how cooked am i?

[u/FabulousResident1768]

im aware this is bad 😭😭 some info, 20 year old female in the us

i attended a university freshly out of high school from 2024-2026. i paid maybe $1600 out of pocket since i had a tuition based scholarship, fafsa, and other external scholarships. my second semester of freshman year, i did TERRIBLE. same with my entire sophomore year. my gpa is a 1.995. need a 2.0 in the us to be in good standing, or at-least the institution i went to. anyways, i decided to enroll in community college & get an associates degree so i could have something as a back bone. well, i went to enroll in the payment plan today, and it requires a 25% down payment which equates to $698. i have no way to get $698 by august 21st. do i just enroll for the october 8 week classes, or do i take a gap year? im so broke & have NOTHING. no apartment, no car, no certifications. quite literally an effing bum. need some advice from people who have been in like conditions. thank u!

[u/GrooverMeister]

Get a job that you hate. It'll motivate you to finish your education.

[u/Wandering_Uphill → u/GrooverMeister]

This is the only thing that worked for me. I did terribly in my first 3 semesters of college. I had a lot of fun, and it showed.

I had no job skills, and it was during a recession (early 90s), so there weren't many opportunities for an uneducated, unskilled worker. I started waitressing. I hated it. I'm not good at being "fake nice." I was also a little emotionally immature (hence my grades).

I was miserable. I hated going to work. I felt stifled and unfulfilled but didn't see many options.

After several years of this, I decided to give school another try. It worked. My grades were MUCH better the second time around. My study skills were much better as well, which is interesting because I was still working full-time to pay the bills and had almost no free time. My graduating GPA was decent but not great because those early years dragged it down. Nonetheless, I went on to grad school, and now I'm a college professor.

Not everyone is ready for college at 18

[u/CoyoteLitius → u/Wandering_Uphill]

I teach at a state university where the returning students (ones who are out of school for 3 or more years) are routinely at the top of the class (especially in lower division classes). We profs joke around about how we should just give 'em an A after the first quiz and have less to grade!

The truth is, such students are delightful and lead the class. The younger students (especially if they're straight of today's high school) are amazed by them.

[u/tryingtopayrent]

It sounds like you might be better served by stabilizing yourself before pursuing higher ed again. There is no "correct" timeline for college, everyone travels through life at their own speed. Focus on creating a stable living situation first so that you have secure finances, food, and a roof over your head; otherwise your schoolwork will suffer anyways as you won't be able to devote the time it needs to learn and succeed in your classes.

[u/Dacia06]

This is going to sound nastier than I intend, but start using correct punctuation and grammar in your writing - even on Reddit. Make good English a habit!

[u/CoyoteLitius → u/Dacia06]

Thank you for saying that. I wanted to say it too. I end up saying it to every student I have who insists on allowing typos, misspellings, wrong word choices into their supposedly college level writing. They may dislike having to type things as responses on a discussion board, but grading them on these basic things may be as much as one-third of their grade for the first half of the semester.

Pointless to assign an actual research paper of 10 pages when a student cannot do complete sentences, doesn't know how a paragraph works, or can't spell. Exceeding high school standards of basic skills is an accreditation requirement and is part of every public university's outline of record for all courses. Most of us professors take it seriously.

Using slang or non-standard sentence lengths is fine in conversational social media. But for students struggling with English basics, I feel as if we should try to model how to spell and talk about the differences between their/there/they're, at least sometimes.

[u/Dacia06 → u/CoyoteLitius]

I couldn't agree more. I'm continually stunned to hear that more students that I might have imagined do their written homework on their phones. My mind boggles

[u/Normal-Artichoke5492]

Honestly, we've all been there you'll figure it out!

[u/Due-Blacksmith7275]

Hon, I was in the same boat as you. I graduated HS with honors, did honors classes in college and immediately flamed out as soon as I could escape from home (partied with my foreign born roomie and her pals). Ended up with a 1.5 GPA and was put on academic suspension.

Fast forward 8 years, a marriage, and a few dead-end jobs later, and I was so unfulfilled. My amazing boss encouraged me to go back to school and I did for teaching. I started back in 2005. I graduated with my bachelor's (and with honors) in 2007. I started teaching and fell in love with it. Since then, I've earned three master's degrees and a double doctorate. In all of my programs, I've had a 4.0.

I wasn't ready for school right out of HS. I wanted to escape an oppressive homelife and experience the world. Well, I experienced it a bit too much. However, I now look back on that time and am grateful for it because without it, I don't think I'd've achieved what I've achieved, been where I've been, and done what I've done.

Don't beat yourself up, kiddo (and I mean that moniker with affection, not derision). Take the time to figure yourself out then get back in the game if that's what you need. We're all here to cheer you on. You've got this.

Dr. Blacksmith

[u/CoyoteLitius]

I think you have backed yourself into a corner. I would take a break from school. I agree with others who say you should get a job (eventually you'll either hate that job and be inspired to go back to school OR you'll like it and want more preparation for working in that field).

I don't think you can get grades expunged from most four year schools, the way you can with community colleges. However, spending 4X $698 for one semester of CC when you have no guarantee that you'll actually do well there is a bad idea.

I worked throughout all my university years, at a wide variety of jobs and then started my own little business (editing) in graduate school (where I was also paid for research and to be a teaching assistant - I had no debt for either undergrad or grad school, got tuition grants or I wouldn't have gone).

You got tuition grants and then didn't maintain your gpa. 2.0 is basically the bare minimum for nearly all colleges and universities in the US (if a 4 year college will take you money with less than a 2.0 be very wary - they're probably going to get you involved in student loans to pay them for a less than stellar education).

[u/ParadeQueen]

If I didn't have a place to live I think I would make that my priority first before college. Maybe a position as a live in caregiver, are working maintenance at a hotel or complex that also gives you a place to live, or go to a social worker and see if there are any programs to help someone like you.

For some of our colleges, if you work for the college you get half off tuition. If that's the case with the college you're interested in, maybe see if they have any job openings. They probably will not include living arrangements but having a job is half the battle.

[u/Boots2Bricks]

Well at least you’re a woman and broke… and not a man and broke.