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Showing posts from March, 2022

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 keep
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Did My Professor Get Me Together?!

  Working at a university I interact with professors on a daily basis. I am often in the middle to help students communicate more effectively. As a student myself I reach out to my own professors when I have questions and I have always had a pleasurable experience for the most part. I’m currently taking a literature review course with a professor who is a stickler for all things grammar and APA. One of the course required books included purchasing an APA manual but being on a debt free budget I figured I could just skim online to get the basics. Figure 1: This is a thumbnail of my latest YouTube video “Did My Professor Get Me Together?!” where I am looking at the camera with a serious look. I have on a yellow shirt that says, “Black girl magic” and my hand is under my chin.   I typically use Owl Purdue anyway and do just fine with sticking to APA guidelines. Before spring break, I completed a dissertation review of four studies where I analyzed each one’s literature review. I figured m
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My Doctoral Degree is FREE!

  So a little while ago, a friend gave me some news that my doctoral program would be FREE. I honestly thought he was pulling my leg being that I was actually in the program and had not heard anything about this. I immediately asked my academic advisor and he said he hadn’t heard anything. At that point I was like nope it ain’t happening! But then my director mentioned it and I thought okay this is a thing! A few weeks flew by and my advisor contacted me and told me he had spoken with the graduate school dean at an event and she confirmed that it was true and for me to contact Human Resources to complete the necessary paperwork. Within a few minutes, I sent in my courses and a write up as to how this would be related to my current position and everything was in motion. Figure 1: This is a thumbnail of my latest YouTube video on “My Doctoral Degree is FREE!” where I am holding my hands on my head with a shocked look.   The doctoral scholarship at my university is a new initiative to ret
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Top 5 College Services for Midterms

  Midterm season is here and our office is busy! Many times students like to wait until the last minute to seek additional services once exams are near. This often leads to false hope and tarnished dreams once things do not turn out the way they had hoped. With this in mind, I wanted to create a list of five services that all college students should be aware of before starting their midterms. Figure 1: This is a thumbnail of my latest YouTube video “Top 5 College Services for Midterms” where I am sitting in my office wearing a grey long sleeved shirt and holding up the number five.” TRIO: A federally funded program to assist students in being successful on their journey through 1:1 tutoring, scholarships, educational traveling, and purchasing textbooks. Counseling: Exam season brings on many stressors that can result in depression and anxiety. To ensure that you are your best self mentally and physically schedule an appointment with the Counseling Center before exams begin. Figure 2
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What Courses am I Taking?

  Spring semester is trucking away, and I just realized that I didn’t tell you what courses I’m taking! As a second-year doctoral student in higher education this semester has been very busy. You all know that I typically take two courses since this is what my university covers, and I am very happy that I decided to drop my third course before the semester started. The amount of work that I have had to complete with the two courses that I am enrolled in would not have been sustainable if I would have added a third course. Remember guys slow and steady wins the race! Figure 1: This a thumbnail for my latest YouTube video “What Courses Am I Taking?” where I am holding my Issues in Higher Education book with a surprised look on my face. This semester my two courses are Issues in Higher Education and Writing a Literature Review. My Issues in Higher Education course points out the challenges in higher education today. I typically focus on student loan debt crisis but there is so much more t
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