![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I want to assure you all I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. This week has been very hectic. About a wee and a half ago I got the letter from the college saying I’d been accepted, and ever since then it’s been a whirlwind of research, meetings, and preparations. Here’s a condensed version, with the names made into letters in case folks would rather their names not be posted.
The core of it started with a call from my advisor at the American Indian Student Services wanting to know if I was still coming to school since I didn’t have a course schedule yet. I explained that I’d been told I couldn’t even see a career councilor until I was accepted into the UW system, and that had just happened. She made me an appointment and a few days later there I was in the AISS office.
It was great! Everyone was so friendly there. It’s a small place, but J gave me the tour anyways. There’s three computers for us to use, a fridge, a microwave, a small library and several comfy chairs. I can’t believe they got so much into the small set of offices, but it’s nice anyways. I asked J about how welcome I would be being paler and sans card, and she and Ms D both assured me there were many folks in their organization who struggling with racism in their families keeping them from their tribal family connection, and so I wasn’t alone in my struggle. They also assured me I would be very welcome and made me promise to use the AISS center as often as I could. I can’t even express how grateful I was to feel so included. It will be nice to have a place to come as a safe space like that.
That’s one of the coolest things about this college. There are lots of safe spaces available no matter gender, nationality, culture, or sexual preference. There’s even a multicultural space for students to come together as well. The school tried very hard to be fully inclusive, at least from what I can tell so far, even down to vegan food option in the campus restaurants. I still think for budget sake I’ll make my own meals to bring most days, but it’s good to know there are choices.
Another reassuring experience was my visit to the SAC (student accessibility center) office. There are so many more support resources available then there were when I went to school 20 years ago. Even if my ADD and dyslexia had been diagnosed then, I doubt the teaching college in WV would have had much in the way of help for me. Now I’ll have access to a note taker (a person in class who gets paid to make copies of their own notes for students who can’t take notes and listen to the instructor at the same time well), free audio versions of all of my school books (I wonder if I could convince SAC I required a women with a sexy accent to record my book as a study aid :P), and extra time and a private place for test taking. I’m looking into DVRs (digital voice recorders) so I can record and save all of my lectures to hear over again. Ms A, my advisor at SAC, says most professors will have not problem with me recording them like that, especially with the note from SAC explaining my needs.
One downer is being that I applied for school later than most, meaning also applied for FA later than most, my financial aid is limited for the first year at least. I got a decent sized pell grant, a local WI grant, and was offered two Stafford loans. The smaller one is government subsidized so no interested until 6 months after graduation…the larger loan is not. The trouble is with tuition going up and having to pay child care for the afternoon class I had to take and the days the kids are off school and I’m not, I have no choice but to take both loans this year. From what I can tell next year (if I keep my grades up) I’ll have access to several other scholarships and such, so I can likely avoid too much in loans after this, but the first year is tough. I’ll know for sure when I meet with the FA councilor next week.
This week I still have one more meeting with SAC and a meeting later with the career development center to help me figure out what degree best suits my skills and interests. I know the kinds of things I like to do because I do them all in various volunteer situations, but it’d be nice to get a degree that would allow me to do some of it and actually make a living. We’ll see. I’ll know more after the meetings tomorrow.
Well I got so research to do on lunch ideas for school so I can menu and budget, so I’m heading out. I’ll keep ya’ll posted on the college adventure as things unfold.
The core of it started with a call from my advisor at the American Indian Student Services wanting to know if I was still coming to school since I didn’t have a course schedule yet. I explained that I’d been told I couldn’t even see a career councilor until I was accepted into the UW system, and that had just happened. She made me an appointment and a few days later there I was in the AISS office.
It was great! Everyone was so friendly there. It’s a small place, but J gave me the tour anyways. There’s three computers for us to use, a fridge, a microwave, a small library and several comfy chairs. I can’t believe they got so much into the small set of offices, but it’s nice anyways. I asked J about how welcome I would be being paler and sans card, and she and Ms D both assured me there were many folks in their organization who struggling with racism in their families keeping them from their tribal family connection, and so I wasn’t alone in my struggle. They also assured me I would be very welcome and made me promise to use the AISS center as often as I could. I can’t even express how grateful I was to feel so included. It will be nice to have a place to come as a safe space like that.
That’s one of the coolest things about this college. There are lots of safe spaces available no matter gender, nationality, culture, or sexual preference. There’s even a multicultural space for students to come together as well. The school tried very hard to be fully inclusive, at least from what I can tell so far, even down to vegan food option in the campus restaurants. I still think for budget sake I’ll make my own meals to bring most days, but it’s good to know there are choices.
Another reassuring experience was my visit to the SAC (student accessibility center) office. There are so many more support resources available then there were when I went to school 20 years ago. Even if my ADD and dyslexia had been diagnosed then, I doubt the teaching college in WV would have had much in the way of help for me. Now I’ll have access to a note taker (a person in class who gets paid to make copies of their own notes for students who can’t take notes and listen to the instructor at the same time well), free audio versions of all of my school books (I wonder if I could convince SAC I required a women with a sexy accent to record my book as a study aid :P), and extra time and a private place for test taking. I’m looking into DVRs (digital voice recorders) so I can record and save all of my lectures to hear over again. Ms A, my advisor at SAC, says most professors will have not problem with me recording them like that, especially with the note from SAC explaining my needs.
One downer is being that I applied for school later than most, meaning also applied for FA later than most, my financial aid is limited for the first year at least. I got a decent sized pell grant, a local WI grant, and was offered two Stafford loans. The smaller one is government subsidized so no interested until 6 months after graduation…the larger loan is not. The trouble is with tuition going up and having to pay child care for the afternoon class I had to take and the days the kids are off school and I’m not, I have no choice but to take both loans this year. From what I can tell next year (if I keep my grades up) I’ll have access to several other scholarships and such, so I can likely avoid too much in loans after this, but the first year is tough. I’ll know for sure when I meet with the FA councilor next week.
This week I still have one more meeting with SAC and a meeting later with the career development center to help me figure out what degree best suits my skills and interests. I know the kinds of things I like to do because I do them all in various volunteer situations, but it’d be nice to get a degree that would allow me to do some of it and actually make a living. We’ll see. I’ll know more after the meetings tomorrow.
Well I got so research to do on lunch ideas for school so I can menu and budget, so I’m heading out. I’ll keep ya’ll posted on the college adventure as things unfold.
From:
no subject