Has anyone on here gone back to school in the US? What were your experiences?


My husband has an intermediate GNVQ business and an advanced GNVQ IT, I guess a college wouldn't transfer those somehow? Maybe just as a couple classes?

Since he can't find a job now, do you think going back to school would help at all??

He could pay to take the A+ exam which he should be able to take without any classes, this is the equivalent of the GNVQ IT. There are plenty of books he can buy to refresh his memory. This way he will have something that the americans understand

Going back to school here is expensive

I looked at going to College in the US, however as Patrick said it was horrendously expensive. Also I had already completed 1 year of my degree, but they were not prepared to allow me to transfer many of my credits. Basically I felt they were seeing me as a money-making opportunity, rather than providing an education. What I did was study via Distance Education from a University in Australia. Was the cheapest option and gave me a recognisable qualification.

If he is in IT would it be worth him doing an industry recognisable course such as a Cisco or Microsoft qualification?

Of course once you have been there a year you could look at community colleges as the costs drop dramatically.

Wonder if www.free-ed.net would be of help?,might be worth having a look at....Sophia

I agree with Vicky with the Community college fees. Once you are classed as a resident the fees drop a lot and they are really good colleges where their courses can then be transferred to a 4 year college. If you are not classed as a resident, college is very expensive.

Also, if your husband is serious about college over here, go to a 4 year college first and get his qualifications evaluated to see what he needs to do to get to where he wants to be. They will tell you how many more credits he would need to get a degree and quite a few of those credits, I bet, will be able to be fulfilled at the local community college which is a lot cheaper.

I agree that community collegs are cheaper (many of my students take Gen Ed classes at the local community college in the summer, and transfer them in for this reason). However, if you are a state resident, many state schools are not that unreasonable (tuition/fees for $4,000 p.a. and less is not uncommon). Especially if you are married with spouse earning, and can work part-time, a 4-year degree is very do-able, financially. If you can get a graduate assistantship (like a "working scholarship"), many schools will not only pay you (over $10,000 p.a., at some schools), but will give you tuition free. I was at UGA '92-'96, and was paid over $10,000 p.a. and had in-state AND out-of-state tuition paid (worth about $6,000 p.a., if I remember correctly). The only way I'd consider that "expensive" is in terms of lost earnings - but that's something you have to put up with wherever you go to school.

That's the beauty of the US higher education system - sure you can spend 20,000 a year at Harvard, but there are definitely much cheaper options.

[later comment: sorry, I realize the GA suggestion is no use to someone in an undergraduate degree program]

I have to agree with advice above re community colleges. I went back to school here and started out by taking general requirement classes at a community college and then transferred to a university. Many good universities will accept community college credit and have what is termed 2+2 programs (you do 2 years at community college followed by the final two years at university). And, as mentioned, it is much cheaper than university tuition -- sometimes they even throw in two classes for the price of one as they did at my community college! Another way to get through college in the U.S. more quickly and cheaply is to try and test out through CLEP (can't remember what it stands for as it's a while ago since I went to university, but I'm sure there's a webiste). I tested out of about 18 college credits by taking German and French CLEP tests, thus elminating having to take any foreign language classes.

Hope this helps!

Sara

$20,000? what course is that thats a bargain price for Harvard! Current Harvard College tuition fees are $27,448, the grad schools go from $31,000. Ouch.

It depends what your husband wants to do really. There are lots of choices out there and the costs vary enormously. There are those top ranked private schools like Harvard but some state schools can be very good value offering a high quality for a lowish price. Places like UC Berkeley are cheaper for state residents as is UNC Chapel Hill. The thing is to think carefully about what you actually want from it. How ambitious is your husband? If he sees himself going to college to go onto a top ranked grad school and then a high slalary big corporate job the investment in Harvard might pay off long run(it might not its always a risk). If his ambition is more modest a local state college may be fine and wil open some doors. The thing is to remember that alumni connections and a schools percieved quality will have impact on your degrees value. I wouldnt recomend going to the cheapest community college around as you may find its not respected and the value is lowered accordingly. The trick is to try to find a balance between what you want and how much you are willing to pay.

Also what visa status have you got? If you are a perm resident you qualify for goverment financial aid so you could apply for Stafford Loans, Perkins Loan, etc. Mostly its debt but its long term low interest. Finally the top schools are expensive but they often have a lot of scholarship money to give out as well. With scholarship even a $30,000 tuition can drop significantly or even be free if you are really lucky(rare though mostly you get a reduction). Personally i got into grad school and its expensive but with my partial scholarship i actually pay around $13,000 a year in tuition which is not much different to my local state school(who offered me a place as well).

