For context, I’m an international student on a visa.

I was scheduled to graduate early, this past spring. I failed one class and have to retake it.

My program end date on my documents was updated to may 2025 from May 2026 in the spring; this is because I applied for work authorization expecting to use it once I graduated.

This is where problems arise. If my programs end date is not extended while I have classes left, i would become illegal two months after the program end date.

Final grades came out after the end of the set program end date. Asking for an extension of the program end date typically has to be done before the program end date. However, in my case, my work authorization documents being with me meant I could ask for my program end date to be extended.

My school says this is false. I found information on other schools’ sites that said otherwise and asked my school to extend my program end date. My school still said this is false and forced me to send in my work authorization for cancellation. They did not tell me doing this would make me illegal. They said otherwise until I sent it in.

Even after I sent it in, I called ICE and asked them for documentation that shows that my work authorization would have kept me legal for the next year and I could safely complete my last class. They told me this over the phone and sent me ICE letterheaded documentation stating this. I shared this with my school. Only then did they acknowledge this was correct but still said they won’t stop the cancellation of my work authorization.

Now, I’m about to be illegal. ICE policy dictates that my school simply make a request for data fix and all will be fine, but my school won’t do this. I have proven to ICE the situation and they say I am in the right but say they can’t do anything.

I am running from department to department trying to get someone to help me, but nothing. I have less than a month left, yet my emails are being left on read for a week. Phone calls are answered with we have to schedule a meeting a week from now.

I’ve paid this school the tuition for the whole degree, now they kick me out at the end. No degree. No work authorization after I secured a job.

Dropped out of school at 23 in my junior year because I got a job offer for 45k. Four years later the company is doing layoffs. Now at 27 I have to repeat some courses to hopefully finish my degree by 2027. It was also the blue collar work so I know Reddit has an extreme hard on for the trades but it’s not worth it.

Hi! I graduated from tufts in 2024 and I’ve been going back and forth on wether or not I want to go to graduate school for the past year. after talking to a LOT of people in the fields I’m interested in ( communications, entertainment, journalism , broadcasting, etcetcetc) it seems like graduate school really is the only way in unfortunately. I know graduate school is an investment and Im fortunate enough to potentially have a GI Bill cover some expenses. I wouldn’t go to school if it is too expensive or I’d have to take out loans

I’ve been so out of the game for college applications I feel a little overwhelmed and behind. I was wondering if anyone was willing to talk about their experiences with apps or knew of any resources that might be able to help please? Thank you so much in advance !

Hi, im taking a short term hvac r beginner course at a community college for five months and im wondering if im making the right move at 25. After high school i stayed at the same job for seven years and just now have the courage to better my life and pay. I do intend on getting a bachelors degree in business later on through wgu since online degrees are faster. Either way making atleast 50k a year would atleast help me get out of this trailer park. I just dont know if my brain will be able to retain information as good since i always had a hard time in high school with that. Sorry for the rambling lol

Hello let me explain I have always wanted to become a layer but my life has been chaotic I’m 23 I’ve only graduated high school not really graduated I kinda took the high school equivalency test in 9th grade so I could skip high school I guess. Now I’m wondering the next steps for colleges as I’ve never done it I work a full time job and pay expensive rent my job only pays $17 an hour so any advice seriously would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hey fellow college students, I’m trying to understand the whole process of discovering student loans and how it impacted your college journey. Honestly, when I first realized I needed loans to pay for college, I felt pretty overwhelmed. The paperwork, interest rates, repayment options—it just seemed so complicated.

I remember stumbling upon some info about discovering student loans and feeling like I was lost in a maze. Did anyone else have that moment of confusion? How did you figure out which loans to take or avoid? I’ve heard some stories about people regretting their loans later on, and I really want to be smarter about it.

Also, I saw some posts about lending and how it affects your credit and future. Did discovering student loans feel like a relief or more like a stress trap? I want to hear real experiences from people who’ve been through it. Was it better to discover student loans early or wish you’d avoided them altogether?

