Skip to main content

My One Year Student Loan Payoff Update

  January 28, 2022 marked my one year anniversary of paying off my student loans . Reflecting back on choosing to pay off my student loans leaves me with several take a ways that I want to share with you! In September 2020 I decided to become debt free by utilizing the debt snowball method to pay off all my debt. Before this I had struggled to save and really understand basic financial principles. As a first-generation college student, I received a scholarship to attend undergrad for free, but the scholarship did not cover summers. During the summers I took out student loans to cover costs without paying interest rates or how much I was taking out. By the end of undergrad I had amassed a little under $17K. Fast forward to graduate school I received another scholarship that covered my education. At the time I was a teacher in a new very expensive city and I had missed the cutoff to have my paycheck last me throughout the summer. So, I decided to take out a loan for two summers to ...

Summer Check-In !

 

Alright guys we are half way through the summer semester and I thought I would do a simple check-in to see how things were going! If you are a student then you know the summer semester goes by quick due to the courses typically lasting about 6-8 weeks. This means there is most likely an assignment and test or quiz due every week! Check out the tips below to ensure that you aren’t getting left behind this summer.

Figure 1: This a thumbnail for my YouTube video on “Summer Check-In” where I am smiling while sitting in my office.

 

Check your grades AND email daily. I check my grades every morning to ensure that nothing is missing and everything that I completed has been accounted for. I also check my email multiple times a day which recently helped a lot when my professor emailed me to tell me that I missed a question on an assignment and needed to re-upload it ASAP. Imagine if I had missed that!

Failed an Assignment? Reach out ASAP! If you have failed an assignment, exam, or quiz reach out to your professor ASAP to inquire if you can still pass the course. If you will not be able to pass the course contact your Academic Advisor to ask about your next steps. For example, you will need to ask if you should drop the course so that your GPA does not take a nose dive. If you choose to drop a course you may need to pay back any accepted financial aid so be sure to ask about this as well.

I Can’t Pay for Courses! What Do I Do? Check out my blog titled “Summer Aid Won’t Cover My Courses! What Do I Do?”

How Are You Staying Organized? Do you use a planner or some sort of organizer that you keep track of assignments in? Do you actually use it on a daily basis? Many students get lost during the summer because they do not have a system to keep track of assignments. If this is you and you want to be successful during the summer get a planner and QUICK! I would also recommend an accountability partner or someone who makes sure that you are staying on top of things. This should be someone who is already organized and meeting their goals. This could be a close friend or classmate! 

Are you enrolled in summer courses? If so, how are things going for you? Drop down in the comments and let me know! Be sure to check out my latest YouTube video and tell me what you think!

SUBSCRIBE: Summer Semester Check-In!

Link for eBook

Coupon Code: Ms. Duggan


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My One Year Student Loan Payoff Update

  January 28, 2022 marked my one year anniversary of paying off my student loans . Reflecting back on choosing to pay off my student loans leaves me with several take a ways that I want to share with you! In September 2020 I decided to become debt free by utilizing the debt snowball method to pay off all my debt. Before this I had struggled to save and really understand basic financial principles. As a first-generation college student, I received a scholarship to attend undergrad for free, but the scholarship did not cover summers. During the summers I took out student loans to cover costs without paying interest rates or how much I was taking out. By the end of undergrad I had amassed a little under $17K. Fast forward to graduate school I received another scholarship that covered my education. At the time I was a teacher in a new very expensive city and I had missed the cutoff to have my paycheck last me throughout the summer. So, I decided to take out a loan for two summers to ...

How to Get a Free Doctoral Degree

Hey Guys! It’s been awhile right?! I know but I am back and ready to give you all the information you need! If you missed it last week on my channel , I discussed how you can get a free doctorate degree. If you’ve been following my doctoral journey, then you know that I am currently working towards my doctoral degree in higher education. I recently finished all of my coursework and I am officially working on my dissertation proposal this semester. I chose to work at a university so that I could not only work with students but so that I could also receive a discounted education. In the beginning of my journey, I received a $1,600 stipend towards my courses, and I paid fees out of pocket. I also received several scholarships along the way that helped to cover most of my fees. Last year my university decided to cover doctoral degrees at 100% for all professional staff which was a major benefit. While I understand that most folks do not want to join the education world don’t let this s...

Balancing Being a Doctoral Student and Working Full Time is HARDT!

  Balancing schoolwork and working full time can truly be a task. As someone who works fulltime and is working towards a doctoral degree, I feel like I have mastered the art of being a student. This past week as I was working on an assignment I began to beat myself up a little about not utilizing the long holiday weekend to complete a few discussion posts. This started me to think about how I stay organized between work and school.     Figure 1: This is a thumbnail of my latest YouTube video “Balancing Doctoral Life & Full Time Work” where I am sitting at my desk looking at the camera. I am wearing a black shirt with my arms folded.   The first key is organization. My planner sets the framework for this. It helps me to stay on top of things and plan long assignments.  I also organize my syllabi in a binder or keep them within eye view so that I am always aware of upcoming assignments. Figure 2: This is a planner with two sticky notes, a pen, tape, and note...