Basically, my situation could be described as what the title says. To set up some background, I (17F, turning 18 later this fall), have a very conspiracy-brained father (50M), along with a mother (49F) who recently lost her job at the beginning of the year. Thankfully, we still make enough money to classify as comfortable middle class, thanks to my dad's income, and my mom has been searching for a job.

College is about to start for me in a month. I've already committed to a certain university in my state, I know what I want to study, and I've been passionately obsessing over my future college life ever since I got out of high school. I WANT to go to university. I have an entire checklist of things I want to do when I get on campus, a checklist of recipes I want to try, plans and strategies for becoming an RA so I can save more money down the road and gain valuable experiences, and a checklist for everything I still need to buy for myself before the year begins. I'm trying my hardest to take this opportunity as seriously as I can, because I know how much value it could offer (internships, job connections, social connections, the myriad activities and facilities on campus, etc), and I know that not everyone gets a chance to experience this.

However, in the last 2-3 weeks, my parents have suddenly been pushing community college onto me, saying that it would be better for me to take 2 years of PART TIME community college while working (for some reason??????), and refusing to specify what happens after those two years. Worst of all? My father keeps talking about the tons of investments he has that are worth upward of $300K or more, saying that he COULD afford to pay for the university I'm currently committed to, but only "if it's worth it". He repeatedly states that finances aren't the issue, but he wants to 100% guarantee me a job in the future, and is now saying that it would be better for me to become an enterpreneur working on his current investments and turning them into business ideas. On top of that, he keeps saying "the system is failing", the system this, the system that; he believes that with a degree, I won't be 100% guaranteed a job, which makes going to a 4-year university "not worth the cost" in his eyes. However, his idea for enterpreneurship and "not depending on the system" seems to be his foolproof narrative for ensuring income for my future. I don't want to do this, for the love of all that I have...

He keeps calling me over to "talk" about my college decision, which is stressing me the fuck out at this point and honestly ruining my summer experience. My cousins from the other side of the world have come over and made my life 100% better, but we end up collectively raging over my dad's conspiracy theory-brained choice to suddenly try to pull me out of 4-year university just to go to community college, with no plan for what I'll do after. I've even tried to ask if I could go back to the college I'm already committed to after two years in CC, and he kinda just dodged the question. I'm becoming more convinced by the day that he wants me to go to community college to prioritize his "investments", despite him saying that he's only trying to do what's best for me. I've been thinking that way ever since I overheard him telling my mom (when we were all in the same room talking about this) that he wasn't trying to have a conversation with the three of us to make a decision together, but that he was simply trying to convince me to go to community college... so he already has his mind set, and is trying to pull me along now.

My aunt and mother have spent hours debating him about this as well, but at the end of the day, he keeps coming back to his community college and enterpreneurship idea, which isn't even well planned at all!! He notably hypothesized about "having enough money to start a business" by the end of my two years at CC, along with saying that he needs time to "see how the system works" before I "make such a huge decision" by going to a 4-year university instead. I am genuinely writhing in pain every day at this point. His presence is so infuriating, not just because of this, but because of the countless other conspiracies he's exposed me and my two little sisters to, including flat earth, anti-vax propaganda, misogyny, racism, chemtrail theory, etc. If I go to a CC, I'll be going to the one down the road from my house, and I'll be stuck living with him for another two years, which I really don't want :(... plus, I fear that the social opportunities won't be as vibrant there, and the social aspect of college is something I'm really looking forward to, given my high school experience being VERY socially barren. Plus, the internship opportunities and connections and all the facilities on campus would be very limited...

TL;DR, my dad wants me to become an enterpreneur and go to community college so he has time to "analyze the system" (aka job market/state of the government) while he continues working on his investments. I'm convinced he wants me to go there just so he can have more money to do whatever he's doing with said "investments".

Is there anything I can do about this so close to the school year?

Do older students usually take online classes? I’m turning 27 and entering my second year of community college. I was wondering if it would be better to do online classes as I felt it was weird being 26 in a class full of 18-20 year olds. I imagine older students take online classes to avoid this weird dynamic and it just seems more professional. I think I will only be taking online classes but I wanted to know if this is a common thing for adult learners. Thank you

College students pursuing majors, advanced degrees or certifications in fields that consistently earn low incomes will no longer be able to take out federal loans to pay for their schooling under new Trump administration rules.

The new federal rule, finalized this month by the Education Department, comes amid a national crisis in student loan defaults. Many of the degree programs that educate social workers, artists, teacher aides and especially certification programs for barbers and nail technicians are likely to fail a new federal litmus test: Will they make more money upon graduation than if they never enrolled in the first place?

Read more about the federal student loan limitations at the link.

Pretty self explanatory, but my main questions is when I work up to the amount given by student aid (being $1600), what happens? Do I get cut off, like can I only work until I get the $1600 or is it just given to the school to help cover labor costs? I tried looking ir up couldn't find a reliable answer.

