I went to college for a 2 year electrical technician program, didn't do anything with it, not a high demand job market in my area. My parents had set aside money for school, this paid the 2 year electrical. Did a 1 year night school of Writing for Publication while working part time (30 hours a week). The part time paid for the night school and I was able to save money for later.
After the night school I started a Photonics Engineering Technologist program (3 years) at another college. The money I saved covered the first 1.5 years. I worked part time on weekends during the semesters and full time over the summer break which covered the other 1.5 years. I did all this while living at home and commuting versus renting nearby the school/dorm, saved $1500 a year this way. I'm about to graduate and there's 5 companies hiring and I'm competing with 8 other graduates, future is looking good! If I wasn't able to work while going to school I'd have to take out a student loan, I've seen my friends struggle to make payments on their loans, do your best to avoid them. I've heard regular bank loans are more flexible than student loans though. Money Saving Tips 1. You can find pdf copies of most textbooks for free if you search. If not, then buy from amazon, usually 20%-50% cheaper than school book store. 2. Your tuition is a total of many little expenses, some you can opt out of and get your money back after paying your tuition. School dental care was one I could opt out of, recieved $150 back each semester. 3. Bring a lunch, don't buy food at school, usually over priced. I saved $3 a day by purchasing snacks/drinks by the convenience store near the school versus at the school. It adds up real quick. Would have saved more by packing a lunch but pizza happened... a lot. 4. If you commute, car pool. 5. Don't have a life outside of school Getting Into The Program Check out the school, see if you can talk with an adviser to find out what you need to get into the program. For my schooling it simply required high marks in the science courses and an average above 70% overall in high school for the photonics program, I was lucky enough to have this already. You can often retake high school courses in an adult night school to boost your marks. There are some cases where having top grades isn't enough. A friend of mine wasn't accepted into medical school because the university didn't have the diversity it wanted, it stopped accepting white males for the program. He had to find schooling outside the province, he's now a medical researcher making more money than anyone has a right to.
