Internship Update and Scholarships

Today I finally finished my controlled vocabulary project (see previous post). It definitely took a bit of time, and I know I spent well over ten hours on it over the past week and a half. But I feel that it was good experience and excellent practice of skills I haven't had much opportunity to exercise in real-world situations yet. So what's next on the task list? More work with Google Analytics (a tool I'm glad to have discovered through this internship--I may consider using it for the website of the library I work in), creating a guide on posting Assets on the staff intranet site (Assets are a custom content-type on MCFL's Drupal platform), and reviewing and updating a staff Drupal guide. The Drupal guide is pretty extensive, and even my site supervisor thinks that it may be an ongoing project that carries over to future interns because the guide is so large. These three tasks will be more than enough to keep me busy until my next on-site day next week. I'm very much looking forward to it because I will be shadowing a couple of people and attending the Webmasters Team meeting. I anticipate a day full of experiencing new things and learning from the MCFL staff--fun stuff!

I've also been applying to scholarships, some offered by the school I attend and some offered by my program's department. I know a thing or two about scholarships because I collect and distribute scholarship information in the library where I work and the campus it's located on. I haven't really applied for many scholarships until now because my employer offers a tuition reimbursement program that I've been taking advantage of in conjunction with student loans. However, I will only be taking one class (three units) during my last semester, which will not qualify me for financial aid. For those who are not aware, you must be attending school at least half-time (6 semester units for undergraduates, 4 semester units for graduates) in order to receive federal student aid. Without the student loans, I will have to pay for my last semester out-of-pocket until I get the tuition costs reimbursed after the semester is over. Financial aid is not a glamorous issue, but it sure can have big effects on one's ability to attend school. By the time all my applications are in, I will have applied for over fifteen scholarships. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will get something.

This weekend, I will be celebrating Swedish Easter with my family. I'll do my best to remember to take pictures so I can post about all the good food!

6 Days Left...

Thank you Mom and Papa (and my grandparents!) for paying for my education in the past. I cannot express how blessed I feel that you wanted to take care of that for me and provide that for me.

And I have discovered something: the student loans are such a headache! There is so much paperwork to take care of and things that I am told I must do in order to receive the loan. I don't like the feeling that the school is waiting until the last minute to finalize everything. I start classes on Monday, and I still have not found out when the loan money will be disbursed for my tuition. Only last Monday I was sent an email (everything is done online nowadays) to complete my Master Promisory Note saying that I promise to repay the loan. Is this the norm? Is everything taken care of right before the semester starts? I would rather have had this done by July 1 to make sure everything was taken care of long before class starts.

I suppose I should have expected the paperwork and the red tape. Education is a large expense, right up there with houses and cars. It's going to probably be the second or third-largest investment you make in your entire life (depending of course on what schools you choose and how high of a degree you go for). The only difference between school and your house or car is that your education can never be taken away. Whatever you get out of class, whatever you take away from your program, that is yours forever. Unless you don't attend class at all and fail out your first term, you will come away with something. You will have more than you started with. No other investment will give you that guarantee. How incredible.

Farmor, once again I hear you telling me "Education is something that no one will ever be able to take from you." I thought I understood you when you told me this over 10 years ago, but I didn't have the context of adulthood through which to view it. I think going through the recession for the past couple of years makes this even more poignant. Your house can foreclose, you can lose your job, and you can be thousands of dollars in debt (as so many people right now have gone through), but the collection agency will never be able to take back what you have learned. Even when you have nothing material, you will always have your education.

Starting Monday, I'm investing in education.