philosophy at age eight


“If you cannot control your peanut butter, you cannot expect to control your life.”
~ Judah-ism

Monday, August 31, 2009

it's not just obama that wants moms to go back to college

So, to take my career where I'd like it to be, I'm looking to go back to college. I am a full-time working mother who is (currently) the sole support of my 4-person family. I have only attended continuing education classes at colleges before, so I had little to no understanding of the amount of competition out there between colleges. I was extremely unprepared and not-too-enthused about diving into it this last week, when I inadvertently did so.

When you click on a link online, agreeing that you'd like to get more information about college programs in your area, don't be naive like me and assume you're going to be mailed a list of their degrees and registration information to peruse on your own time. No, you will be called directly and aggressively, and at least 1.5 hours of your time will be wasted per call, and if you're not careful you will end up dealing with hard selling tactics and being treated like a baby as they walk you through the application process. Even when you just told them that it didn't appear that any of their degrees fit your long nor short-term goals (which was kinda impressive, when you think about it!) So much for a 'counselor' who actually cares about your educational or career goals.

Hard-selling college applications at $50 bucks a pop seems like an extremely questionable practice. Not that the $50 is a huge amount or even unexpected, but the full charge for a Bachelor's degree is, so it's hardly something that would be decided in a 1.5 hour call. I thought colleges were supposed to help you, not make you feel like you have to protect yourself from them.

Give me back my childhood, dammit.

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