Hello Everyone!
I'm Michelle and I will be your blogger for the time being. I'm going to start of with telling you a bit about myself and why I chose UW-Marinette. Enjoy =)
Well for starters I dwell in this lovely town of Marinette and attended Marinette High. All through high school I was an over-achiever and a straight A student. When the time came to start thinking about what college I would go to after I graduated, I automatically started thinking of 4-year universities. Why would I consider a 2-year campus? People who were undecided or uncommitted went to 2-year campus', not 4.0 students that knew what they wanted to major in (Pre-Med Psychology). So I chose my path and applied to schools and was accepted and all was peachy. But then I attended a financial aid meeting at my school in January, hosted by the brilliant Cindy Bailey. After the meeting my eyes were opened to how much money I could save by going to UW-Marinette for the first two years. My dad was also about to have a heart-attack over how much it was going to cost for 4-year schooling. But I was not yet convinced. I still had questions such as if a medical school look down on me for have attending 2-year college. So I talked with people including my guidance counselors, a current psychologist, and a current psychiatrist. All of them said the same thing, 2-year campus' are a great start and no school will look down upon you for starting at one. I was getting closer to applying, but I was still on the fence, so I did some math. And it turns out that by going to UW-Marinette that I could save more than $30,000! Don't believe me? Here is my math.
An average year of tuition at my previous school of choice (UW-Milwaukee), is around $9,000. Room and board is another $8,000. Add in all the other expenses such as books and traveling costs, total cost of admission is estimated around $22,000. Double that for two years and you come to $44,000. We then subtract the cost of tuition at UW-Marinette for two years, $10,000, and we come to a savings of $34,000.
Now I know everyone just can't wait to get out of the house and be on their own. But $34,000 is a lot of money. Not to mention you could keep up a part-time job easily and earn even more.
Saving money isn't the only benefit of starting off at UW-Marinette. Many students continue to live at home while commuting to campus (although we do offer student housing). By continuing to live at home you have the ability to focus on the step up in academic level of college and not have to worry about all the stresses of living on your own at the same time. For two years you can focus on getting acclimated to the new work load and style of learning in college, and then after you have that all figured out, you transfer out and are able to enjoy the new freedom instead of worrying.
One bonus that I was able to reep because of my achievement in high school is that I am able to finish my two-year degree in one year, something that would be very difficult to manage at a 4-year university. By doing this I will be saving even more money and now I'll shave a year off my graduation time. So if you happen to be like me and are coming out of high school with various college credits under your belt, don't let them go to waste.
I realize there are many stigma's out there about two-year colleges, I once held every one of them. But after my first semester, I wouldn't change a thing. The class sizes are amazing; I have 5 people in my Spanish class and my largest has 28. The professors are even better. Each one is approachable and genuinely excited when you stop in to ask them a question or even just to chat. And I will have to admit that one of my favorite things about campus, something I know many of my 4-year campus friends would kill for, is the tiny walking distance from building to building. Something I don't think many prospective students think about until it's raining cats and dogs.
So that's a little bit about me and a lot of my soapbox!
I hope to have opened someone's eyes out there and helped them realize the many perks of UW-Marinette.
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