Sacrifes for Free Education
My Sacrifice for Free Graduate School
I must say that it is very ironic that last week I write a post about sacrificing to find scholarships. I even went as far as mentioning my own personal experiences about quitting a full time job with great benefits to go to graduate school for free. Now with H1N1 going around I am kind of concerned because the cases are becoming more prevalent and within the past 24 hours I have lost my voice almost completely. Of course I had a 10 page paper to type and I have to turn that in today.
Interning for scholarships
I am a graduate intern right now at a middle school. About 2 weeks ago one of the schools employees, a learning tutor was telling me about how she gets paid for the job but she doesn’t have benefits. I kind of am in the same boat, I don’t have health insurance. It’s a sacrifice I made to go to graduate school but it’s a tough price to pay. Especially from a person who usually gets sick and can’t seem to shake a common cold for weeks. I’m currently writing this post on my break. But I am starting to get worried because I am constantly around people. And now that I think about it that same girl, the learning tutor was the first staff member that I remember being sick and she works in the classroom with me.
Whats my point my point is people don’t think of the whole if your sick stay at home dilemna until it hits close to home. If she doesn’t work she doesn’t get paid. And that my friends is the reason why I quit my last job. I was working full time as a 12 month employee. Oh that was until one of my co-workers asked the boss for her vacation time. The boss being fairly new and not familiar with our contract said we didn’t get any vacation time. Then once this was cleared up they decided okay fine you get your vacation time but we are going to advise against it. They immediately rewrote our contracts saying that we wouldn’t get paid for sick days, we wouldn’t get holidays and snow days. Just completely turned us into 10 month employees with no vacation or no sick days. Now I 100% see why people are coming to work spreading these flus and viruses. It actually bothers me even more knowing that two certified teachers (who have paid sick days) came into work sick last week. You got to be kidding me.
Me on the other hand I’m here because I have to observe a math lesson so I can teach it myself to at risk students. No keep in mind I have no intentions on being a math teacher. I haven’t even taken a graduate course about teaching math. But once again it’s sacrifices that get you the financial aid you need.
I just thought I’d share an experience with you. And on a final note our economy is going crazy right now. We have college tuition rising, families can’t afford college, families losing homes, jobs, cars etc. We are in a recession, the only good news about financial aid is that the federal amounts of financial aid have increased slightly to offset the cost of tuition and college expenses. Those of you who have received Pell Grants in previous years have definitely noticed an increase in the award this year.
Students who make sacrifices for free education
All of these people make small sacrifice for any where from 1-4 years to pay for college. It’s a sacrifice that can change your life. All of these positions allow you to gain real world experience dealing with people. You provide a service and in exchange you get your tuition discounted or paid in full.
*Update on my situation I went to class at 4:00pm eastern. I told my professor I was sick, she told me to go home and on my way out some of the girls in class told me that H1N1 is on the campus.
