Don't Waste Your Money - Choosing a College Program

 

A friend of mine is considering going to post-secondary school but has no idea what she wants to take. So that got me thinking about why I chose Journalism, and how other people might decide on a program.

 

I think a lot of us have experienced that feeling of wanting to work towards a career but aren't sure exactly which direction to go in. But if you're going to spend thousands of dollars on school you want to make sure it is the right program. Too many people rush into college or university and end up dropping out, and get stuck with giant student loans they have to pay back and don't even get anything out of it!

 

Before I chose Journalism as my college program I considered so many different options. I like so many different things. Especially within the art/creative field.

 

I considered taking:

 

• Graphic Design
• Interior Decorating
• Photography
• Fine Arts
• General Business (I still want to be an entrepreneur.)

 

It was when I worked at D3 Artworks Inc. that I really focused on choosing a program. In fact, it was a requirement at D3 (which is a government program to help youth find employment). The employees at D3 helped us in so many ways.

 

We had to:

 

• Take personality tests
• Mind-map
• Research different schools and programs
• And of course, do a lot of thinking!

 

Journalism is something I've always considered taking but I never saw myself having much of a future within that field because I've always been so shy. You can not be shy if you are a journalist. As a journalist you constantly have to put yourself out there; cold calling people, getting interviews, doing interviews, networking and connecting with the community.

 

Working at D3 really helped me get out of my comfort zone. They gave me support, and believed in me. Sometimes having at least someone tell you they believe in you is all it takes. If it's fear that's keeping you from deciding on a particular program, you need to face that fear. You can accept it, but know that you will have to work with it, and to overcome it if you want to succeed.

 

To be honest, I would like to take photography after I've graduated from my Journalism program! And I wouldn't mind taking a few business courses either. The fun thing about college is that you can keep going back as much as want, or are willing to pay for.

 

And, you might not even need post-secondary! Really think about it first. Can you teach yourself? Can you learn as you go? Can you find someone to mentor you?

 

For those of you who are in post-secondary right now, how did you decide on what to go for? Was it something you've always wanted to do? Did you start going for something else and then switch?

 

Let me know! I'm curious. :)

 

Thanks,

Cole

The Life Makeover Plan

 

Any time a big life changing event happens to me (like breaking up with someone), I often do a lot of reflecting.

 

This is probably one of the biggest changes I have experienced. Within a week I started college, and have become a single parent living on my own! That's a lot to take in. But I noticed that being in school has helped me to feel hopeful, inspired and even distracted enough to get through the day.

 

As I looked around my emptier apartment after dinner I started to feel sad, and began reminiscing on all the good times Nick and I shared throughout our life together. Knowing that those times are long gone, and there's nothing I can do about it, I decided I had to do something to get through this time in my life.

 

Clearly the site of my apartment was triggering these emotions. It's a big unorganized mess right now. So I dove in and rearranged some furniture. And let me tell you, moving a queen sized bed and a desk by myself was hard work! And it's over 30 Celsius (feels like 40!) outside right now (which is really weird for this time of year)! But it made me feel better.

 

And so I decided that my apartment needs a complete makeover.

 

But like I always do, I started thinking and looking even deeper into my problems. Not only is my apartment a mess, but my life is a big mess, too.

 

There are so many things in my life that have been making me unhappy for so long that I got used to it and it just became the norm. Like my weight gain, and my not so pretty wardrobe. I've been slacking in the parenting department, too. And I never go out with my friends any more. Not to mention, my finances are a disaster!

 

That is why I decided I need a complete life makeover.

 

Now, some people are probably thinking "Don't take on too much!" Which is good advice, but I know myself pretty well now and if I don't keep myself busy I will fall into a horrible, deep depression. Which is kind of how my life got into such a big mess in the first place! I haven't had a job or been in school for almost a year now. Being a stay at home mom has never felt right for me, either. And besides, it's just me and Sid now. I might as well pay a little more attention to myself!

 

And so I looked through all of the different areas of my life and chose 6 that really needed some attention.

 

Those 6 areas are:

1. Health
2. Parenthood
3. Relationships with friends and family
4. Home
5. Money
6. School

Each month I will write out one goal for each area of my life that needs work. I'll aim to achieve those goals of course, but I know that sometimes things just can't get done. In which case, that goal can get bumped into the next month or maybe I'll try something different and get back to it later. That happens sometimes, you feel like you're ready to do something and then later on realize you weren't.

