This is, in candor, perhaps the hardest
blog entry I have yet had to write. And the most potentially
embarrassing one as well. But it needs done so....
First, while some of you might know
that I had hoped to graduate here at UAF this Spring, it now looks as
if that is very unlikely. I still have a few cards to play and a few
ideas, but should those unlikely efforts fail, I will be here till at
least December, 2013. The issue is, in the main, that I made a
foolish presumption as to just how much algebra I actually recalled
from my high school days some 36 years ago. Yes, I use some of the
stuff in woodworking and the like. And no, it wasn't enough to score
at an appropriate level for the placement test that UAF requires. So
instead I have to take a 'pre-algebra' course first. At least, that
is what I am enrolled in until I take the test again early next week
(you can only take it twice in a single semester....or so I have been
told). IF I score high enough and IF there is still a section of the
math course I need to take for my core degree requirement then MAYBE
I might also be able to 'massage' another issue – the two lab
science courses I need both have a prerequisite of a specific math
grade. The gamble/hope is that I might be able to convince the
science professors to let me take their courses concurrently with the
math course.
Not so likely. But as many of you know
by now I can be a stubborn little.....well, you know the
abbreviation.
So those are the circumstances as to
why I may have to delay grad school till the Fall of 2014 rather than
the Fall of 2013 as I had hoped. I'll not blame anyone but me for
making presumptions and not getting started on these core courses
sooner.....
Anyway, that is one set of
embarrassment.
Here is the next....And I fear it will
sound so.......emo. Even if I don't intend it to.
As those of you who have read this blog
previously might recall I returned to school in 2010 after a 27 year
lapse to pursue first my Bachelor of Arts degree (Theatre, with a
design emphasis) and then, with luck, moving on to my Masters of Fine
Arts degree (also in Theatre, with a design emphasis) and the
possibility of teaching. I have been attending UAF thanks in the main
to scholarships. For my first two years here, I was blessed to have
received enough outside funding to pay for almost everything. Which
left what I made with my student employment and one or two outside
design and technical gigs to take care of food and other such
essentials.
Sadly, due to a glitch at the end of
last year (Spring 2012) I became ineligible for one of my
scholarships. And this scholarship had amounted to roughly half of my
total funding. At the start of the Fall semester I was uncertain what
was going to happen but thankfully I was able to arrange for a 'one
time only' injection of some additional outside funds. And I was also
blessed to simultaneously receive a smaller, new scholarship out of
the blue. When combined with my savings from my Summer theatre gig,
the total just met my indebtedness. But a key point is that the
larger fund source was a 'one time only' situation. So for the last
semester I have been scrambling and submitting scholarship
applications and essays and hunting for funding sources. And while I
have attempted to save some funds from my student employment, I must
admit that much of it ended up being spent for food and related
essentials.
While I am waiting for the results of
the various scholarships to be announced and while I continue to
apply for others, it has come time for the Spring semester to begin.
And for that payment to be made.
And, with my two remaining scholarships
(a continuing one from last year and the newer, out of the blue
smaller one) and my student job in the theatre department I am still
$2300 short of meeting my tuition and fees. Not including books or
other such. However, those items really become moot if I can't keep
my enrollment. And, in candor, if I don't keep the momentum I
currently have going towards first my BA and then my MFA I'm not
certain I'll ever be able to return and finish them.
Which brings me here.
At the start of the Fall semester I
began an effort to 'crowd-fund' some of my educational expenses.
There are some online sites that are akin to Kickstarter, but rather
than being for businesses they are for personal fund-raising. I
spread the word of the page I had created (I mentioned it in one of
my earlier, now deleted blog posts) but I hesitated to come out, full
bore, and bare it all before Facebook and the world. Which is just as
well. After some comparison, I determined that a different site was a
better fit for my efforts. So I have made another site. And,
attempting to at least stay somewhat within the Kickstarter model, it
is with the following offer:
I'm seeking donations. Of any size.
With my promise that, at some point within the next five years (my
estimated time frame till my completion of my MFA, given my starting
it in the Fall of 2014 and it being a three year program) I will pay
them back. I cannot guarantee when or how soon, except that it would
be within the above mentioned 5 years. Nor can I guarantee the
precise order of repayment as it will depend on the cash available.
Of course, if I am chosen for any of the scholarships I have applied
for, some of the payback could be sooner than later. But the only
certain things are the five year window. And my additional pledge to
'pay it forward' and help others in need when I might be able to do
so. The rest is, sadly, all variables.
The basic deadline (excluding the
unlikely event that I can convince the business office otherwise) is
for me to pay my fees by close of business, Alaska Standard Time,
Friday January 25th. About 13 days from now. Which is,
realistically, why I am desperate enough to come here and ask for
help. For a variety of reasons, that's a very difficult thing for me.
But last Fall, a good friend reminded me that sometimes asking for
help is not so bad....And so here we are.
Thank you to all who read this. And
thank you, should you choose to help.
The link is below.... And, as that page
might hit some who have not read this, or the blog, much of what I
have said here is repeated there......
Again, thanks.
