. now (in my 40s) I have an MSc and @ p cool career, both on paper, in anecdotes/experiences, and in my own evaluation.
the absolute hardest part of going back to undergrad is figuring out a housing situation that is cheap. In the US, student aid/loans cover tuition and to an extent, if you play it tight, food. but you gotta find some cheap as balls housing situation, and try to get on the teat as a student worker for a research professor where you can get a few flexible hours during the academic year, and chase coin in the summers. they like non trad students generally, because they are typically more mature and responsible and they’ll be chill about exams, studies, and conferencing. you can’t treat school like it’s just another job, you gotta like do the optional shit, meet the people, network and all that b.s. as much as online education SHOULD be discounted to the students via tuition, they just aren’t. and your loans/aid are covering that part. the value proposition of what higher education offers is knowledge/training, yes, but it’s significantly augmented by social capital and professional development networking.
that’s why the heart of the puzzle is finding the subject matter area where you can’t shut up about it is crucial while finding the housing that lets you get to all that stuff (campus job, classes, conference spaces, special lecture events) without a car is like the bullseye, with the housing being the absolute hardest part. landlords run wild in college towns and as actual student aid has dried up, the demographics for higher ed skew heavy to nepobabies/rich kids whose parents pay for all that stuff. so all the housing has been converted to get their money.
you gotta find that sublet that says “I am not ever gonna get laid here” because it’s an unpermitted ADU with no a/c or some shit. as a non trad, you can have more opportunities there because you won’t be having 3-8 friends over, getting drunk in the porch, and playing music at 3am, but they won’t be easily found via advertising. it’ll be more relational.
so your housing will suck, and you’ll be scraping by on rando piecemeal work… but at least you’ll have that shitty health insurance for students through the school/student clinic! so if you slice your hand or break your butt, you can get seen and taken care of.
Yeah, housing is my number one concern. The cost and roommate situation will make or break me, as a trans ND person. I know some people living in a very cheap and cool situation but getting in there is hell. There’s like 25 applicants every time a room opens up.