I'm at Clackamas Community College in Oregon, US if it's important

I am trying with ALL my might to go back to college and earn a tech degree, but it feels like there’s just never enough time to even start my assignments, and I was wondering if anyone had tips for balancing school, work and social lives.

My job is supposed to be part time but recently my manager has been scheduling me an insane amount of rather inconvenient hours (1pm-9:30pm, 10am-7:3-pm, etc) and I am working SEVERAL days straight, nearly reaching 18 days straight as of current.
On my days off I get called in and with the very little time I do have there are errands and important matters I have to take care of. I have been so exhausted I have accidentally fallen asleep on my couch for almost a week straight.

I have not even opened a school assignment for over a month due to lack of time.

Unfortunately I have a lot of bills each month and im just barely meeting them as it is so quitting is not an option. As of current, I am barely making enough to fill my gas tank and I almost always am skipping a meal or two everyday.
I have also tried talking to my manager and filling out official availability forms about my schedule for a more predictable and workable schedule but have been ignored.

If anyone has any tips for being able to fit everything in I would greatly appreciate it, I genuinely want to finish this degree and it feels like im making no progress in my current state.

I always tend to err on the side of formality when it comes to emails. I'll always address a professor as "Dr. This" or "Professor That" until they sign off with their first name, which subverts my professionalist upbringing and throws me for a loop. I understand that if they repeatedly do so, it's often an invitation to address them as such, but I usually ask just in case.

But what about me? I usually sign my emails with "[First Name] [Last Name/Initial]." Should I keep doing that after they sign with their first name? I feel that it maintains a certain level of formalism. Or should I reciprocate and just drop the last initial?

I am an incoming freshman, I ended up doing a random roomate. Should I try to conect with her before the move in date? All I have access to her school email, and wasnt sure if it would be akward if I emailed her.

Hello, incoming freshman for fall of 2026 in the USA.

My uni is very vocal about their research opportunities for undergrads and has several programs to facilitate it

However, I am interested in a specific professor’s research as it relates to the specific field I’m interested in perusing. Luckily enough, one of my scheduled classes is with said professor.

One constant piece of advice I’ve heard is to go to office hours to build rapport, but how early is too early? 1 week? A month? A semester?

to people who have dormed before, how did you make that transition from having your own space, to suddenly living with 1-2 other people in a very confined area. especially only children, how did you guys get used to that??

i'm also an only child, never had to live with anyone else except my mom, and i'm an incoming freshman this year. i'm worried about how ill adjust, because i've never really had anybody in my space or bother me, considering my mom has always just let me be or was always out of the house

let me know your guys' experience and if you have any tips or recommendations!! thanks!!

Hello everyone! This may be a slightly out of the box question, but I'm really looking for answers!
I'm the president of two separate psych themed orgs at my college, the first being Psi Chi, a psych focused honors society, and the other being NEDA Campus Warriors, an eating disorder awareness group.
Every year my school throws an event where student orgs table and tell new students all about their organization and what they do- part of that tabling usually includes giving away free things. The thing is, the typical give away items like pins, pens, squishy fidget toys, stickers, etc, are starting to feel a little redundant. I've come to feel that a majority of our students have gotten sick of the little junky things that take up space more than they actually serve them. So my question to you, as fellow students, is what kind of items would you WANT or be excited to see at a table like this? So far I'm thinking themed sticky note packs (I've found some pretty neat brain shaped ones) and grounding sensory stickers would be cool for students to have.
Does anyone have any extra input, especially as a college kid? Please keep in mind our orgs are school funded, so large items might not be a great choice.

The University of California admissions board has voted to rescind — for now — its plan to study whether to resume SAT or ACT requirements in admissions, a move that leaves one of the university’s most closely watched debates unclear a day before the Board of Regents meets in San Francisco.

UC’s Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, known as BOARS, announced last month that it would convene two work groups through next year: one to weigh the role of standardized tests in admissions, the other to reexamine high school course requirements for acceptance to UC.

At a Friday meeting, the board voted to pull back on the plan, and the links that explained it — which appeared on the UC website late last week — have been removed. There is no replacement plan as of yet, according to two members of the board who attended the meeting, and several UC professors who are aware of the decision and who have been advocating either for or against testing requirements. It is unclear why the plan was suspended.

Learn more at the link.

Just recently I had a couple people give me their emails and business cards to connect with if I needed advice within career paths or internships in the future. The issue is I am unsure if I shpuld use my personal email (google) or my school email (my uni). Personal is the easiest, but I feel it may be ignored due to people thinking it might be some spam email. School email is probably the best way to go, but if I need to contact people after my time it up at the uni, I wouldn't be able to access the email. Which one is the best way to go about it?

I go to a school in an expensive city, and honestly, the rent is harder for me than the tuition since financial aid covers that for me. I already have a work-study job, but I am not able to work as many hours in a week as I'd like. And all non-work-study jobs have an impossible amount of competitiveness even at the entry level.

I just want to be able to work an extra 5-10 hours a week, man 😭 I have the time for it, but not the opportunity. I have applied to McDonald's so many times. I'm tired.

