~yep. that's me. the eternal student...
~i will attempt to make this post as brief as possible but it is somewhat of a cumbersome story with potential to be confusing as well. enjoy...plus if you read to the end, there's a giveaway...
~i have been planning on graduating in December 2010, specifically December 10, 2010!!!
~yeah, well, that probably won't be happening, at least not on
that day.
~while i only have 1 class left to take (after this semester), but I still have to do my Practicum (a mini-internship) which I will do in the Spring. It requires 100 hours working in a school enhancing counseling skills etc....essentially working as a school counselor for FREE. After I complete the Practicum, I will only have my Internship left, which cannot be done until Fall 2010 (no school in the Summer). It is a 300 hour requirement...same objective as the Practicum, but more intense.
~originally i planned to do my Internship in one semester which boils down to a 40hr-a-week job...so that means quitting my GA position. all along I thought this would be the best route to go so as to get done with school & back to the real world. as i've pondered it more and more, graduating in December is less favorable than in May when seeking to work in the school system. while there CAN be positions available mid-school year, there will likely be LESS positions. Additionally, leaving my GA position means NO income, NO health insurance and NO FREE tuition...all expenses I would incur. Now, I had been
planning on this so I did set aside some monies from the lawsuit fiasco, but in a perfect world I wouldn't have to spend it just to live.
~so to run the numbers...health insurance (for just Aug-Dec) would cost AT LEAST $1000 for the semester...and that's for me and E. (O's job has crappy yet expensive insurance so that's not an option.) Tuition would be $2538 PLUS fees...so let's just round up to $3K. And then there's the loss of income, which would be a whopping $4400. I don't care telling you what I make...if you look hard enough, you could find the info yourself on the school website. So that's about $8K and that's barring any emergency spending that may present itself along the way...which you know, would be bound to happen. just because.
~and so, my friends, it seems the wiser choice is to split my Internship up over two semesters - which, honestly, is what the majority of students do anyway-and that way I would work 20 hours as a GA and 20 hours in a school every week over the course of the two semesters.
~there are many other
positives to doing it this way-with the exception of dragging out my graduation date until May 12, 2011...which seems like an eternity...oh and which happens to be my very first boyfriend's birthday...ugh - where did that come from & why do I still remember that?
~so the positives are: less stress during the Fall 2010 semester. word on the street is that it's quite a challenge to get all the internship hours completed in one semester...like you can't be sick...ever...and we know how well that worked out for me this year. i'm thinking with a 2.5 year old by then...i'm gonna be sick...or more likely, he's gonna be sick & i'll have to stay home with him.
~another positive: continued income & free health insurance & free tuition. also, since i'll be sticking around, i'm thinking i may take an extra class or two which I could eventually apply to my EdS...and that means FUTURE money saving. hooray!
~another positive: regardless of splitting the internship, technically I would still be "employable" in the school system come January 2011 and if i were fortunate enough to be hired, that would mean i'd finish my internship concurrently while working & getting paid for a FULL TIME job. that would rock my socks off. it's happened to quite a few of my classmates, so i'm going to be (gasp!) hopeful for that to happen. and if it doesn't, i'll still have my GA position.
~if i were to do the internship in one semester & be done in December 2010 and then unable to find a job for Jan-May 2011...i'd continue with NO income...or insurance...you get the point.
~so unless I win the lotto or O decides to put on his big-boy pants and go find a better paying job (and they DO exist right now)...then this is the route that I *must* take...and by *must* I mean *the wisest & more grown-up* route...and now i'm off to change my graduation countdown...adding another 150 days or so...oh joy!
~and let's end this on a bright note...i recently won a bunch of scrapbook stuff from another blog and well, it's basically a bunch of stuff that really isn't my "style" or that I'd use and so I vote for re-gifting it...leave a comment...something positive preferably to help keep me afloat while I cope with this 150 day graduation delay...maybe even something to the effect that taking SIX FREAKIN YEARS to finish a Masters degree really is OK...ha!! Actually you can say whatever you'd like in your comment (within reason) to be "entered" into this little giveaway. I'll do the random number generator thingee - sometime on Monday. Also, if you comment and DON'T want to be considered for the giveaway (like you don't scrapbook), tell me so in your comment and I'll just keep generating numbers 'til i get a winner.
~and here's my positive picture for the day...it's on
my tumblr too...which by the way...is crazy fun and very addictive. I recommend you check it out. lots of good stuff there!!
