Welp, I think I'm going to plunge into decades of debt and depression and take out student loans as its my only chance of going to school. Do student loans pay for cost of living? Like food, gas, etc? Or am I gonna have to find a part time job to deal w on top of school as well? think I'm going to go for physical therapy. Anyone have any tips or advice as to how to go about this the right way and not completely fuck my life up?
>>17112832
All I can tell you is choose your degree carefully because if you don't then you'll never pay off those student loans with that job at taco bell due to your liberal arts degree being worthless.
>>17112832
Use government loans before private loans. Also, what is your EFC? If it's low enough you should get grants. Also, major in Health Science for PT as many required courses for HS are prereqs for PT programs.
>>17112858
>OP specifies PT
>shits on liberal arts for no reason
That was uncalled for.
>>17112832
dont know how it works in other countries but here the student loans are enough to live off if you are careful. alot of people on my course spend all of their student loan too quickly on drink. its easy to give yourself a limit. i dont recommend getting a part time job, most of uni is independent study, if you want to get good grades you will need to study.
>>17112858
Lel my friend got a degree in liberal arts, i know how that works, that's why I'm specifying PT, I think that would be a fairly reasonable field to expect to be able to get a job in.
You don't need to go to a 10K+ a year university for Physical Therapy OP. Christ. Go to a specialized school where they'll actually teach you about the trade. Go to a cheap community college for any prereqs that they require (if any). Usually government financial aid will cover the costs your classes at a community college entirely.
Uni is the best option for only a handful of career paths. The rest are outright scams for naive, indecisive young people. The newest major at my college is "hospitality." Four years and tens of thousands of dollars to set you up for a career arranging flowers for the front desk of a country club. A lifetime of garnished wages to pay it back from your pittance of salary. Do not fall into the student loan trap.
>>17112871
Bear with me not too sure how this stuff works, if EFC is expected family contribution, my family isn't contributing anything, I'm 100% on my own.
And will definitely major in health science
>>17112873
What country are you in? I'm in US
>>17112894
What career paths would you say are uni ideal for? Part of me also really wants to go to uni for the uni experience, and yes I'm also an indecisive 22 year old, so while PT is my first choice, I'd say it's definitely a possibility that I might change my mind.
>>17112895
My family contributes nothing and I let them borrow money whenever I rarely have it. FAFSA never let me claim dependency unless I was a grad student, homeless, emancipated, or in the military. It was complete bullshit. I have about 20k in debt currently 4 years in. Last year I took out $8k and bought a car with $5k of it and used the rest on tuition and rent. I need a car to commute to potential jobs and ended up getting a good job with it. My university had a limit you can take out per year, other then that they don't care what you do with it.
>>17112894
With a 2 year you can only become a PT Aide, not a full PT. That needs a 4-year degree and then a "doctorate" (3 years, and I don't think there's a dissertation) in PT.
>>17112895
EFC is expected family contribution. It is a number you get after filing a FAFSA. If you support yourself (and most importantly claim yourself on your taxes), you should have an automatic 0 EFC, which pretty much guarantees a good amount of grants.
Glad you liked the advice about the major, but make sure it's something you can handle before trusting a random anon with something like college major choice.
>>17112906
>What career paths would you say are uni ideal for?
Learn the difference between a "trade" and a "profession." A profession is built upon an extensive education. Lawyer. Doctor. Psychologist. Scientist. Engineer. Etc. Those are the only uni careers worth pursuing.
A "trade" is more like a skillset. Lectures can't teach you a trade. Hands-on experience teaches you a trade. Salesman. Yoga instructor. Physical Therapist. Electrician. You're better off going to a specialized trade school for stuff like this, or in some cases (like sales) even learning all you can through self-study and jumping in head-first.
>>17112906
england here. pretty much everyone goes clubbing here and spends all their money on it.
>>17112948
Alright, my bad on the PT misinformation. I'm too used to dumb broads telling me they're training to be a PT when what they're really doing is getting certified for Massage Therapy.
>>17112948
I mean I want to major in whatever is necessary for PT, also I really want to do PT for like athletes rather than just old people in nursing homes, would I need to go to a certain school for this, or just for longer, I just ask because you seem like you know a bit about it? But yeah I suppose I should think on it a bit longer, but I'm generally really interested in the health/fitness field and that seems like the one option that has plentiful openings and pays well.
>>17112966
No problem. Actually, being a PT aide wouldn't be such a bad thing anyway. The BLS Handbook says they make 40K with a 2 year, which I think is pretty good, and have very good job growth.
Personally I wouldn't do that unless it was just a stepping stone to full-on PT. Maybe it's a pride thing, but I wouldn't want to wake up one day when I'm 40 or so and realize "assistant" is still part of my job title.
>>17113051
You should research schools with PT programs. The one closest to me, at least, has different tracks depending on what population you want to work with.
The exact undergrad major isn't too important as long as you take courses likely to be PT program prereqs, such as:
>chemistry
>anatomy
>physiology
>physics
I suggested HS because the program (again, at my school at least) makes you take those anyway.