Two weeks. Just two weeks away. In two weeks, I will be on a plane to take the journey of a lifetime.
I feel like with finals week approaching, one more visit home this weekend and my work schedule, the trip is going to sneak up on me sooner than I think.
I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the past year and everything that’s changed. Looking back caused me to dig through old documents and stories, and in the process I found the personal statement that I wrote for the School of Mass Comm’s scholarship application last February.
At the beginning of the year, I had a very specific plan in mind for how things were going to go.
I thought that I would be spending my days working as News Editor at The Oracle. I would be living on campus, and I would keep my car so I could try to snag an off-campus internship at the Tampa Bay Times. I wouldn’t need any financial support from my parents, because I had a job and enough financial aid to survive. I would get A’s in all of my classes, which were finally starting to become more interesting and focused on the career I was looking for. I would finally get everything I was looking for.
Things didn’t go according to plan, however.
For financial reasons, the car stayed at home for another semester, and I ended up moving to and off-campus apartment that provided rent at a cheaper rate. I was working endless days and nights at the paper, and ended up resigning from the position after the first month of the semester. My grades were slipping, and Tampa Bay Times said they were looking for someone who had more internship experience. I spent the rest of fall playing catch-up, trying to figure out what it was I truly wanted out of my time at USF.
The answer had seemed so easy the previous year. I walked onto campus, and in a matter of months I was getting bylines at the paper, an internship on campus and even a Hearst Award nomination. I couldn’t believe all that I accomplished in the first year, and at the same time I couldn’t understand why I seemed so lost in my second. I guess you could call it a “sophomore slump” of sorts, but I knew I needed to decide what it was I wanted to walk out of the university knowing and being ready to take-on as a career, because the perfect plan I had for myself didn’t seem to fit anymore.
About mid-way through the semester, I had been invited to an interview with the internship coordinator for The Dallas Morning News, one of the largest newspapers in the state of Texas. I walked in with my resume, clips and a nervous smile. We spoke about the past year and everything that had happened, and what it was I wanted out of the next opportunity that I pursued. The internship coordinator said he liked me and thought I was talented, but that it didn’t seem like I have very much confidence in myself.
In the moment, I was stunned to hear such a bold statement made by someone I had just met 20 minutes prior, but I thought about it, and I realized that he was right.
I wasn’t very confident in myself back then. I had heard all of these things about how I was a talented writer and a good student, but I never really believed and of it. I had stayed at The Oracle as long as I had for the learning opportunity, but then it got to the point where I wasn’t learning very much anymore. My classes were challenging me, finally, but I couldn’t give the time to them that I truly needed to because of other activities. I realized that I wasn’t doing things for myself anymore, but that I was doing them because they became routine. I needed to find something that challenged me, but at the same time helped me grow and made me feel prepared to go out into the job market — a fate that was coming much sooner than I had realized.
So I took some time. I did a lot more personal writing. I talked with friends, family and professors about new opportunities to pursue. As time went on, my grades were back up to where they should be. Applications for jobs and internships were being sent out. My finances were starting to improve. I was starting to get everything back together.
Things have changed quite a bit for me since last fall. I landed a new position at the USF Alumni Association, working in the communications department. While here, I get writing experience for the magazine the Association puts out, and I also get to work on the website and even some graphic design. I got my car back, and my grades have stayed at A’s as we approach midterms season. I’m also a contributing writing for USA Today College, so in my spare time, I’m able to get national bylines that I can later put into my portfolio.
This summer, I’m planning a volunteer abroad trip to Ghana to work in community development, and I’ll also be a Peer Mentor in the Honors College to help out incoming freshman, and also make financial ends meet. As the next school year progresses, I’ll be able to take classes that not only interest me, but that provide me with skills I’ve come to realize I’ll need once I graduate, such as marketing, business and graphic design.
I don’t have everything figured out, I’ll make that clear right away. What I am finding myself doing more this semester though is exploring the possibilities that I have. I’m not confining myself to The Oracle, or to that one internship, or to that one place for a career. I’m realizing that I can go and do just about anything that I set my mind to. I’ve considered becoming a higher education reporter, or working in a communications department for a non-profit organization. I’ve also considered the idea of joining the Peace Corps one day, or pursuing more than one degree while in graduate school. I know whatever work I pursue, I want to continue telling good stories, and to be doing working that makes a difference in the world.
