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GI Bill Dilemma
#1
So... here's the deal.

Most of us probably already know that the Post 9/11 stipend for online students is a bit of a rip off - $700ish a month or so. By contrast, my local housing rate is one of the highest in the country at about $2100 a month. That was for the most part fine for undergrad, when I could leverage things by taking one in-person class while completing the rest of my degree online, and get the best of both worlds basically.

But now I'm looking at grad school, and I've got a dilemma.

Option A) Attend grad school locally --- oops, nope, sorry. I don't actually qualify for admission into that program, so that option's out.

Option B) Attend WGU. Total GI Bill payout for my remaining 21 months will be about $12000 for tuition & fees, plus about $16000 for housing and books stipends. 21 months at WGU is slightly less than 4 terms, so I might actually be out some tuition money if I take a full two years. Theoretically, it might be possible to finish WGU faster than that, but I don't want to plan on it.

Option C) Enroll in a second undergraduate degree locally, taking a full course load. 21 months of benefits is about 6 semesters. Tuition and fees per semester is about $3500 x 6 = $21000. Then 21 months of local housing & books stipend would be about $47000. That puts me about $40,000 ahead of the online plan. *THEN* since the tuition at WGU is so low, I can just pay out of pocket using the GI Bill money I've banked, and even if it takes two full years ($12k), I'm *still* money ahead on the whole plan by about $28k, plus I'll get an extra degree in the bargain.


Pros and cons:

Pros:

Option B would be faster, simpler, and would get me qualified in a career field that I really want to be in sooner.

Option C is about $40k extra money, which would be *really*, *really* useful. Also, I could pretty much pick anything I wanted to major in for my second degree, so I could have quite a bit of fun with it since I won't really need that degree for anything in particular.

Cons:

Option B feels like I'm not making the most of my benefits.

Option C would entail either being enrolled in two schools simultaneously (probably a bad plan unless I'm not working, which is not ideal either - this only really makes financial sense if the GI Bill money is *extra* rather than something I rely on for living expenses), or delaying grad school by at least a year (I can bank enough money in 3 semesters to pay for WGU, press pause on the second undergrad until WGU is done, and then go back to the local school later). The pressure to graduate wouldn't necessarily be there for the second degree, so it wouldn't be as stressful as the first one has been, but that doesn't mean it'll be any less *work*.


Complicating factor: If I wait to go to WGU until after my GI Bill is used up, I can probably qualify for an additional $15000 or so in grant money for my graduate school. I qualify for it already, really, but since it's a military program they won't pay unless you've already exhausted your GI Bill benefits.

So... what to do, what to do...
DSST | Astronomy - 68 | Anthropology - 73 | HTYH - 450 | Intro to Comp. - 454 | Religions - 459 | Lifespan Dev. - 419 | Counseling - 409 | Substance Abuse - 456 | Geography - 463 | Environment & Humanity - 463 | CLEP | A & I Lit - 75 | Humanities - 57 | Psych - 64 | Western Civ I - 57 | College Comp. - 65 | College Math - 61 | Ed. Psych - 65 | US History I - 68 | Soc Sci & History - 69 | Western Civ II - 53 | US History II - 61 | UExcel | College Writing - A | Social Psych - B | Abnormal Psych - B | Cultural Div. - B | Juvenile Delinquency - B | World Pop. - A | Psych of Adulthood & Aging - A | Straighterline | Intro to Philosophy - 75% | American Gov. - 89% | Macroecon | Microecon | Bus. Communication | Bus. Ethics | Cultural Anth. - 96% |

AAS in Intelligence Operations Studies - Graduated 2015!
BA in Social Sciences & Humanities from TESU - in progress

186 credits and counting...
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Messages In This Thread
GI Bill Dilemma - by Leherself - 01-28-2016, 06:02 PM
GI Bill Dilemma - by gingerbeefE - 01-30-2016, 04:29 AM
GI Bill Dilemma - by johnjaxs - 01-30-2016, 09:39 AM
GI Bill Dilemma - by davewill - 01-30-2016, 10:05 AM
GI Bill Dilemma - by Leherself - 01-30-2016, 10:42 PM
GI Bill Dilemma - by davewill - 01-31-2016, 12:26 AM
GI Bill Dilemma - by Leherself - 01-31-2016, 03:15 AM
GI Bill Dilemma - by dfrecore - 01-31-2016, 12:59 PM
GI Bill Dilemma - by davewill - 01-31-2016, 02:03 PM
GI Bill Dilemma - by Leherself - 01-31-2016, 04:32 PM

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