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Okay so I think enough time has passed that I can get this out without it completely depressing me.
I am on my last classroom quarter of a physical therapy assisting program. After this, it is two 7-week internships, and then graduation! (and then the board exam...and moving and finding a job and getting licensed...but whatever about those things. Focus on the graduation for now.)
So that's two 7-week internships, which makes 14 weeks I'll be out of my main work. I'm hoping to keep doing the paper routes for the little bit of income they provide which will cover most of my bills, but it won't cover things like food and gas. I have 4 weeks of vacation pay saved up but that's still 10 weeks, two and a half months, that I have to figure out how to finance.
I had been saving up for this time, but over the summer we got hit with not one but two car transmission deaths as well as some pop-up medical expenses. Kissed $3500 goodbye in about two months, which was $3500 I was hoping to use for internship time.
Then in August my husband said he was leaving me. Six years of marriage (9 years total together) and he decided he was done. He said he didn't want to fix things and said he didn't love me any more. Later he said I was hateful, selfish, unable to show love and never would be able to, and said my attempts to fix the marriage over the summer were mediocre and annoying. Well ouch. He moved out in September. He started posting on Craigslist in the men seeking men section shortly after, so I guess I was never giving him what he really wanted anyway. He also called me a bitch and said I was unkind after I told him to stop harassing me about signing the divorce papers last month (because I was waiting like four days for a day off so I would have time to go wait in line at the bank for a notary, and clearly that delay was simply unacceptable). Anyway the papers are signed and it still hurts a lot but I've been living on my own for two months now and haven't starved to death and am not totally broke so that's something (also doing therapy and support groups).
Point is, his income is now out of the picture as well. I'm okay on my own for regular expenses for now, but I'm not going to be able to replenish my savings enough by January to cover the time I need off work.
On top of this, I'm finding out one of my internships may be an hour and a half drive away. That will cost a lot of gas and could screw me out of the paper route if the schedule isn't compatible, so I may be facing those seven weeks with zero income (the other internship has been confirmed and is local, so there should be no trouble maintaining the paper route job while doing that). Crossing fingers that my clinical coordinator finds something closer, but there are three cohorts in our school alone interning that quarter so it's a lot of competition to find placements.
I've looked for scholarships and grants. Most stuff is either for high school students or students making less than I do. I found one $500 scholarship I am applying for but that's the only one I've found so far that I qualify for.
I'm filling out a petition for special circumstances so I can be re-evaluated because of the separation and pending divorce, but I suspect I'm still making too much money to qualify for anything. Worst-case scenario is that I can modify my loans and borrow more money, but I would prefer to exhaust all other options first.
I did open an Etsy shop but it's jewelry which is almost an impossible market to break into and I don't have that much time to dedicate to it anyway, so that was really just a desperation move.
At least for the local internship, I can probably keep working at my main job one day a week and then just have one day off to do chores and homework.
I'm working the two jobs and doing school right now, so my schedule is basically packed at least until finals in December so I don't really have time to take on a third job.
So, like, if anyone has any creative ideas on good sources of financial aid I haven't thought of yet, throw them my way, please?
TLDR: I need creative solutions to find money to cover 10 weeks of temporary unemployment while I do unpaid internships.
ETA: Random tax question: Since the divorce won't be finalized until 2016 (afaik, he hasn't even filed yet even though he was relentlessly harassing me about signing the papers), what would I put for my status when filing 2015's taxes next year? Would I put married since it's 2015, or ...?
I am on my last classroom quarter of a physical therapy assisting program. After this, it is two 7-week internships, and then graduation! (and then the board exam...and moving and finding a job and getting licensed...but whatever about those things. Focus on the graduation for now.)
So that's two 7-week internships, which makes 14 weeks I'll be out of my main work. I'm hoping to keep doing the paper routes for the little bit of income they provide which will cover most of my bills, but it won't cover things like food and gas. I have 4 weeks of vacation pay saved up but that's still 10 weeks, two and a half months, that I have to figure out how to finance.
I had been saving up for this time, but over the summer we got hit with not one but two car transmission deaths as well as some pop-up medical expenses. Kissed $3500 goodbye in about two months, which was $3500 I was hoping to use for internship time.
Then in August my husband said he was leaving me. Six years of marriage (9 years total together) and he decided he was done. He said he didn't want to fix things and said he didn't love me any more. Later he said I was hateful, selfish, unable to show love and never would be able to, and said my attempts to fix the marriage over the summer were mediocre and annoying. Well ouch. He moved out in September. He started posting on Craigslist in the men seeking men section shortly after, so I guess I was never giving him what he really wanted anyway. He also called me a bitch and said I was unkind after I told him to stop harassing me about signing the divorce papers last month (because I was waiting like four days for a day off so I would have time to go wait in line at the bank for a notary, and clearly that delay was simply unacceptable). Anyway the papers are signed and it still hurts a lot but I've been living on my own for two months now and haven't starved to death and am not totally broke so that's something (also doing therapy and support groups).
Point is, his income is now out of the picture as well. I'm okay on my own for regular expenses for now, but I'm not going to be able to replenish my savings enough by January to cover the time I need off work.
On top of this, I'm finding out one of my internships may be an hour and a half drive away. That will cost a lot of gas and could screw me out of the paper route if the schedule isn't compatible, so I may be facing those seven weeks with zero income (the other internship has been confirmed and is local, so there should be no trouble maintaining the paper route job while doing that). Crossing fingers that my clinical coordinator finds something closer, but there are three cohorts in our school alone interning that quarter so it's a lot of competition to find placements.
I've looked for scholarships and grants. Most stuff is either for high school students or students making less than I do. I found one $500 scholarship I am applying for but that's the only one I've found so far that I qualify for.
I'm filling out a petition for special circumstances so I can be re-evaluated because of the separation and pending divorce, but I suspect I'm still making too much money to qualify for anything. Worst-case scenario is that I can modify my loans and borrow more money, but I would prefer to exhaust all other options first.
I did open an Etsy shop but it's jewelry which is almost an impossible market to break into and I don't have that much time to dedicate to it anyway, so that was really just a desperation move.
At least for the local internship, I can probably keep working at my main job one day a week and then just have one day off to do chores and homework.
I'm working the two jobs and doing school right now, so my schedule is basically packed at least until finals in December so I don't really have time to take on a third job.
So, like, if anyone has any creative ideas on good sources of financial aid I haven't thought of yet, throw them my way, please?
TLDR: I need creative solutions to find money to cover 10 weeks of temporary unemployment while I do unpaid internships.
ETA: Random tax question: Since the divorce won't be finalized until 2016 (afaik, he hasn't even filed yet even though he was relentlessly harassing me about signing the papers), what would I put for my status when filing 2015's taxes next year? Would I put married since it's 2015, or ...?
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