Category: Cram Session
Hi,
So I'm trying to get myself together and get stuff ready for college, however, I've run into a number of problems, well two main ones and I'd appreciate any advice that could be given. First, I'm trying to go to school but I want to go out of state, for those of you who live in texas you know that college will only be paid by DARS if you decide to go to a school in the state of Texas and that is state sponsored, so my question to you guys is this: if i want to go to school out of state could I still somehow get disability services and what not for the school even if I am not a state resident of the school I wish to attend? And what would I need to do to get those services so that my schooling would be a little bit easier. Secondly, this is mainly a music major question but those who might have some sort of advice to give can help as well. I want to be a performance major and my emphasis would be in vocals since I'm a vocalist, how would I go about auditioning for a music school if I've been out of high school for awhile and therefore don't know if I could just as easily get letters of recommendation as I would like to if I was just out of high school. I really wouldn't know what else I would want to major in if I went to college so any kind of information I can get on majoring in music and what not would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you guys so much and I appreciate any help I could get with these questions.
Jessica
Hi, Jessica. Will Texas not cover anything toward an out of state school? the policy of most agencies I've dealt with has been that they would pay for as much as it would cost you to go to that state's university, and provide support services for you, but you had to pay any extra for an out of state school. So, for example, the Texas agency might pay for whatever it would cost you to go to school in state, and tell you to make up the rest. You can do that usually with student loands, even though it sucks to be in debt when you come out of school. If Texas refuses to pay for any of it, then you'll have to rely on grants, scholarships, and student loans to do it. But even if they pay for none of your tuition, do they refuse to provide all services? I don't think that's legal, if you're still their client.
Texas doesn't pay for school out-of-state, so as the poster above me said, you would pretty much have to rely on scholarships, grants etc. So I would suggest applying for those types of things, because even if you were to go to school here in Texas, they'd still make you follow the same process. It sucks, but it seems like that would be the only reasonable solution to this. Now as far as the auditioning thing, I too am a music major, but I haven't hit that step yet. What I would probably do if I were you is to contact someone who has worked with you before and see if they'd be willing to write letters of recommendation for you. i don't think this would hurt, and at least they could tell you for sure if they would be able to do that for you, in spite of you having been away from high school for a while. At least that's what I think, but like I said, I haven't been there yet. I'm still doing my basics, so kind of dreading that haha. Anyway, not much more I can say here, but I do hope this helps somewhat, after all, it feels good to at least know some people tried to help rather than the topic completely being ignored like some people tend to do here right? anyway, good luck! Smile!
Oh! Lol! Didn't realize it was you Jess Hugs to you as well!
I believe any university is obligated to help you as far as education material and related services are concerned, that means scanning, readers, possibly lending you Daisy book readers etc. This was the case for my college education and my first semester of MBA. If that is what you mean by services you should be fine pretty much wherever you go.
For recommendations, you'll have to find teachers from high school or possibly managers from work to write you letters of recommenation, I don't thin there's any way around that.
For music major auditioning though I believe you hve to send a performance recording, at least where I went to college, those apply for music majoring and performance art had to send in recorded samples, and that'd be the way to go. Once you've found where you want to apply ask their admissions contact about this.
Thanks a bunch for the help I did get guys, I appreciate it.
Jess
I too am a returning college student. I haven't been in school for 4 years and going back was very hard but I am glad I made the decision to do so. One way to get in the music program is to go to a school with a good program, enter in with a different major then in as a junior, you apply to be in it. It's much easier to get in I hear if you do that. Were you ever in Choir in high school? I'd ask one of your former choir instructors to write a letter of recommendation if I were you. It never hurts to ask. Good luck and I hope everything works out for you.
Michelle
I'd recommend the FAFSA pell grant if you're going for an undergrad degree. Other posters have had some good ideas with regard to readers or scanners. Most states require a 6 month period of time that you're in the state until you're considdered a resident. This may differ from state to state, so do some research if needed. Do you sing in a church or community chior? Why not see about letters of recommendation from fellow members or chior directors. If you want a bit more variety, maybe you could take a career assessment test. I did one of these in high school, and it really helped me pick my college major.
Hey Jess,
All the suggestions of grants and scholarships have been good ones, but I think it's like Alicia said, DARS is required by law to pay for out-of-state schools up to the amount of the most expensive college in Texas. A lot of people have said that they won't, which means that they're breaking the law and need to be told what's what. I do volunteer work for the Center for Independent Living here in Memphis. I know there's at least one Center in Texas, and if you can get in touch with them, they can advocate for you. In the meantime, I'd look at the section of the Rehab Act that pertains to tuition and find out exactly what the law is. If you want, I can look it up for you when I get home today and give you my findings tomorrow. I'm sorry I can't really be of help on the performance major issue; that's a bit out of my area of expertise.
Best of luck,
Becky