by Judy

I did it.  I signed up for my first class.  I think.  Actually, I’m not so sure.  I definitely signed up as a University of Phoenix student (I paid the $45 enrollment fee), but I think I messed up in signing up for my actual class.  I had to list what course I wanted to take, and when I wanted to start.  I couldn’t find on the website when exactly the next course starts up, so I just put down today’s date.  The more I thought about this afterward, the more stupid that decision seemed to be. I started to panic a little bit.

During my freak-out, I wondered if I’d signed myself up for a class already in progress.  I called my enrollment advisor and—of course—he’s not in the office Friday afternoons.  Figures.  I e-mailed him, and I’m hoping he gets back to me on Monday.   Meanwhile, I logged in online, and found that I am not signed up for any classes at all.  This put me at ease because I at least know that I’ve not messed up irrevocably and lost a bunch of money.  I think.  So, now I am just waiting until Monday to talk to a real live person and not the internet.

I really want to get started on this soon.  We received a memo at work this week forbidding us any overtime, except for extreme weather conditions. Our department is also on a hiring freeze. I don’t think they’ll start laying people off, but it does make me wonder if it will be easy for me to transfer to a different department once I have my super-cool grant writing skills.   Maybe the hospital needs more grant writers because they’re losing money and need more donations.

On a happier note, I talked to a friend in the Diversity Department the other day and asked if she knew anything about grant writing at the hospital.  She said she does and she’d introduce me to the head of the foundation that handles all of the non-research grants.

So, as for online education thus far, there are ups and there are downs.  I don’t think that I messed up my application too badly, and I don’t have to worry about my current job, so things could get a lot worse.  I heard on the radio today that the national unemployment rate is over 7%.  I went home to Detroit for the holidays, where unemployment is over 9%.  People aren’t hiring for a lot of entry level positions right now, so I really hope this class gives me a leg up.