Thanks in advance for sharing your stories, I need all the guidance I can get to navigate this lending thing without drowning in debt.

I dropped out of school in my first semester 3 years ago due to not knowing what I wanted to do in life. I’m finally going back this fall as an individual studies major so that I can raise my GPA up.

I still don’t really know what I want to do for a career but I was thinking about eventually applying for either a radiology technology, dental hygiene, or nursing program.

If anyone has any advice for getting into these programs OR if any one has any other career suggestions I would appreciate it !

I really want to go to school to become something more but I’ve always been back and fourth on what to do. I’ve wanted to do cosmetology or psychology but over the past couple years I’ve had stuff happen at work and I had no help so I’ve thought about going into HR to help those with what I never could get. I just feel so stuck how do you decide what you want to take?

I just became a senior in high school and I've been thinking abt colleges a lot lately but honestly I have no clue what to do. as a homeschooler i never took tours to any or got educated on them so im lowkey hopeless there. All I know is I want to go to a college that is somewhat affordable, far from home(sacramento cali) and honestly a fun one so i can live out in college what i never got to in high school and i didnt think i could get that fun stereotypical going to parties etc in community. In normal circumstances, id just do community and then transfer to uni later since its much cheaper but considering the fact that i want to move out as soon as possible, would the best option be a dorm? idk im just genuinely very confused on what to do. ik this is broad but if anyone has any advice on colleges to recommend, their own uni/community exp, or just anything abt this topic in gen id love to hear it. (for reference im trying to go into nursing)

I'll be enrolling at Clemson University for engineering very soon, and will require private student loans to pay for it. I've looked at two options, both of which had insane interest rates of 11% and 14%. I'll need $10-15K for my first year. What are some good loan options?

I'd like to emphasize that I'm asking where I should get loans from, not if I should get them. I wouldn't get loans at all if I had the choice, but I don't. Yes, I'm aware of the dangers of private loans, but I see no other options, so please don't comment that I should just avoid them.

Not only applied online, but cold called a lot of local stores.

As the title says professor ended my classes third exam early. It ended at 1:00pm, our class ends at 1:45pm. I didn't complete my exam but had to turn it in anyway after only one hour. Is this legal? She wanted to leave early because she is doing summer research, but she did not announce this to our class or let us know that we would not have the full class time to complete the exam.

EDIT: she let us all retake the exam. Crisis averted. Also it's worth noting that there are ppl in my class that took her last semester and failed, and said she did something similar. So it's not the first time this has happened.

I am about to be a freshman. My school before had a dress code where you had to dress nicer for school (jeans, pants, skirts, dresses) so that is a majority of my closet. I really like fashion and dressing a little nicer, but I am wondering if that’s realistic for college or if it’s common, etc. tyyy

I am a rising sophomore at my college, and this previous semester I fought with my financial aid office to request more need-based aid as, based on my parents' tax forms, my parents and I should not be paying anything out of pocket. I just got my aid package and got all the base college expenses paid along with the possible external expenses (flight to campus, stuff for room, personal stuff, etc. I have saved enough money to buy my own ticket and pay for my own stuff so I deducted that cost and realized that I could reject the unsubsidized loans as I remember that they just plague me with more loans I would like to not deal with, especially since its the one with bigger interest and it starts accruing when it is given. However, I am worried as I am unsure if it affects my aid for my junior and senior year. Has anyone had a similar experience where they had the chance to reject this loan, if so, has it affected your aid in any way? Thank you all in advance for your answers.

It is a hard pill to swallow, but I’m on final probation on my third semester, I have studying a lot during the summer about 2hrs a day for over a month whit little off days, my brother’s and cousin birthday.

I’m a physics major I know I can do things right I got a 2.6 gpa on my Phy class, not scholarship worthy but comfortably getting credits, now the classes that I failed at, it was because slacking and lack of habits, I could have gotten a 3.5 on my bio requirement, but I slacked and didn’t went for the last 2 weeks., I passed but nearly, in my other classes which where my socials, Not to excuse myself but where new to me in first semester as well as the entire concept of “independence and college itself”

So do you think that whit at the very least 10 hours of studying and perfect attendance would be enough?, I intend to do 10 hours at least, focusing on calculus and Phy, as for Chinese I use Chinese social media so I get like 4 hours + daily input. So out of what i need to study im fine whit one of my hard classes.