My advice think about what you ultimately want to do and consider your own abilities(top schools are competitive and can pick and choose the best students) then take the standard test SAT and go from there. Good luck whatever you decide.

Hi

I don't know if it's the same for spouses as for step children but my son recently came here on a K4 visa. He is 19 and has applied to several 4 year universities in Illinois. Two of them will take his application as an international student as he hasn't got permanent residency status yet but will allow us to pay in state rates. This is because my husband has payed taxes in Illinois for the last 17 years.

We were thrilled because we thought we would have to pay international rates for the first year of his college education until he had his permanent residency. We wrote to the registrar for international admissions and also the registrar for regular admissions explaining our situation, sending copies of exam certs and immigration document copies and followed up with a phone call. It might be worth doing the same.

Maggie

Thank you for the replies everyone

Duncs, he has his temporary green card (and has been here 1 1/2 years) and I am a US citizen- so I guess he would qualify for the resident fees?
I don't think my husband wants to go to school for too long if he does go back, maybe 4 years at the most. He says he would rather go for two years but I am not sure if that would do him any good since the GNVQ he has is already supposed to be like an associates degree.


Maggs, was your son able to get any financial aid? I just got my aid letter in the mail the other day and they are giving me grants of 6.5k! Pretty good since the tuition and fees cost 6k for my school (sometimes its good to be poor hehe)! But I have no idea about whether they give aid to noncitizens- he'd probably at least need some loans

Oops Duncs already said permanant residents can get loans...how about grants? >

Yes, he would be eligible for in-state resident fees. I would strongly reccomend that he contacts several colleges in your area and speak to counsellors there to see what they can offer and how much of his UK education he can transfer in and get credits for.

I came over summer of '96 and by Jan' 97 had a degree course chosen, pell grants and scholarships lined up. They even gave me 33 credit hours for classes I had taken in the UK. I also did CLEP and DANTE exams to test out of classes that I knew I really did not need. What's nice is you can go at your own speed - i.e. it really doesn't need to take 4 years - he could do it in 3 if he could get some credits before hand, test out of classes and maybe take an extra class per semester. I ended up double majoring and graduated at the end of 2000 and that was with having my daughter half way through too!

If your husband wants to get on in the US he'll find having a degree very necessary. Good Luck

If the college does agree with you that his GNVQ is the same as an Associates Degree, then he only has two years left to do on a Bachelors degree. Definitely go to the 4 year colleges and ask them to evaluate his educational stuff so far and see what he needs left to do to complete his degree. If there are any 100 and 200 level courses (year one and two of college classes) then definitely ask the 4 year college which credits they will take from the community college. The fees are nearly half what you will pay at the 4 year place sometimes. This is what I have done. I will be taking 61 credits over to the 4 year college and I checked to make sure I have covered their basic requirements. The community college has been $1400 per semester for full-time and it is going to be another $1000 more per semester for the 4 year college now.

As a green-card holder you can apply for some scholarships. The ones you can apply for do state citizen or permanent resident can apply. The colleges have huge books full of scholarships available. It could be worth looking at to see if hubby can apply for any.

Hi Steff

No, he isn't eligible for fincancial aid until he has PR status, but once he has it he can apply. Is the grant you received a loan or really a grant that doesn't need to be paid back? Silly question perhaps!! The colleges he applied to are doing their own evaluation of my sons general UK education so I would imagine they would do the same for your husbands GNVQ's. Hope it goes ok for you both.

Maggie

Steff,

If you're not particularly looking for something in IT then I'd suggest you/your husband look into LPN/LVN schools. Most of them are only 1 year and generally on the cheap side compared to other programs. Money is not too bad after graduation and hospitals would certainly reimburse you should you want to upgrade it to Ass. or BSN. Once you become a RN money goes up as well.

There are a few nurses in the forum, they should be able to help you if interested.

I've also found HVAC programs in the community colleges worth looking into. They are usually 2 years but I don't think you'd be ever unemployed in that industry. A lot of people build their own air conditioning/heating business and never work for other people again, anyway.

Also Radiology Technician jobs pay well and offer job security. School is 2 years and I think an IT guy like your husband can specialize in different things within the field.


Good luck.