Blast from the Past: P4C Highlights
Most if not everyone is familiar with federal funding, scholarships and
loans to help foot the bill when it comes to college expenses. Federal funding
is almost scarce if you’re not on top of things when it comes time to apply for
consideration. Nonetheless, it’s still one of the preferred methods of
financial aid and is right up there with scholarships.
Since we started on that Saturday in July all those years ago, a long
distance trek began in hopes of making other’s lives a little less hectic when
it came to the subject of higher education. A lot of subjects have been
discussed from 2014 to now and feel it’s time to highlight some key notes that
often get overlooked in the processes of signing up and attending school.
Funding Made Less Hectic
Some of the first topics covered revolved around Federal Grants, scholarships, work-study, loans and seasonal/side gigs. One of the kickers that were discovered quite late was the fact that there were caps in place for grants and loans*. There was no formal letter of any kind delivered which made my schooling a bit of a headache in regards to financial aid.
Many may say that I had a responsibility to keep up with these things but things are easier said than done especially when you are trying to get expenses and courses in order. What this cap did do was lead me to look into the matter which resulted in me discovering the loan cap; I was actually quite happy with the loan cap. At this point work-study opportunities were at the forefront along with scholarships.
Scholarships are hit or miss especially when you’re dealing with restrictions pertaining to year in school, GPA, major/minor, name/type of college and age. Work-study was no picnic either since some schools didn’t have this program in play which left scholarships. Scholarships are everywhere and nowhere.
Everyone has them but they have force fields that weed out individuals that fit a specific criterion or worse, a large number of applicants. Each year my eligibility dwindled which lead me to look into another source that was almost like a scholarship but fairly different: contests. Contests don’t have the same criterion as scholarships which make them desirable among students that are tagged as being too old for scholarships.
From quarterly to once a year, one had to keep their eyes peeled for entry dates and deadlines. Plus, seeing as how you weren’t going to be in school continuously throughout the year, the idea of seasonal and side gigs were introduced. From fun in the sun to manual work, the idea of creating something and selling it to a consumer is a pretty worthwhile idea especially when you’re short on funding resources.
*This was from a piece written a couple of years prior to publishing and pretty much documented my experiences dealing with paying for higher education.
P3 : Plan, Prep, Patience
Seasonal/Side gigs came to mind after reading some articles on students making the most of their downtime by completing odd jobs, working seasonally and selling things they create. These tasks were ideal for the short term but what about the long term? This is where co-ops and internships surfaced as a starting point for career prep.
Though it may not sound like a big deal, participating in co-ops and internships can be a real game changer for those majoring in industries that are extremely difficult to get into without some related workplace experience. Taking advantage of these opportunities while in school enables course to workplace application of what you’re currently studying. An added bonus would be genuine resume material for that end of year portfolio review that’s not made up.
Even with careful planning, the opportunities for work experience could be
hard to come by if there are a lot of students applying at the same time. You’d
still be able to fall back or at least return to those side gigs you engage in
while on break. Of course at this point, many were looking to expand their
horizons so discussions shifted to micro jobs and vlogging.
Micro jobs in general can range from simple tasks of the likes of writing to highly complex of the likes of coding. Though standalones, a good bit of the micro jobs mentioned were broad categories within themselves due to the multitude of subcategories. Though not mentioned directly, creating videos was highlighted in the form of creating tutorials for various subjects.
Aside from creating tutorials, you could take things a step further and venture into the realm of vlogging (video blog). The subject matter can be whatever you want it to be as long as it meets the minimum requirements of the hosting site. To date I’ve seen countless vlogs on:
FINALLY!! Success…
After hunting for what seemed like months on end, you managed to find some amazing school funding sources as well as land some amazing opportunities in earning funds for yourself. You’re doing cartwheels and somersaults. A couple of minutes later you realize you need to get some things straightened out or at least organized.
You pull out a journal putting pen to paper and begin to document all the things you’re currently doing followed by when each item needs to be completed. Managing your time well may sound challenging at first but after some tweaking, things will start to fall into place. Not just managing it but making it your own day-to-day routine.