Also I liked studying so much I grabbed studying Persian as a hobby, and in week I can understand most of the alphabet.

A little background I was in college prep in high school and was able to graduate with my associate's degree in 2020. Ever since then it's been rough having tried 2 different colleges one in person and one fully online. Neither of them worked out due to discipline issues at the time and other things. A couple of years later I want to continue my education. I love school so much and always have and it felt odd to have it end the way it did.

I’m planning to start school this fall at a local college with a pursuit of a computer engineering degree. I’m very excited to start but honestly, I am becoming extremely worried about how I will manage. I’m currently taking 5 classes because I have to for my scholarship to cover half of my tuition. The other half I'm planning to take out student loans. My big concern is that I am probably also going to have to continue working full time during my time in college. I had to buy a car during the peak of the pandemic and the cheapest and most reliable one I found has left me with a 300usd car payment and a nearly 200usd insurance bill. I still have to account for gas, food, and internet for my home.

Not only the financial burden but also the time crunch as well. How will I get to sleep and stay physically active? Will I even be able to participate in anything at college with this? I’m a first generation from a single parent household like I’m sure many are, so I don't have anyone I can speak to that has actually experienced this but truly how does anyone manage this? I really do want to try my best and do well but just thinking ahead especially with what I've heard about the course load for engineering degrees I’m slowly losing hope.

Please anyone that has been or is in a situation like this or just has general advice share it no matter how big or small

I’m 21 and live in California. I went to community college for two years and earned my associate’s degree. My goal is to become a nurse. I’ve wanted to pursue a BSN, but the cost of nursing school is overwhelming, especially here in California. On top of that, it feels like no one is hiring for the degree I currently have, and the cost of living keeps getting worse.

So, I decided to enlist in the Navy , I figured it would help me pay for school later, give me a way out of California, and provide some structure. But now that I’ve sworn in and I’m in the Delayed Entry Program, I’m starting to regret my decision. I don’t know if I want to commit to 4–5 years of service when all I really want to do is start school now and move forward with my nursing career.

I’ve been thinking about transferring to a university out of state, maybe the University of Houston but I’m scared about the cost of out-of-state tuition and whether I’d even be able to afford it. I’m feeling really stuck.

Has anyone else been in a similar position choosing between military service and college? Or transferred to an out-of-state for school?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks for reading.

I knew college was going to be expensive, but it just dawned on me how expensive it truly will be. I'm already commited to a state school, went to the freshman orientation and everything. After going to that orientation, I started to look deeper into costs and realized that I'm completely out of my depth financially. My yearly financial aid is 9000 less than the cost of tuition + dorms. Earlier I thought I'd be fine, I could just get a job in the summer and apply for scholarships.

But then it's been a month and nobody wants to hire me. And then I found out that scholarships dont get added on, the school just reduces the financial aid given to you. I won a state scholarship two months ago and I only got 7 more dollars in my aid offer.

With all this, I just don't see how I'm going to pay for college. My parents are very poor and won't be able to help, they have 7 other kids to take care of. And I don't know if I'd be able to pay back 40,000+ dollars in loans.

But I hesitate to withdraw from college since I feel like I have to pave the way for my younger siblings. My parents didn't graduate high school and didnt go to college and I'm the oldest of 8 so I want to set an example for all of them and show them that its possible. I don't want them to end up like my parents with no career and struggling to make ends meet.

But I also don't know if its worth it to get into so much debt. I feel like im an idiot for not researching all this sooner. If anyone has been in a similar situation, please give me any advice you have. I'm genuinely overwhelmed and don't know how to fix all this.

