How I cut my yearly bills in half (or better).

[CommanderOtto]

60G a year for GT?!?! Wow.

well it is about 15k a quarter...i have friends that go to GT, and i have a friend who is a professor at GT (i know, right?)

or you could go to Purdue University where Neil Armstrong studied and not become a bank-slave when you graduate.

[[NH]Shadow]

60G a year for GT?!?! Wow.

well it is about 15k a quarter...i have friends that go to GT, and i have a friend who is a professor at GT (i know, right?)

or you could go to Purdue University where Neil Armstrong studied and not become a bank-slave when you graduate.

Yes, but I am going to try to get an academic scholarship; it would certainly help financially.

[CommanderOtto]

and you are saying purdue doesn't offer scholarships? I doubt there is a difference in the amounts offered by both.

[[NH]Shadow]

and you are saying purdue doesn't offer scholarships? I doubt there is a difference in the amounts offered by both.

Sorry that was sorta confusing, here is what I meant; I am trying to go to GT, and get an academic scholarship there, since that is probably the only way I will be able to pay for it.

[CommanderOtto]

and you are saying purdue doesn't offer scholarships? I doubt there is a difference in the amounts offered by both.

Sorry that was sorta confusing, here is what I meant; I am trying to go to GT, and get an academic scholarship there, since that is probably the only way I will be able to pay for it.

well, just in case, let me give you some advice. A university rarely gives full scholarships unless you have like a 4.0 GPA and I suggest you don't stick to one choice of university. You should have like 3 or 4 choices and one of your choices should be slightly cheaper, because it would suck if you run out of money mid-way and then you would be forced to change college. What you save in tuition could be used to live in good student housing or for buying a good car or for paying the last semesters of college when you are running out of money. Also, rankings say very little about a university. I would say that the top 10 universities in the aerospace engineering list of U.S News are all good and as I said before, there is very little difference between them. Link to the list below:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-aerospace-aeronautical-astronautical

besides, I would say that most people with a degree in aerospace engineering from that list (from those top 10) would probably get a similar salary. So, don't be afraid to look at the price. When I started college I couldn't stop thinking about the rankings and college life and all that.... 4 years later I just couldn't care less about it. What I do care is how I am going to pay for this when I graduate. I would say many students end up thinking the same way when they are juniors/seniors. Well, anyway, hope this advice can shed some light for you and godspeed.

[[NH]Shadow]

and you are saying purdue doesn't offer scholarships? I doubt there is a difference in the amounts offered by both.

Sorry that was sorta confusing, here is what I meant; I am trying to go to GT, and get an academic scholarship there, since that is probably the only way I will be able to pay for it.

well, just in case, let me give you some advice. A university rarely gives full scholarships unless you have like a 4.0 GPA and I suggest you don't stick to one choice of university. You should have like 3 or 4 choices and one of your choices should be slightly cheaper, because it would suck if you run out of money mid-way and then you would be forced to change college. What you save in tuition could be used to live in good student housing or for buying a good car or for paying the last semesters of college when you are running out of money. Also, rankings say very little about a university. I would say that the top 10 universities in the aerospace engineering list of U.S News are all good and as I said before, there is very little difference between them. Link to the list below:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate-aerospace-aeronautical-astronautical


besides, I would say that most people with a degree in aerospace engineering from that list (from those top 10) would probably get a similar salary. So, don't be afraid to look at the price. When I started college I couldn't stop thinking about the rankings and college life and all that.... 4 years later I just couldn't care less about it. What I do care is how I am going to pay for this when I graduate. I would say many students end up thinking the same way when they are juniors/seniors. Well, anyway, hope this advice can shed some light for you and godspeed.

Thanks! Well, I saw GT on the list, and realizes it is 20k cheaper per semester for in-state students (I live in ga), so it's a bit easier than I thought at first.

[Dad]

The savings amount to thousands per year. This year alone, I saved approximately $9500. What that amounts to, is I can go where I want, when I want. I rarely have to ask myself, "Can I afford to do this?" My line of work also is ideal for this kind of life style. I firmly believe that this is a crucial part of life that is severely lacking for most people. Money troubles cause stress, divorce, anxiety, depression and so on. As a victim of the family court system in this country, by all rights I could be so deeply in debt at this point I would never be able to get out. What I do is not only for selfish reasons. I intend to leave my kids one very healthy chunk of change. With the direction this country is headed, they're going to need it.

