by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
Few people will tell you that there is anything bad about getting more education. The will to educate yourself is rarely the thing that stops someone from doing so, there are usually other obstacles that trip us up. Among those obstacles are time, money and direction.
If time is your issue, look into distance learning courses. Many schools offer online, self-paced programs that allow you to earn a degree in your spare time. If you need the classroom environment, FCCJ offers many evening programs at campuses all over town and JU also has a special program designed to accommodate the schedule of a busy professional.
If money is your excuse, talk to the institution you are interested in attending about their financial aid programs. Ask the human resource department at your work about any assistance they provide for college students. Even minimum wage employees at large corporations often have access to financial aid through their work that they don’t know about. There are many government subsidized programs that you may be eligible for that will pay for your classes and books 100%. When those programs aren’t available, student loans are among the easiest to get approved for and many scholarship and grant dollars go unclaimed.
The bottom line is, everyone, including financial institutions, know that you become worth more money, to your debtors and society, when you are better educated.
If you were to go back to school, what would you go for? Some college graduates wish to return to school to get a formal education in their field to replace that History degree they will never use. Others have never had the opportunity to go to college, but want to get a career going so that they can escape their low-paying jobs. That is why many go to trade schools such as Florida Technical College to learn a specialized craft at a fast pace and become a valuable asset to a particular industry while increasing their own net worth. More often than not, college graduates get paid better, promoted faster, and have more leverage when looking for work.
Florida Community College at Jacksonville needs to change the preposition in its name. Shouldn’t it be Florida Community College in Jacksonville? They’re the institution of higher learning, what do I know? Once known as Florida Junior College, FCCJ used to be called FJC, thus earning it the moniker Fruit Juice College. At the time it was seen as an insult, but fruit juice is actually quite good for you, and FCCJ doesn’t play nice with any easy acronym. (Finally Caught Car Jacking?) But FCCJ is definitely the place to start when you are looking for the quickest path to a degree. If you have less than two years of college under your belt, meet with a counselor at FCCJ first and let them show you how you can get back into the swing of scholastic aptitude.
FCCJ offers a great deal of programs, not just formal academic programs. From distance learning programs that utilize Internet and cable television to adult enrichment programs that can help you learn how to re-upholster furniture, design and create clothes, or other skills that don’t have anything to do with any type of degree. They also provide a great deal of classes in the evening, on the weekend, and at a various campuses on every side of Jacksonville.
Although FCCJ has recently announced that it intends to become a four year college, it is primarily a two year institution where you can attain an Associate of the Arts or Associate of Science degree. For more information go to fccj.edu. And when it comes to finding a good professor, always check out ratemyprofessors.com to make sure you have a good teacher because a bad teacher can mean bad things at FCCJ and their counselors aren’t allowed to provide that sort of opinionated information.
The first step to a formal four-year degree is attaining your AA from a community college. Although it is of course true that you could start at a four-year university such as the University of North Florida, these formal institutions aren’t always as able to work around a busy person’s schedule, and the professors are not always as sensitive to the fact that you have a full time life outside of full time school. If you intend to go to a four year university from the start, be prepared to make a full time commitment to that institution. However, if you get an AA from FCCJ, most area colleges, private and public, will accept you as a junior.
Although the name may seem tricky, this degree has nothing to do with art. “Liberal Arts” is a standard term for the meat of your education. Liberal Arts is the part of your degree that means you have a well-rounded education. It is because accredited colleges insist on a foundation in Liberal Arts that you can get a good job at Citi Financial with a degree in Art History. Although you majored in a fruity subject, they know you got some math in there somewhere too.
At FCCJ you can get through all of those required Algebra and Biology courses at a good price and around your own schedule, and then save the major-specific courses for the four year university.
If you have no intention of going to a four year university but you want enough of a formal education to get out there and get a good job, you should check out FCCJ’s AS programs to see if they have any degrees in a field that interests you. From one of the best nursing programs in the state to a standout culinary program and paralegal programs, you can make two years of education really work for you. In the AS programs you can skip much of the Liberal Arts stuff and just focus on the trade you really want to work. After completing one of these programs, FCCJ has professionals in place that help you foray into the professional field. Although they can’t guarantee you work, these programs have relationships with professional firms and can often help you get your foot in the door.
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