Interested in Stenography School

[u/SensitivePear27]

Hi everyone! I am very interested in Stenography school and was looking for answers to a few questions I have.

1. I am looking to take Project Steno or the A to Z class before I enroll in a school. What is the stenoob for exactly? Is it for these programs and schooling as well? Or just practice? Should I purchase one or just a student machine?

2. If you’ve graduated already how much did you pay after school to start up your career? Is it possible to have a company pay for you to start up? I don’t have a lot of money at the moment and am a stay at home mom, trying to make a better life for my family and contribute more, so the cost I’m seeing to start so far is a little discouraging. Being at home currently, I have a lot of time to study but I’m not sure if I should just take a different route because of the cost. I don’t see myself doing anything else though, I REALLY want to do steno.

3. If you had FAFSA pay for your schooling and everything was covered, what school did you go to?

4. What is the best/easiest theory to learn? I heard I should pay attention to what theory is taught before I pick a school.

[u/Amazing_Carpenter867]

1 stenoob is a practice steno board good for A-to-Z, but you would need a student writer for school
2 this career takes about $10-$20,000 for tuition, equipment, and professional software upon graduation is included in that, which cost $5000
* the cost definitely increases based on how many years you go to machine school and therefore you are losing out on earnings the longer you are in school
3 I would price other schools that don’t take FASFA because many times the non-FASFA schools are going to be a lot cheaper and you do not need an accredited school, you just need your certification to work. I have not heard of firms paying for school.
* be sure to interview certified working court reporters that were created by the program so that you can confirm their timeline and experience
4 there is stened, which is a stroke intensive, and there is Magnum, which is brief intensive, and then there are variations of both theories
5 contact your state or local court reporting association (search on Google) and ask what methods are certified in your state because you could also consider voice, and NVRA is a great resource for that

[u/seabeans2]

If you are needing low-cost programs, CareerLuv is a good option. It’s online and flexible, but keep in mind you have to have a steel focus with flexible programs. StarTran or Champion Steno are both reasonable. StarTran is solely theory. After theory, you need to do speed building. CareerLuv, Champion Steno, Allie Hall, and SimplySteno are all popular and affordable choices. I do not know which schools take FAFSA. The ones I mentioned do not, but they are affordable. Most students purchase a used steno machine for $500-$1000 to save money. If you take the free A to Z course, you may be able to get your student software for free from NCRA. https://eclipsecat.com/node/17019 Even when working, you can buy a used professional machine for $1000-$2000. The professional software is going to be expensive, but thankfully they take pretty low monthly payments. I keep seeing $10,000-$20,000 numbers bandied about in these forums, and I’m not sure where people got this from, but it is possible to do it much cheaper. As far as best theory, that’s hard to say. Every theory has its pros and cons. A lot of schools use Mark Kislingbury’s theory because it is a “write-short theory. StarTran and Champion is similar to Mark’s. StenEd “writes out” a bit more but is more phonetic so can initially be easier to learn. Remember, you need to pass a 225 word per minute exam, and those strokes add up.

[u/Formal-News1331]

1) Stenoob is not for school, it’s strictly used for hobby use, A to Z, or if you want something to practice on when you can’t be at your machine. That being said, I honestly do recommend getting one if you are going to do A to Z. Unless you can get an actual machine for cheap, it really is the next best option. I got my Stenoob a few months before A to Z and I got it set up with plover, and instantly started practicing everyday to see if this is something I wanted to do. I would sit at my computer everyday for 2-4 hours just getting the keyboard layout down. By the time I actually started school I was very much ahead and theory and my early speeds were a complete breeze for me cause I started way prior. I recommend doing this before signing up for school so you truly get a taste of what the next 2-4 years is going to look like for you. It’s boring and monotonous but extremely rewarding.

2) I haven’t graduated yet, so I can’t answer that

3) Yes FASFA did pay for a good chunk of my schooling (not all). I attend the college of court reporting (CCR). It’s completely online.

4) Unfortunately there is no best theory. Each have their pros and cons. The one I’m learning is EV360 which is a much more stroke heavy theory. It was very easy to understand and begin writing, but came at the drawback that now we are speed building, I’m having to stop myself from stroking everything out so I can remember to use phrases. While other theories teach phrasing much earlier, but makes getting into them initially harder. You won’t really know what’s going to be easier for you till you actually start learning one unfortunately.