As far as being physically capable, I've had my spine fused and pinned, my hips are going on me, and my knees are starting to give me grief. My body protests every move I make, all day, every day. I just tell it to suck it up and do what I say. When the day comes that my body no longer listens, I'll deal with it.

Excellent!

I appreciate your forthrightness and candor. I also desperately approve of your attitude toward working with pain and otherwise chronic and debilitating injuries to do a man's day's work without complaint.

I apologize in advance for the following and hope you can forgive me my presumption. Unfortunately, your writings read like an all too familiar American tragedy. One I hope is distant from your reality. In the next paragraph I'll spin an altogether tragic American tale and please tell me it isn't yours.

A young man, either still in high school, just out of high school, or while working out what to do with his life after high school, meets a girl. He falls in love and becomes a husband/father (or the other way around). He learns a trade to support his family and maybe expands the family one or more children more. Things get rough and man and woman are not as in love as they once were. Pressure gets to them and they decide to split up. The courts in this country, being woman/mother oriented requires our not as young man to be burdened with what could be impossible monetary commitments. After a valiant effort to comply with the impossible our more worldly wise man fights bureaucracy WITH bureaucracy and uses the cumulative injuries obtained while performing his strenuous work to declare that they make him unable to do his work without tremendous pain. Our government, being generous and kind hearted, expecting him not to endure such agony just to survive, classifies him disabled and provides for him a recurring stipend to live off of while he is presumably unable to work. This being his only officially recorded source of income, the one bureaucracy tells the other bureaucracy they can no longer expect the monetary commitments it imposed to be rendered as our tired and broken man is no longer fit to meet them. Without that burden our man is able to continue his previous career, gutting out the pain his continued work produces while collecting his unreported reduced pay. The opportunities in his trade are less and the pay less significant, but both still plentiful. They allow our wily man to live a life that is hard, but secure and free from the stresses that once plagued his existence. With a government check and a contractors cash he can go where he wants, when he wants and rarely has to ask, "Can I afford to do this?"

Now I'm NOT saying this is your situation or anything resembling it. But the truth is, it is an all-together too frequent story.
(listen to this report: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/490/trends-with-benefits?act=0#play )

Again, I apologize for what might seem like presumptuousness. I'm trying to quell my prejudicial anxiety over your writings. Please take a moment and let us know that this is NOT you. I will believe you if you say it isn't so.

I earn everything I have. The only checks I get are unemployment in between jobs and I pay for that. I don't consider myself disabled. I have no need to game the system.

[WD-40]

and you are saying purdue doesn't offer scholarships? I doubt there is a difference in the amounts offered by both.

Sorry that was sorta confusing, here is what I meant; I am trying to go to GT, and get an academic scholarship there, since that is probably the only way I will be able to pay for it.

Edit due to a few words missing for structure.

I got a 4 year Scholarship (Full Tuition and books paid) thru the NROTC at a high-ranked college. The only thing I paid was Room and Board. Owed about 6 years of my life to the Navy, served 8, plus 2 years in reserves. Worth it! I still use the professional skills the Military taught me as a pilot today, and it's been almost 30 years since I graduated college, and almost 20 years since I left the military. Point is, if you are willing to make the sacrifice, the Military thru an ROTC or Academy scholarship program is one way for a college degree. The pay is, obviously, much better as an Officer (college degree required). Certain degrees obtained in college can be applied in the Military, and furthered while serving to make you that much more valuable inside and outside of service. Business love military folks, since they are well trained and well disciplined.

If you serve 20 years in the military, you'll be about 40 years old when you retire and can continue to serve another 20 years in the civilian world for a second retirement doing what you love doing. 2 retirements is a pretty good thing. No, I only served 8 active, but I wish I was in a position to have finished the 20 in the reserves. My present job in government didn't allow me to do that, but today it does. Just the way it goes sometimes, but I have no regrets on my career path.

