Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Thanks Iiorona!

Check with the surrounding states as well...While my family grew up in Florida my middle brother went to Georgia Southwestern University in Americus, Ga....yess home of Jimmy Carter and a pretty good school.
Georgia had [and may still have] a rule that any student who was accepted at a State University was eligible to pay In-State Tuition from the very beginning if their home state shared a border with Georgia...like Florida does.
Now if the parents have a bit of money one of the tricks is for them to buy a three or four bedroom house and rent out the extra rooms with you living in one of them...and your parents dealing directly with the roommates parents as far as collecting rent, etc.
Will get them some decent tax deductions as it is a rental property and since you are there you can sort of keep an eye on things...it means you have to be a bit of a hardass but if you're on this blog you're already developing the proper attitude when it comes to money.....
"Friends Is Friends But Business Is Business"

@FZ: That is actually quite useful. I think I might have to make an exception post to the standard "stay instate for college".

First, entertain the possibility that you shouldn't even go to college. A lot of people just go due to inertia or peer/parental pressure and it ends up being a waste.
If college is the right path for you, then look into starting at a community college and then transferring to an in-state university. In many cases you can complete roughly half of the credits at a CC for pennies on the dollar, so to speak. You still get the university-branded credential and experience of taking upper division courses at a prestigious institution. Contact an academic advisor in the university department you'll transfer into, to ask about which CC courses will transfer in. Not all do.
Pay for everything in cash. That will prevent you from paying student loan interest, and also keep you honest about only paying for things that are actually worthwhile.

@KevinW: Thanks for tips, especially asking what transfers or not. Also about paying for everything in cash, you as in extracurricular activities outside of tuitons, board, and food?

Ideally you'd pay for the whole thing --- tuition, room and board, and also incidentals --- as you go.

Its fully set and done. The Pharm. Cert. Course is a go!

I need some advice for you guys.

I am kind of stuck at a cross roads.
My school is offering a power plant technician (or was it operator?) internship that is paid and more than likely to lead to a job. From what I have heard nuclear power plant operators makes decent amount to say the least.
Why not got after it? Sounds like a good deal!
Well there is the slight problem.
I feel obligated to do something more "active" with my life instead of watching gauges, making sure systems are okay, and in general doing something that is passive that quite possibly bore me to death.
That is where college comes in and my goal of having a job that challenges intellectual and I am actively doing something that has an affect that I can see. Not only that but the liberating feel of college. The problems with that is the possibility of not having a job when I get out, by then my Pharmacy Technician certification renewal period will be up and I won't finish my twenty hours of continuing education during college.
So any advice on which path to take.

I disagree with bigato. While a lot of work is numb and pointless not all of it is. Of course every job has it's bad days or weeks, but that's life to a certain extent.
Also, challenging jobs give you more skills (generally, of course). Your description of 'watching gauges' doesn't exactly instill that sense of multiplicity.

You'd get paid to go and find out how a nuclear power plant works. Why not just try? Will the terms of the internship make you obligated to accept any potential job offer afterwards?

"Don't try to find satisfaction in a job, it's an illusion. It can eventually happen by accident, but it's almost sure it won't last and that it will turn to a hell soon. Solve the money problem first. True satisfaction in the long run will be found in the freedom and flexibility to be able to change direction at will without being tied to a single source of money to pay for your most basic needs."
Seconded. I wasted my 20s looking for job satisfaction. Money first, because money can buy job satisfaction.

@YoungAndWise - You are an amazing 17 y/o. I have no doubt you will do extremely well in life. Wish I would have figured things out at that age. I highly encourage you to start the blog. I think college kids need this type of info more than ever. Not to mention the parents!
On the job satisfaction. No job is eternal nirvana, but there are big differences between them. There are jobs with plenty of good days and then there are those that seem to be a drudgery every day. My sense is that the large organizations (governments, large corporations) are filled with very unhappy people.
Best of luck to you!

You could view the Pharm tech job with the same jaded view... It's just "counting pills all day long.". What are the consequences of letting the PT license expire? Is it hard to get it back? I actually think the Power Plant job sounds Ok. One - is the reason they are offering the paid internship because they can't find skilled labor off the streets? If so, clearly they are investing in growing their own people with the skills they need. That's good for you - job security, unlikely you'll be easily replaced and hey maybe they will actually give a shit about you if you can't be replaced in two shakes. They may actually pay for college and even grad school. You could eventually be an operations supervisor since your coworkers are less likely to be college educated or as smart as you. With the degree you could probably even get out of operations into something else like plant efficiency, plant supply chains or science stuff like engineering. I would seriously consider it.

So word on the Pharmacy tech and power plant operator.

I'm doubting if I am going to take the Pharmacy Technician exam based on the fact that between college work, high school work, and scholarships and the lack of drive in doing it, I have gone dry so to say. For the power plant operator deal, I probably won't take it either.
However on the bright side, I am pretty much finishing a lot of local scholarships that are worth about $500 to $1000 dollars each. And I'll automatically get a $400 dollar one if get accepted into the Honor's college.
Besides that not much else to talk about.

Hell with it.
I started the damn blog.
Enough procrastination, more doing stuff.
http://willisfoley.blogspot.com/

http://firejourney.blogspot.com/
Here is next post. Basically one where I need help figuring out what to right about next.

Questions to the forums:
Where are careers GIS located at in the U.S.?

GIS careers? All over (some really amazing settings for natural resource work), but the field is declining IMO: the world has already been digitized and more and more professions are doing their own GIS work... GIS techs are being phased out, GIS analysts are more of regional thing. Supply is ample, wages are low for tech work, competition pretty stiff.
Have seen more and more high paying GIS in defense related job posts, but not sure how many of these jobs exist.
Not positive on any of these, but it's my quick fairly educated opinion.

And that is for the world in general? Or just U.S.

Just US, but I imagine the world is similar. You can track these for a while, see if you like what you see:

http://www.gjc.org/map/