Your daily schedule needs to incorporate major tasks that you can’t go without completing which includes school related tasks, work related tasks, family related tasks along with tasks you plan to complete/engage in during down time. Set reminders for yourself around the house or within your designated work area so that you can see what’s coming up now and later on. I myself have made use of Post-Its plastered around my laptop informing me of upcoming assignments followed by jotting down deadlines on my room mirror so that I can see what needs tackling during the chosen month.
Outside of time your funds will need organizing as well. School related expenses are nightmarish enough and when you throw in additional expenses – like phone, internet, groceries, daycare etc. – you’ll soon see the importance of having a budget in place. Setting a budget takes patience along with careful planning.
Design your budget to fit you and your bottom line for the timeframe you have designated; be it daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc. My budget planning approach was utilized as an example of how one can go about setting budgets in general. For me, setting caps and tending to expenses in two separate batches each month assisted me in keeping things orderly and out of the red.
Budgeting is not a set it and forget type thing because there are numerous occurrences that will jump out at you during the course of a month that will throw things off when you’re not on top of things. Triple check everything and make sure you have a safety net or two in place should something arise that’s guaranteed to throw off your month. Examples of safety nets include but aren’t limited to:
This long distance trek began in July during the year 2014. What started as a means to bring attention to typical college funding sources of the likes scholarships, grants, loans and employment has turned into a monstrous filled herring and pumpkin pot pie. Meaning there was a little bit of good (the filling) and bad (the calories) in the mix.
Scholarships are a real biggie especially since they’re one of a minute few
resources that don’t need paying back. There was even an extra step taken to
share scholarship resources that were utilized in the past to find promising
results; AIE.org and physical scholarship books are still a personal favorite.
Despite the countless resources and discussions on the matter of higher education,
there was some doubt of whether or not all this effort was needed yet alone if
it were necessary to attend college at all.
Though a touchy subject in itself, the matter was addressed in a heavily opinionated post about the PROs and CONs of obtaining a higher education experience; everything mentioned was from the way things were viewed by me and the negative experiences tied into having either too much or too little education. Getting up to a two-year degree should suffice to getting your foot in the door and if more is needed later on, do your due diligence before going those extra steps. For more info both past and present, give the Must Reads section a glance through for helpful links to school funding opportunities.
 |
| Illustrated by vladwel a Vector Stock provider. |
Funding Made Less Hectic
Some of the first topics covered revolved around Federal Grants, scholarships, work-study, loans and seasonal/side gigs. One of the kickers that were discovered quite late was the fact that there were caps in place for grants and loans*. There was no formal letter of any kind delivered which made my schooling a bit of a headache in regards to financial aid.
Many may say that I had a responsibility to keep up with these things but things are easier said than done especially when you are trying to get expenses and courses in order. What this cap did do was lead me to look into the matter which resulted in me discovering the loan cap; I was actually quite happy with the loan cap. At this point work-study opportunities were at the forefront along with scholarships.
Scholarships are hit or miss especially when you’re dealing with restrictions pertaining to year in school, GPA, major/minor, name/type of college and age. Work-study was no picnic either since some schools didn’t have this program in play which left scholarships. Scholarships are everywhere and nowhere.
Everyone has them but they have force fields that weed out individuals that fit a specific criterion or worse, a large number of applicants. Each year my eligibility dwindled which lead me to look into another source that was almost like a scholarship but fairly different: contests. Contests don’t have the same criterion as scholarships which make them desirable among students that are tagged as being too old for scholarships.
From quarterly to once a year, one had to keep their eyes peeled for entry dates and deadlines. Plus, seeing as how you weren’t going to be in school continuously throughout the year, the idea of seasonal and side gigs were introduced. From fun in the sun to manual work, the idea of creating something and selling it to a consumer is a pretty worthwhile idea especially when you’re short on funding resources.
*This was from a piece written a couple of years prior to publishing and pretty much documented my experiences dealing with paying for higher education.
P3 : Plan, Prep, Patience
Seasonal/Side gigs came to mind after reading some articles on students making the most of their downtime by completing odd jobs, working seasonally and selling things they create. These tasks were ideal for the short term but what about the long term? This is where co-ops and internships surfaced as a starting point for career prep.
