Distance education and CC?

[Rhiamon]

As you know I am on a very fixed income. I am on disability at least until 2015. I owe a far amount on my credit card. I have been thinking about taking distance education courses to get my certificate as an office assistant. I was one for several years, but after that job I couldn't find another one because I didn't have the certificate. But taking these distance education course are going to cost me at least 300 each if not more plus books. There are five course I can do one at a time spread out over the years. But I would have to put them on my cc. I am not sure if this is a smart move or not. My mom thinks it is and said you can pay it off then do another one. I owe over 2 thousand as it is on it. I am trying to pay it down, but I don't have any other options at this point but to do it this way, because there is no one who can give me the money and because it is distance and one at a time there is no option for payment.
What would you do?

[bent]

as I tend to get wordy
points to consider: are you on a budget, have you lowered your apr?, where is the 'leak' in your budget? does your school offer tuition assistance?

what apr rate is on your card? have you called to get it lowered- if the first csr 'can not / will not' help call again until you get someone who will help you out. can you do a balance transfer to a lower apr card *yes it will add a bit to your balance but will save in higher apr.
do you have a budget plan for paying it off quickly? what are your monthly expenses? where can you cut back?
do you pay cc more than once a month?- I do this and it helps me, I take what ever is left over at the eom balance in my cking acct and pay that on the cc. each mth i start anew. some mths it's been only $20 but some mths $200-that was a tight mth btw but we made it.
(myself, i am $202 -away from being debt free) i paid off $700 cc in 09/10 now it's only used for dd's reoccurring disney fairies mth' membership subscription and ds' steam game acct, then started working on $2000-this is the $200 lol.
if your willing to sacrifice you can do it- if you have kids sit down and explain what your doing and let them be apart of it- it will not kill a child to be denied a toy or a meal out- a plus is it makes them more aware of finances I believe.
my dd and ds are helping- we eat out once a month and alternate choosing the fav resturant/fast food joint. I cook from scratch more often than not their favorite 'boxed' meals. I have a $20-$30 eating out budget.
I had dish network turned off dec 31st (they were outrageous with the price pkgs going up and service going down-i thought i signed up for a 12 mth plan turned out to be 2 yr- live and learn)- we have no tv but we watch hulu etc sites for our shows- ds is wwe, dd is leverage- so we have to wait a day or so to be able to view thats ok. teaches ds much need lessons in patience lol. a side benefit is that we do more face to face time board games, card games, walking the dog (forces us outside- in sunshine we sometimes burst into flames when the sun hits our white skin- lol)
my internet is a data only and since I was no longer under contract I talked to a csr who 'found' a way to cut my bill since I was unbundling tv from internet I went from $49 plus tax to $38 plus tax starting in feb. I dropped the dish bundle and will go from $115 to $45- this left over amt will go to paying off cc.

I shop at the local Thrift store, we window shop for clothes for dd age 14 and then I hunt down similar items at the TS- ds doesn't care one way or the other he's 12 and clothes aren't a concern for him now) as needed I've budgeted $30 for clothes

as gas is now $3.359 here I plan my trips (have for a while but when it gets over $3.209 I don't drive unless I have several stops to make. I fill my tank ever 200 miles ( reason for this is my gas hand is stuck/broke- and my cars fuel tank will run that many miles- maybe a little over but I don't push it.) I have a $40 gas budget.

(to also help I started keeping ck on what I had to pay in electricity- now everything that can be unplugged at night is- tv/xbox vcr wii is on a surge protector that is shut off nightly, we just recently started doing this. I keep my w/d shut off at the breaker box and only use dryer when absolutely needed as it's a power drainer for me- I have clothes line so use it) phantom power drainage is almost nil now. less money going to power company more for paying on cc balance. I was for years on my power companies budget billing plan and thought i was getting a good deal until it went up steadily over a 2 yr period from $45 to $94 a month (jul/aug were the culprits when I used my central unit for cooling- jan/feb for heating) so I removed that from my bill and now only pay for what I actually use- my power budget is $45-$60.

I have city water so have to pay that and a sewage fee I get 2000 for $24 plus a percentage for sewer use, trash and tax since I bore two human fish I usually go through another 800-1000gal each mth (we are currently working on that aspect ) so my bill ranges from $40-60 I budget $60 just to be safe.

I counted and rolled all the change at the bottom of my purse and turns out I was hauling around $66 in change= that went towards the $700. so keep a change jar roll once a mth and use that to make extra payment.

grocery shopping I hit the Sav a lot in the next town over for most of my canned goods still cheaper than the local store carries and I'm not a brand 'ho like my mom- she'd die if she knew I said that . (my food budget is $450 a month)

I have a $50 household budget (tissue paper, personal hygiene, paper towels - still haven't managed to break that habit yet working on it) laundry.dish detergent, every thing I buy has to have another purpose other than what it was manufactured to do.

I do keep my emergency $100.

I tend to pay cash and not use my debit card- makes me more aware of what is going out of my pocket book. I do use one of my cc's for gas and it gets paid off EM. we plan/save for big purchases. both children know needs comes before wants (sometimes they aren't happy with it but they adjust).

[monkeywrangler71]

This isn't really an answer to your credit card question, but just wanted to make a comment about the distance education.

I'm not sure what town you are in, and you may already know this, but when you are looking at the distance education courses don't just look at your local college. All the Ontario colleges get together to teach the online courses through a joint site called Ontario Learn - BUT, every college sets their own tuition and other fees. I started taking classes through Durham College (Oshawa/Whitby) because that was where I was living, but the entire program was being taught by Mohawk College (Hamilton) and it turned out that the tuition - for the exact same classes - was lower if I registered through Mohawk, and they had fewer other fees. Also, if you check the certificate requirements, not all schools (and you can look outside of ON as well if they don't require proctored exams) will require the same number of courses. You might be able to get the same credentials with fewer courses, and therefore less money. Also, look at the textbook requirements, none of the classes I took through Mohawk required a textbook, the course materials were all included. If you have any skills already that you think are equal to one of the required courses (basic keyboarding or computer skills for example) look into the requirements for prior learning assessment at the different schools. You may be able to challenge for credit, but they each will have different fees for this.

What about going full-time? You will be able to apply for funding if you are full-time. If you think that you can't handle the course load, remember that with a disability you can carry a smaller load and still retain full-time status.

[MomToTwoBoys]

I would check the Government of Ontario and see if they offer a program designed to give grants to underemployed or unemployed people. Alberta has one that's called Alberta Works and that's who gave me my grant.

Check into any grants besides ones offered by the Government of Ontario first before diving into something that'll go on your credit card.