Back to school?

I am so excited. No, ecstatic is more like it! In fact, if there was an even more dramatic word for happy, that would be me at this very moment. Things seem to be falling into place and I have some great news! Remember a few weeks back when I finally figured out what I want to do with my career? Well it might all be starting and I might be going back to school much, much sooner than I originally thought!

Lately I've been struggling with the feeling that I'm wasting time career-wise. I know that the longer I wait to go back to school, the longer it will be until I am actually doing what I want to be doing. Originally, I was not open-minded about going to school online, having done that before and not enjoying it, but the more I thought about it I realized that type of schooling might be great for classes in web design/graphic design. It will surely be challenging but it will require me to use all my own software and figure things out a little more on my own (which is definitely the way I learn best). On top of all this is the added benefit of being able to start school now, versus waiting until we move somewhere more permanent, which would delay me at least another year.

So after deciding that I will do my schooling online, I began to research, because for the sake of my future career, I need to do everything the right way. Not only did I research different schools and programs, but also the type of training I should acquire in order to reach my goals (such as a BA, AA, Certificate, etc). The problem I kept running into was the separation of web design (categorized in technology) and graphic design (categorized in art) - I want training in both! Also, there were so many programs that required me to take classes completely unrelated to my future career goals, which is not something I want to do. Yesterday, I stumbled across the answer to all these problems: The perfect program with the perfect schedule and timeline, encompassing everything I need for a successful career. Since my discovery, everything has fallen into place. Seriously, I'm not kidding.

I won't say that this is 100% decided yet, but if all goes my way, here is the plan... In the next few months, I will start attending online classes through Sessions College for Professional Design (a nationally ranked and accredited online institution) and will work towards attaining my Advanced Professional Certificate in Web Design with a dual concentration in Advanced Web Design and Graphic Design. Getting a certificate is the perfect way for me to gain the training I need without having to take the general classes needed for a BA, not to mention that getting a certificate is much faster and cheaper! Plus I always have my BS in Business to fall back on if I need to.

This program will take me roughly a year and a half to complete and to graduate I will have to complete a Portfolio Review, where I submit 20 pieces of work (both web and graphic design). I have had a chance to look at a detailed breakdown of each course I will take and (no exaggeration) every single one relates directly to my career goal. It's like this program was designed just for me! But wait it gets better.

I spoke to a counselor this morning about financial aid... Turns out this school is pre-approved through the Air Force for me to receive the full $6,000 military spouse grant, and on top of that they will lower the original tuition cost by an additional $4,800 because Jake is active-duty military. That means that the total cost of my two year education and technical training comes to a grand total of only $2000 (and that's including the $400 in student-discounted software I need to buy!), making my monthly, interest-free, payments, only $80 a month for two years!

I'm telling ya folks, things are falling right into place! And I know I can do this! It will only take one lesson a week (about 10 hours) for me to graduate the program on time, and even with my full-time work schedule that is totally achievable!

I plan to take a few weeks to pray about this and overly think it through, but I really believe that this is the next big step I've been waiting for.