TESC Living Expense Loans

[CLEP101]

I keep reading that you are applying for retail jobs. What else have you applied for? Retail sucks right now, but everybody needs pizza. Walk around downtown with a bucket and offer to wash the windows of every single store you walk by, $2 per window or something like that. You have two hands and two feet and a brain, use it to put yourself ahead of the other guy.

Seriously here, you are wanting to go massively in debt to get a degree which will only check off the "has a degree" block on resumes. You are doing this on the HOPE that you get into a Fed program and get a stipend to pay off the loan, and the HOPE that Murphy doesn't become your permanent roommate and car passenger.

You are setting yourself up to do serious acrobatics on very thin ice, because if ANYTHING goes wrong you can instantly find yourself screwed and still at least a decade in debt.

I've got a better plan, if you are game for it. Join the Air Force. Heck, any branch, but given your goals, join the Air Force. You sound like a go-getter from the start and given your background (esp. the management part) you sound like a perfect fit. Here's what you get:

• Guaranteed promotion through E-4 (assuming you aren't a screwup, which you've already demonstrated you aren't)
  
• Free room & board (one person to a room is by far the norm, and AF chow is the envy of the world) through E-4 or so, then housing allowance + food allowance to live off base (in addition to your base pay, btw allowances are TAX FREE)
  
• 100% Tuition Assistance through a Master's degree
  
• Post-9/11 GI Bill (36 months paid college)
  
• Multiple career fields in Computers and Computer Security
  
• Unlimited free CLEPs/etc (the first time you take each test is free)
  
• Practically get an automatic Associate's Degree in your career field (Community College of the Air Force)
  

Most importantly, you get a MASSIVE support network, both on and off base. Mentoring is part of the deal, and there are TONS of opportunities for personal growth both in and out of your job in areas you never thought about before.

Plus get into one of the below fields, get your degree or two, and then slide right into a cushy contractor gig working at the same desk, or apply to be a federal civil servant in the field.

Here's some job descriptions for you with links to full descriptions of job functions, training, etc from About.com. Basically Programmers write the code, Operators implement the systems/networks hosting the code, and Cyber Surety secures the systems and network. I am a 3D0X4, PM me if you have any questions at all.



I'm going to tell you like I would tell an Airman -- you can set yourself up for a world of hurt going down the road you are contemplating, with a LOT of unknown variables not accounted for. There are always other options. I'd hate to see you get screwed in the long term for something you HOPE will work out, without leaving yourself any pad for things to go wrong.

Like I said, if interested in the AF feel free to PM me, I work in the field you are interested in and can answer lots of questions about military and federal info assurance.

:iagree:
I'm with dcan on this, The Air Force does have the best food and live like they're spoiled - that's about it:roflol:

I would give you the same advice dcan just did. On a serious note, don't be Army haters, they will probably take you even with a misdemeanor. However, you choices of jobs will be limited. If you have debt, it doesn't affect you joining, it will only affect the level of security clearance you'd get and job choices.
If you are concerned about going away, why don't you just join the Reserves for any branch. Go off to trainig, and then come back home. you'll get your Work paycheck and the reserve paycheck. On top of a bonus, and Tuition Assistance, and GI Bill. Don't have to enlist for that long either, check into the 2 or 3 year programs. That way you can keep your girl because she'll be living with you at home, not off in a military base far away.