 

For the rest of September my goals are:

 

1. Health: Pick up exercise bike from my aunt's house and go on it for 15 minutes a day. Not a long time, but enough time to get me started. Any longer than that and I might not even bother!

 

2. Parenthood: Work on our evening routine. You know, supper, tidy up, bath time, story, bed, etc.

 

3. Relationships: Start making plans with friends again.

 

4. Home: Rearrange furniture and organize belongings in bedroom and living room.

 

5. Money: Send out resumes for a part time job, for no more than 12 hours a week (I don't want to exhaust myself). Pretty sure I will need all the money I can get at this point! AND work out a monthly budget to help keep spending under control.

 

6. School: School is just on here so it doesn't get neglected. Basically, show up every day on time, hand in homework on time.

 

That's my plan for the next 20 days. If everything goes over smoothly, hopefully I will have built a few new good habits and accomplished some stuff, and can add 6 more goals for October!

 

What areas could you work on in your life?

 

Thanks,
Cole

RESP For My Daughter

Yesterday I went to the bank and opened an RESP for my daughter. This is something I've been wanting to do for quite some time now, but I wasn't sure how to go about it, or if I could afford to put money away for her education.

 

Having to get a student loan for myself made me realize how important an RESP is. If I want to help Sidney pay for post secondary school, and avoid the hassle of student loans, this is the way to do it.

 

And once I got to the bank and sat down with one of the employees I found out it really isn't as complicated as I thought it would be. Mind you, I'm still not one hundred percent sure on everything he was talking about, but he gave me a gigantic booklet I can read through later.

 

One of the most interesting things I found out earlier this summer was that because we're considered a "low-income family" living in Ontario, the government will put $500 into Sid's RESP right away. Every year afterwards until she reaches the age 15 they will deposit another $100 up to $2000. On top of this free money, they will match up to 40% of whatever I put in. So if I deposit a $100, they will deposit $40! Pretty cool, eh? It's called the Canadian Learning Bond (or CLB) and it's what motivated me to set up an appointment this year.

 

I also have it set up to automatically deposit $50 at the end of each month into her RESP. I might have to switch it to something cheaper but I can change things up anytime I want to. Including the option to deposit money into it whenever.

The bank employee also explained a little bit about investments with me, and interest rates and high risk accounts and what not. My brain doesn't work with numbers, or interest rates, or other such things, so I had to kind of go with his opinion on it. If I do learn more about this stuff and feel like I want to change it later on, I can do that, too.

 

Getting this RESP finally set up for Sidney made me feel really good. I like knowing I'm doing the best I can for my daughter. And it's nice to know there are so many different programs and options for lower income families, you just have to figure out where to go and who to ask.

 

Did your parents have money put aside for your education? Or have you set one up for your child(ren)?

 

Thanks,

Cole

This Past Week

A Quick Update:

Life has gotten busy for me the past few days.

WORK:

Thanks to the fundraisers that the PCF Team on Etsy put together for my family and I, I had plenty of orders to mail out!

I would love to be able to work strictly from home, but I need more money so I've been looking for a job. Looking for a job has proven to be extremely difficult. I can’t even tell you how many jobs I have applied to over the past few months. Every day I send out any where between 1 and 5 resumes. And now I have finally started getting job interviews! Only 2 so far, but if I don’t get either one of these jobs at least I know that it’s finally hiring season again!

SCHOOL:

Even applying for college funding hasn’t been easy. I know that getting funding is definitely a lot easier than working to pay back student loans, but I had the impression that all I would do is send in some paperwork and it would be done. Apparently not. I have to send in a lot of paperwork, and it’s been taking up a lot of my time over the past few days. Now I have to make a trip up to their office (maybe even a few more later on). I am really happy that I get funding though! A free education?! Who wouldn’t be!

STRESS:

This whole mortgage thing has me stressed, too. Still don’t know what is going on for sure yet, seeing as they haven’t called us back.

HAPPY:

On a positive note, I’ve been drawing and painting again. I have even started a new blog called Amity Arts & Crafts, but it isn’t up and running quite yet.

Nick and I have been going on a lot of walks/hikes, too. I think at this point we’ve been on about half the trails in Cambridge. We like to bring our sketchbooks and cameras with us. The one day we sketched the river. I’ve always enjoyed drawing, but I‘ve never been very good at sketching. I‘m a perfectionist when it comes to drawing, so sketching a rough picture of a landscape was difficult. It‘s been a good experience though. 

