Funding undergraduate foundation classes, and more
Hello. I've watched this community for a while, but I figured I'd join and ask some questions.
I'll spare you my life's history. Suffice it to say, I'm looking at obtaining a Masters in Health Information Management, while my Bachelors was... well, not in HIM. The program I'm looking at is an online program at the College of St. Scholastica, and that requires certain undergrad classes in order to start on the actual graduate studies.
I started taking classes at my community college in order to substitute certain classes for others. Those I can pay for. I will require additional funding for the remainder of the undergrad classes at CSS. My problem there is that, due to a long and storied college history, I have more than 180 undergraduate credit hours. I'm not sure how I can pay for the rest of the undergrad classes. The Masters program will be done through the GradPLUS loans, assuming I can get one.
I'm also approaching middle age, if I'm not there already. I work a full time job, and between classes and work, I simply don't have energy to put in for a part time job on top of that. I really don't know how to fund the last bit of undergrad.
I'm also wondering if it's worth it. Granted, I'm scraping by in life, as my current job does not pay very much. Taking on an additional $25,000 in student loan debt, that's a year's pay for me. The school reports a median pay of $85,000 for HIM professionals with Masters degrees, but then I look at my BA and I'm reminded that I'm supposed to be making more from that based on what THAT school said. If this degree pays off, then I can take care of the student loans. If not, to borrow a line from The Kids in the Hall, those loans will be buried in my body.
So, is it worth it to continue this pursuit? If so, how should I fund that last bit of undergrad work?
I'll spare you my life's history. Suffice it to say, I'm looking at obtaining a Masters in Health Information Management, while my Bachelors was... well, not in HIM. The program I'm looking at is an online program at the College of St. Scholastica, and that requires certain undergrad classes in order to start on the actual graduate studies.
I started taking classes at my community college in order to substitute certain classes for others. Those I can pay for. I will require additional funding for the remainder of the undergrad classes at CSS. My problem there is that, due to a long and storied college history, I have more than 180 undergraduate credit hours. I'm not sure how I can pay for the rest of the undergrad classes. The Masters program will be done through the GradPLUS loans, assuming I can get one.
I'm also approaching middle age, if I'm not there already. I work a full time job, and between classes and work, I simply don't have energy to put in for a part time job on top of that. I really don't know how to fund the last bit of undergrad.
I'm also wondering if it's worth it. Granted, I'm scraping by in life, as my current job does not pay very much. Taking on an additional $25,000 in student loan debt, that's a year's pay for me. The school reports a median pay of $85,000 for HIM professionals with Masters degrees, but then I look at my BA and I'm reminded that I'm supposed to be making more from that based on what THAT school said. If this degree pays off, then I can take care of the student loans. If not, to borrow a line from The Kids in the Hall, those loans will be buried in my body.
So, is it worth it to continue this pursuit? If so, how should I fund that last bit of undergrad work?