Bah, this stinks

Okay. With the Art Institute, they are on a quarter system in lieu of a semester system. Taking classes in quarters instead of semesters means you get shorter breaks between terms, hence you can plow through school a bit faster.

A full time student must take 4 classes each quarter to qualify for full time status financial aid through FAFSA. A part time student (that's me) must take a minimum of 2 classes each quarter to qualify for part time status financial aid. Full time students take two classes the first 5 to 6 weeks of a quarter and two classes the second half of the quarter. Likewise, a part time student would take one class for 6 weeks, then another class for 6 weeks.

My start date was to be next week, Feb 17th. This is halfway through a quarter. For me to qualify for financial aid, I HAVE to take two classes in each quarter, whether I start class at the beginning of the quarter or at mid-term. This means that I HAVE to take two classes during the next 6 weeks to meet FAFSA requirements.

It stinks. I can't do it. I'm supposed to devote around 15 hours a week to each class, and two at once would be double that. I can't hold down a fulltime job and also allocate 30 hours outside of work to school, plus personal downtime and 'funtime' that I MUST have to stay sane.

So I have to push my enrollment date back to April 4th. I guess that it only means my graduation date is 6 weeks later than anticipated, but it still sucks. I've waited so long to go back to school that I'm ready to do it NOW.

Oh well. I guess it's a good thing, since I'm starting a new job next week also.