If you're stressed out, grab a pencil and sketch book and go for a walk in the woods. I highly recommend it. 

How’s your life been going?

Thanks,
Cole

Applied To College

A little update:

Etsy Shop Branding

I’m in the process of retaking pictures for all of my items for Little Shop of Treasures. I’m also redesigning the business cards so they look prettier and go with my banner. I'm even trying to get this branding thing right, and because my items are very 60’s/70’s retro I want to work off of that. It’s complicated, for me anyway, but a great learning experience.

College Funding

Besides working on my Etsy shop to pass the time, I went for another appointment about college funding and got some pretty good news. I guess I misunderstood before and there is a chance of getting full funding for everything, and living allowance for full time students - if my application gets approved. So I applied for the program I want to get into today and hope to hear from the college within the next couple of weeks. I'm confident I will get in - because I actually got accepted into the same program last year but had to turn it down due to lack of money.

In the meantime I have some paperwork to fill out which means some research and writing is involved. I want to knock their socks off and show them how awesome I am at it, and that journalism is the perfect program for me and I will be successful. That way I will look confident in my decision, and then they will hopefully feel confident in my decision, too.

It’s been an exciting week!

Thanks,

College Funding and Overcoming Fears of Failure

Over the weekend I got some discouraging news about my potential college funding.

The fact that I might be able to get funding totally went out the window, and in my mind I already got it. I was so looking forward to going to college this fall that I didn’t even consider that my funding application might not get accepted.

Well, the place where I am going to for college funding has many different ways of attaining it. As of right now though the number one option is looking pretty dim. If my application even gets accepted, the funding won’t even cover half of my tuition costs. This really upset me yesterday, and I spent my afternoon moping around when I should have been doing something productive (ie cleaning!) or at least doing some of my own research on college funding.

The truth is, without funding I will not be able to afford to go. I don’t even know if I could get a student loan.

I’m trying to maintain a positive mindset though. I’m going this fall for journalism. This is all I want to do with my life, it’s all I have ever wanted to do and I don’t want to wait another year.

I’m not going to be the person I’ve always been - the kind of person that gives up easily when things start to feel difficult. For many years I was that person (still am). I thought (think) that I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, pretty enough and so I would give up before things got worse or didn’t work out.

But what if they do work out?

What if I actually got the job (the one I never called back for an interview because I assumed I would fail)?

What if my novel actually got published (the one that’s still in my head because I assumed I would fail)?

What if I actually get college funding? What if I do amazing? What if I succeed?

There’s still a chance they will find a better option. So I’m going to keep moving forward with my paperwork, research and dreams and in the end everything will work out. It has to. And I have to stop being afraid.

Do you ever feel like giving up because you’re scared?

Thanks,

Growing Up and Moving Forward

Young Mom Growing Up:

Growing Up


I consider myself incredibly lucky. 

I've been able to (mostly) stay at home to raise my daughter since she was born. I have had odd jobs over the past three years, but for the most part I have been a stay at home mom. 

I was there to watch her first steps, 
hear her first words, 
comfort her through her first cold and 
raise her myself the way I wanted to. 

Not a lot of parents get that opportunity. A lot usually have to go back to work after their maternity leave is over within a year, but because I was a teen mom (and a high school dropout) I didn't have to worry about that. 

I'm not saying it was easy. 

We had our financial struggles but to me time spent with my daughter was more important than money spent on her, as long as she had everything she needed (and she did). 

While I enjoy working outside of the home part-time simply to get out of the house and interact with other people who aren't family, I just can't stand the thought of a full-time job away from Sidney. That's why I've been trying to find ways to make money from home, like so many other parents. But that takes time.

Now I have to face reality. 

I need to make more money, which means I need to find a job. 

On Wednesday I went to find out about college funding and if I'm eligible for living allowance while I am in school. This will pretty much determine how the next year goes. If all goes well I will be attending college this September. If not I have to look into a part-time program and hit the pavement for that dreadful full-time employment. Let's root for option 1!

Yes, college will take up a lot of my time. I'll either be in classes or doing homework but I know I'll be working towards something better. 

It's very scary, and very exciting and when I think about it too much I feel an anxiety attack building inside of me. Will I go to school? Or will I have to get a job? These thoughts can consume me if I let them.

So I try to push it out of my mind and try to focus on other things. Simply because I won't know the answer until later. Still, I can't help but obsess and clench my jaw, and give myself a headache!

Do you ever stress yourself out over things you have no control over?

Thanks,