Okay, so so far we have covered community college vs. university, and admissions and enrollment. Now for lots of the small details that can be confusing, or get left out of the big picture. Most of these, students will, hopefully, learn within their first semester/year, however, they are just really great to know ahead of time.
Financial Aid - FAFSA - This one is super important if you want/need any kind of financial aid, this is how you you apply for aid from both the federal and state level. These are determined from filling out the FAFSA, and usually you get them based upon how much they think you/your family should and can contribute and then you get awarded the extra amount either in a grant or loan. You have to remember to fill out a new application for every school year, because they are based upon the income, savings, and tax from the previous tax year (i.e. 2015-2016 school year is based on 2014 year's tax return info.).
Edit: They have now changed it so it is actually based upon two years prior - so the 2017-2018 school year is based upon 2015's tax info!
Difference between grants and loans - There is only one super big difference between the two, loans you have to payback and grants you don't. So if you get $100 dollars in grants and $100 in loans, when you graduate you will have to pay back the $100 in loans, but not the $100 grant. (Think you are granted the money [given], and loaned the money [borrowed]).
You can also get financial aid directly from the school, they usually determine it the same way, and take in consideration the federal financial aid you get.
Scholarships - scholarships can come from all different places, wether it's from the school itself or from another institution or corporation. For instance, I got one based upon my dad's work.
(Part of the TCC Hawaii field study trip, doing some science stuff on the Big Island!)
Rate my professor - I mentioned this in the last college post about making sure you check www.ratemyprofessor.com before enrolling in any class. This gives you a look at what to expect from the class and certain teachers. However, double check that the reviews are regarding the class you are planning on taking, because most teachers and adjuncts teach several different classes in the same subject. Plus read between the lines, sometimes students only give teachers great ratings if they are extremely easy, it's not a bad thing to have a little work involved. (My history teacher had meh ratings on rate my professor, but she is to date one of my absolutely favorite teachers. She didn't have super grate ratings, just because of a couple papers you had to write and not having all the notes on the powerpoint.)
Cheeg - The other thing I have mentioned before is don't buy the book, unless you know for SURE that the teacher is going to use it! And when you do, order it from places like www.cheeg.com because they are super cheap to rent compared to any college bookstore (which always rip you off, regarding buying, renting and buy back.) I've used this company for the past year and a half for almost all of my books, a couple were special so I had to get them from the TCC bookstore, but other than that I used Cheeg. They ship them to you right away and over a certain amount shipping is free, plus shipping back to them is always free, you literally print the label and stick the books in a box and off they go, you no longer have to worry about your books or what to do with them.
Blackboard - I'm pretty sure that almost every single college uses this now. It is the ultimate place to go and find assignments, projects, announcements and grades. Super important that you know how to login and here's a hint usually your blackboard, email and web advisor/mygateway username and password are linked together! Make sure you are checking it everyday!! I've known teacher's to post stuff on blackboard and not send out an email about it!
WebAdvisor/MyGateway - I'm sure you already figured out that this is where you register for classes, check your degree program, rate teachers/classes, get transcripts, find your GPA and more.
For the most part your Blackboard, WebAdvisor/MyGateway, and school email has the same login information! This was one thing that is obvious, but never pointed out! It took me over a whole semester (and thinking I was locked out of my email) for someone to explain this to me!
Library - Find out where this is!! It's super important, that you know where it is, because you will end up using it a lot. I cannot tell you how many times I've ended up running from the library to class, printing out much a needed project info or homework and how many times I've ended up running from class to the library for well the same reason. Oh and make sure you know how to login to those computers!! Because well at least at TCC the library login was completely different from your blackboard one! (Super weird, but it was; so just go double check and make sure you know how to login and can research and print as needed.).
(Chances are you'll get to do weird fun stuff, like bubble soccer during Kickboxing Class. Tarrant County College - Northeast Gym)
Now I've got two other college posts, plus one more is coming up soon and I'll trying to remember to add the link to this post!
Community College vs. University.
Admission & Registration.
Coming Soon!! Transferring to a University.
XOXO,
Suzanne Marie
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