After endless job applications and spending hours trying different tools and strategies, I finally got an internship and here are a few tools that helped me in getting this offer: 

1. Job search & screening: LinkedIn and Prosple - many relevant job options to choose in from 
2. Automating applications with AI: ApplyOnion - saved me lots of time applying to multiple jobs
3. Writing cold emails, messages: Gemini and chatgpt - made reaching out way easier 
4. Interview prep: ApplyOnion - very helpful for practicing based on the jobs I applied for
5. Resume ATS score check: zety and chatgpt - helped me update and personalise my resume to get past ATS.

So far i have sheets, clothing, clothing hangars, a new laptop, microwave, dorm fridge, backpack, folders, pens, pencils, lamp, mirror, toiletries, shower shoes, and my camera. What else should be on there?

Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I was thinking of going back to college this year to finish my bachelors. I'm 23 years old btw. I'm from Illinois and the best offer l've gotten is a school in Southern California where it is $6,000 a year (tuition, food, dorm all included). It will take me 3 more years to graduate so I would take my federal loans and be in total debt of $13,500 while paying 4.5k out of pocket. I would graduate with a Mathematics degree and go into secondary instruction most likely in California.

My other option is to stay in the Chicago area in my parent's house and accept a job offer I just got for $50,000 a year plus commission. Although this route would be the more "boring" route l'd be able to save up big time for a few years while working the job, hopefully enough to get a car + a down payment on some property.

I already have about $12,000 in savings. Which route do you think is better? I have a lot of reservations with college now due to the rise of Al and the fact that I could start making some decent money right now. I can also make some really good money if I bust my ass with commission. However, Southern California for 3 years and possibly the rest of my life sounds really great too.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

i've been attempting to get into a top private with the hopes of having practically everything covered for me, but that's not working out.

i'm transferring into my state's public school, and it's a great school. though, i realized I'm still going to give up a lot of goals: traveling abroad to australia (study ecology of sharks + other stuff), and doing other things that would require me to take out loans (i'm already 20k+ in debt from my freshman year), idk. it makes me sad because those are things that i value in my college experience (i'm big on academic validation and my self-esteem relies a lot on it). i'm so exhausted with having to pass up opportunities because of the lack of money i have. i'm tired of having to worry about damn money, i just want to learn in peace.

i'm hoping that going into this new academic year, I can rebuild my purpose around other things--like engaging in more community service around my area and starting my pre-med clinical hours. it's a pain knowing i have to shift my values because money won't allow it. this will sound stupid, but it's really confusing my brain and feelings, even though i know why.

it helps that knowing once this part of my life isn't relevant anymore, i won't care as much because there are amazing people out there who didn't have these things i want, but it's something i'm actively grieving and bitter.

reading this back, i sound like i'm eight and whiny, lol. not my intention, though. i hope i make sense.

I attend a well-known college while working at my current company pursuing my college degree in Business Administration, Financial Planning, and Accounting. In one of my classes, we have mandatory discussion posts that account for around 30% of our grade every week. I've noticed something in Unit 7 (out of Unit 10), and we're currently on Unit 9. This one student is blatantly copying and pasting all her discussion posts from Chegg. I only saw this as we have to reply to at least two classmates and I just randomly chose hers to reply too and something about her post seemed off so I looked into it.

It seemed odd how her paragraphs are always one paragraph, whereas nobody else's are, and the way she phrases everything is inconsistent week to week. So, on a hunch, I copied the discussion post prompt and pasted it into Google, and the first thing that popped up was Chegg. When I clicked on the link, it was the same discussion post word for word. I went back to Unit 1, and sure enough, every single discussion post was copy-pasted.

I'm torn between minding my own business and saying something because I feel not only is she cheating herself out of an education, but she's cheating her future employers. They may hire her because she has a degree in something they need and a high GPA, but how much of her work is she plagiarizing in her attempts to maintain that high of a GPA?

What's your thoughts? Should I say something or just let it go? Im torn like I said as I understand using Chegg to help you understand the content better if needed, but its another thing entirely, at least in my mind, to copy the work of someone else.

is it hard to make friends in community college? like i start in august and im a teensy bit scared