Though it may not sound like a big deal, participating in co-ops and internships can be a real game changer for those majoring in industries that are extremely difficult to get into without some related workplace experience. Taking advantage of these opportunities while in school enables course to workplace application of what you’re currently studying. An added bonus would be genuine resume material for that end of year portfolio review that’s not made up.
 |
| Compiled in Illustrator. |
Micro jobs in general can range from simple tasks of the likes of writing to highly complex of the likes of coding. Though standalones, a good bit of the micro jobs mentioned were broad categories within themselves due to the multitude of subcategories. Though not mentioned directly, creating videos was highlighted in the form of creating tutorials for various subjects.
Aside from creating tutorials, you could take things a step further and venture into the realm of vlogging (video blog). The subject matter can be whatever you want it to be as long as it meets the minimum requirements of the hosting site. To date I’ve seen countless vlogs on:
- travel
- day-to-day work experiences
- all things video games including walk-throughs and press conferences
- amazing pets
- cooking
- shopping hauls
- Business 101
- Luxury Handbags
- Mobile and tiny homes
- Troubleshooting computer issues (major life saver)
- Gardening
- Drawing/Illustration (traditional and digital)
- Manga/Anime Recaps and Highlights
- DIY stuff
FINALLY!! Success…
After hunting for what seemed like months on end, you managed to find some amazing school funding sources as well as land some amazing opportunities in earning funds for yourself. You’re doing cartwheels and somersaults. A couple of minutes later you realize you need to get some things straightened out or at least organized.
You pull out a journal putting pen to paper and begin to document all the things you’re currently doing followed by when each item needs to be completed. Managing your time well may sound challenging at first but after some tweaking, things will start to fall into place. Not just managing it but making it your own day-to-day routine.
Your daily schedule needs to incorporate major tasks that you can’t go without completing which includes school related tasks, work related tasks, family related tasks along with tasks you plan to complete/engage in during down time. Set reminders for yourself around the house or within your designated work area so that you can see what’s coming up now and later on. I myself have made use of Post-Its plastered around my laptop informing me of upcoming assignments followed by jotting down deadlines on my room mirror so that I can see what needs tackling during the chosen month.
Outside of time your funds will need organizing as well. School related expenses are nightmarish enough and when you throw in additional expenses – like phone, internet, groceries, daycare etc. – you’ll soon see the importance of having a budget in place. Setting a budget takes patience along with careful planning.
Design your budget to fit you and your bottom line for the timeframe you have designated; be it daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc. My budget planning approach was utilized as an example of how one can go about setting budgets in general. For me, setting caps and tending to expenses in two separate batches each month assisted me in keeping things orderly and out of the red.
Budgeting is not a set it and forget type thing because there are numerous occurrences that will jump out at you during the course of a month that will throw things off when you’re not on top of things. Triple check everything and make sure you have a safety net or two in place should something arise that’s guaranteed to throw off your month. Examples of safety nets include but aren’t limited to:
- savings accounts (General and High Yield Savings, CDs)
- investments (stocks, Mutual Funds, physical objects with value)
- cash stash (piggy bank, rainy day jar)
- reloadable cash cards (Payza, Payoneer, NetSpend, VISA, Mastercard, Bank Sponsored)
This long distance trek began in July during the year 2014. What started as a means to bring attention to typical college funding sources of the likes scholarships, grants, loans and employment has turned into a monstrous filled herring and pumpkin pot pie. Meaning there was a little bit of good (the filling) and bad (the calories) in the mix.
 |
| AIE.org search box. |
Though a touchy subject in itself, the matter was addressed in a heavily opinionated post about the PROs and CONs of obtaining a higher education experience; everything mentioned was from the way things were viewed by me and the negative experiences tied into having either too much or too little education. Getting up to a two-year degree should suffice to getting your foot in the door and if more is needed later on, do your due diligence before going those extra steps. For more info both past and present, give the Must Reads section a glance through for helpful links to school funding opportunities.