But if college or a 'Scholarship' program are UN-attainable, then do what my future Son-in-Law did, join the Marines (or Army, or Navy), obtain a specialty skill/training that you can use to your benefit on the outside (His is repairing/installing electronics on Radars, other equipment, vehicles and Aircraft) and use that skill to get a decent or high-paying job on the outside when you're done...perhaps using that good civilian salary, you can do continued education toward a college degree if still needed. He plans to do that toward Electrical Engineering. Electronics always need repairing, always need new designs, and that will not change for a long time (Job security). While still serving in the military, they offer continued training for good-working soldiers/sailors. And it's ALL FREE, since the Military pays it.

As you plan your attack on this, the most important advice that I can give is to do your research on what degrees are worth the money to obtain for a decent job that you like on the outside, and that pays well. Many kids these days get these useless bull crap degrees that do not pay anything or cannot find a job that they are needed in when they graduate. Some are just too lazy to spend just 4 years of their long lives working hard obtaining a technical degree, or any degree, that pays well and is sought after in the jobs market, just so they can cruise thru college partying. Then they've got nothing. Then there's that whopping debt to pay off if they did it without any scholarships.

Time keeps going faster as you get older. 4 years, 6 years, even 10 is nothing in the big scheme of things toward education or furthering your skills. You can't forget to have fun, but every day is precious and cannot be gotten back, so use every day of your time wisely during these years...until you've done all that you want to accomplish and can throttle-back and relax.

[[NH]Shadow]

and you are saying purdue doesn't offer scholarships? I doubt there is a difference in the amounts offered by both.

Sorry that was sorta confusing, here is what I meant; I am trying to go to GT, and get an academic scholarship there, since that is probably the only way I will be able to pay for it.

I got a 4 year Scholarship (Full Tuition and books paid) thru the NROTC at a high-ranked college. The only thing I paid was Room and Board. Owed about 6 years of my life to the Navy, served 8, plus 2 years in reserves. Worth it! I still use the professional skills the Military taught me as a pilot today, and it's been almost 30 years since I graduated college, and almost 20 years since I left the military. Point is, if you are willing to make the sacrifice, the Military thru an ROTC or Academy scholarship program is one way for a college degree. The pay is, obviously, much better as an Officer (college degree required). Certain degrees obtained in college can be applied in the Military, and furthered while serving to make you that much more valuable inside and outside of service. Business love military folks, since they are well trained and well disciplined.

If you serve 20 years in the military, you'll be about 40 years old when you retire and can continue to serve another 20 years in the civilian world for a second retirement doing what you love doing. 2 retirements is a pretty good thing. No, I only served 8 active, but I wish I was in a position to have finished the 20 in the reserves. My present job in government didn't allow me to do that, but today it does. Just the way it goes sometimes, but I have no regrets on my career path.

But if college or a 'Scholarship' program are UN-attainable, then do what my future Son-in-Law did, join the Marines (or Army, or Navy), obtain a specialty skill/training that you can use to your benefit on the outside (His is repairing/installing electronics on Radars, other equipment, vehicles and Aircraft) and use that skill to get a decent or high-paying job on the outside when you're done...perhaps using that good civilian salary, you can do continued education toward a college degree if still needed. He plans to do that toward Electrical Engineering. Electronics always need repairing, always need new designs, and that will not change for a long time (Job security). While still serving in the military, they offer continued training for good-working soldiers/sailors. And it's ALL FREE, since the Military pays it.

As you plan your attack on this, the most important advice that I can give is to do your research on what degrees are worth the money to obtain for a decent job that you like on the outside, and that pays well. Many kids these days get these useless bull crap degrees that do not pay anything or cannot find a job that they are needed in when they graduate. Some are just too lazy to spend just 4 years working hard obtaining a technical degree that pays well and is sought after in the jobs market, just so they can cruise thru college partying. Then there's that whopping debt to pay off if they did it without any scholarships.

Time keeps going faster as you get older. 4 years, 6 years, even 10 is nothing in the big scheme of things toward education or furthering your skills. You can't forget to have fun, but every day is precious and cannot be gotten back, so use every your time wisely during these years...until you've done all that you want to accomplish and can throttle-back and relax.

i would like to do that; however, i cannot, for the same reason that i don't play sports anymore; while playing hockey, i sustained a back injury (about 3 yrs ago), which has basically disabled me since...so i can't really do a military career.