New federal rules sharply cap how much graduate students can borrow, forcing an immediate sea change in how students evaluate attaining an advanced degree, with some scrambling to pay tuition — and for colleges, prompting concerns about future access to their programs.

The median total cost for a master’s degree in 2020 — before inflation skyrocketed — was $24,250, while professional degrees came in at $59,076, though some universities — particularly private institutions — charge far more, according to EdTrust, a nonprofit that advocates for equity in education.

Under the previous rules, graduate students could take out federal loans for as much as they needed to cover the cost of their master’s and doctorate degrees, including tuition and living expenses, often taking on crushing, long-term debt that contributed to a national epidemic in defaults. Effective July 1, borrowing is restricted to $20,500 annually, with a $100,000 cap. Those pursuing designated professional degrees, including law, medicine and dentistry, are limited to $50,000 a year with a $200,000 cap.

Read more.

I get credit for calc AB and bio, and presumably stats (scores aren’t out yet), but the thing is that I took calc in junior year and bio in sophomore year. I’m scared that because I don’t remember the courses all that well, I’m going to end up really struggling if I skip the introductory courses. I’m more worried about calc than anything because while calc and bio came pretty easily to me, I’m scared about jumping straight to calc II especially because it’s a major requirement (for ref, I’m majoring in molecular genetics). That being said, I also feel like I’d be fine by reviewing, but I don’t wanna shoot myself in the foot if I actually don’t do fine. Should I just review the basics before school starts, or should I just take the introductory courses?

I’m going to college in the near future. No one I know has even thought about going to the schools I want to go to. It’ll likely be off campus and in a regular apartment. I have no clue what to expect or what to think about when trying to find a roommate. Thanks.

After doing my last grad ceremony after 30 years as a college administrator, I am convinced we still don't have it right. We cut out the keynoters a few years ago but now the College president has a tendency to blather on and bore everybody to death. What do graduates really want to hear at their commencement ceremony? We had the largest graduating class ever at well over a thousand. And by the end of the ceremony there were only a couple hundred left in their seats cuz everybody left once they got their moment on the stage. Was a bad look.

I recently graduated and regret not joining any clubs during my undergraduate years. I am now continuing with grad school and was wondering if it is considered weird to join clubs as a grad student. I’ll be 21 this upcoming school year so I’d still be the same age as undergraduates.

Dorm life has been rougher than I expected. Between hallway noise, random lights, and a roommate with a totally different schedule, my body never really knew when to shut down. I started trying little hacks instead of filling the room with stuff. Earplugs, a hoodie near my bed, and my ynm weighted blanket from home make the bed feel a lot less temporary.

It’s not perfect, but having a few items that actually help me settle down has made late nights way more manageable.

Hi,
I'm a first time college student in my early 30s completing my first term. I have one instructor I really loved learning from and I want to write them a thank you card expressing what I appreciated about the class and how much I appreciated them and their support as a teacher. I'm truly so grateful I was in their class because the learning curve has been really steep starting college at this age, and they're class was so excellent and supportive. Is this an ok thing to do? I was planning to hand it to them on the last day of class.

Edit: Thanks for the input! I decided to go ahead and gave them a card this morning following our last class. They thanked me and offered to get coffee next term and gave me a hug. I'm glad I wrote the note because in the moment I couldn't come up with the specific things I wanted to thank them for.

Hi! I’m wanting to major in Art Therapy for my Masters degree. The only problem is the school im planning on transferring to doesn’t have a psych minor, so I’d only be able to declare as an art major. They require 12 semester units of psychology for the masters… can i just take the psych classes on the side of my degree and then do my masters?

Hello! I was wondering if it would be better to take a new class with a professor you’ve had prior or to take a new professor? Purely speaking from a rapport and networking perspective. I took this professor last spring and I got an A+ in her class and have the opportunity to take a different type of class with the same teacher. Is it better to take her again to build that relationship?

I'm an adult that went back for a bachelors degree after years in the workforce. With the number of credits I have left I could finish and walk the stage in December, or next May. Which should I choose? Spring is a more traditional "graduation" feeling, and I'm worried if I finish a semester early, I'll miss out on that. But, why prolong my finishing school just for that? I'm staying in my same role at work, nothing is really changing with me finishing this degree so that isn't a consideration.

Opinions please! :)

I’m 23, a third year CS student. I have 2 years left but I’ve lost connection with the field. I don’t get excited about hackathons or coding projects, I don’t feel like the typical person in the field, and looking at my remaining coursework stresses me out.
I originally wanted something more connected with business. I was in Industrial Engineering but had some personal troubles that led me to switch to CS. Now I feel really stuck and behind. On top of that, changing universities would mean starting almost from scratch since I can’t switch majors at my current university. A lot of money has already been spent on my education, and at 23 the idea of starting over feels overwhelming both financially and emotionally.

My question: does it make sense to finish CS and pivot toward those roles after, or is there a better path I’m not seeing? Has anyone been in a similar situation and found their way out?