I’ve learned this year that I don’t have to limit myself to one specific plan to accomplish that, and that anything can happen. While print journalism is my true passion, I’ve realized that in the digital age, there’s hundreds upon thousands of ways to continue this career path and still remain relevant to my audience. Receiving a scholarship from the School of Mass Communications would provide me the flexibility to continue my education and see what it is I’m going to go after when I graduate, and give me the freedom to continue exploring my possibilities.
This past Thursday, I was awarded the John and Jerry Wing Alexander Endowed Scholarship for this personal statement, and I was shocked that I received such an honor. I will definitely help with next year, as my student loan debt is almost at the level of a really nice car. It also makes me less reliant on heavy work hours, so I will be able to keep a balanced schedule next year.
This summer after I get back from Ghana, I’ll still be writing for USA Today College and working at the Alumni Association. I’ll have two summer classes on top of two jobs and the writing gig, and I’m going to be busier than ever. I’m super excited for all of it though, because I’m pursuing a variety of different opportunities, and that means a variety of good stories to tell.
Tonight, I watched a documentary on YouTube called “The College Conspiracy”, and it was probably one of the most interesting 60 minutes that I have watched in a while.
There’s just something about documentaries that gets me so interested, and it hits even closer to home when it’s on something that affects me directly, such as the costs of education.
The documentary discussed how many student after they graduate high school go off to college with the assumed idea that if they get their degree, they will automatically get a job afterwards. Not even that, but that said job will automatically pay more than if they had entered the work force directly after high school. The documentary pointed out that student loan debt is now higher than credit card debt, and that students are being blind-sighted post-graduation by have no job, no savings, and massive heap of debt that is supposed to be paid back within 10 years.
As for myself, I’m trying so hard to be a little more conscientious about how much debt I’m piling on.
My estimated cost of attendance for the 2012-2013 school year at USF is about $20,390.
The break down of that is this:
Books and Supplies $1,000.00 Personal Expenses $2,500.00 Room and Board $8,960.00 Tuition and Fees $6,330.00 Transportation $1,600.00 Total: $20,390.00
When I saw this number a year ago, I thought that it was typical. According to “The College Conspiracy”, which was released in 2011 by the National Inflation Association, the average cost of college is $27,293 per year. I guess that puts USF below the average, but I don’t see that lasting a whole lot longer.
I remember watching news headlines towards the end of my senior year of high school that talked about budget cuts to universities all across the state of Florida. Even worse, talks of tuition hikes were out there as well.
Imagine what this type of news must sound like to a soon-to-graduate high school senior, who spent months on college apps, applying for scholarships, and had just received her financial aid package for the upcoming school year.
Man, did that aid package scare me the first time I saw it. I was offered the max amount in Federal Stafford loans, but it was all unsubsidized. For those who aren’t familiar with student loans, unsubsidized means that I have a 6.8% interest rate the begins the second they give me the loan.
I was also offered my academic scholarship ($2,000 a year), as well as the Florida Bright Futures award ($100 a credit hour or on average $3000 a year).
The rest of my aid was met by the form of Parent PLUS loans, which is a loan that a student’s parent of legal guardian can take out in order to help their student pay for school. My parents had also signed my sister and I up for the Florida Prepaid College plan, and that came to good use as well.
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My goal when I decided I wanted to go to college was to do so debt free. Little did I realize that it took a lot more than just saying I wanted to accomplish it for it to actually happen. My first year at USF is going to continue on this way, but next year I’m going to look at cutting costs wherever I possibly can.
I don’t intend to buy a meal plan, they’re required for first year students at USF, and I honestly believe I can eat a lot cheaper by going to the grocery store once a week. I plan to get all of my books online and early next year, so that the costs can be cheaper than they were at the bookstore. I’m also planning on applying for a lot more scholarships, hopefully some that apply to my major.
I don’t want to be part of the overwhelming student loan crisis. “The College Conspiracy” reminded me how crazy it is getting for students who insist on going to the best schools not matter what the cost. I’m very glad that I chose USF, a public in-state school, over other universities I had been considering. I feel I am learning a lot and experiencing many new things in Tampa.
More than anything, I’m praying these opportunities and learning experiences help me find a job once I graduate.
A large part of the field in journalism is simply gaining experience. A guest speaker from the Tampa Bay Times talked about what it’s like looking for a job post-graduation, and one of the things he said was that a lot of times it’s not about your GPA or your test scores. In journalism, it’s about the clips and the experience that you can present to employers.
So every time I contact someone for an interview, every time I stay up late writing a story on deadline, and every time I see my byline on the front page… I hope I am doing the right thing.
I guess that’s all I can really do while in school: work my ass off, and hope for the best.
Driven By Daydreams 