Big Cypress National Preserve protects over 729,000 acres of freshwater wetlands in south Florida. Together with neighboring Everglades National Park, the preserve is essential to the health of the state’s diverse wildlife and marine estuaries. It’s also a place of stunning beauty and amazing outdoor experiences. Aerial photo by John Kellam, National Park Service.
Is the high cost of tuition and expenses keeping you from that college degree you want? All you need to do is to earn and save money while in college.
It’s no secret that the cost of higher education keeps climbing at a staggering rate as each year passes. It’s now routine for many to graduate with six figures in student loan debt. This is money that must be repaid since bankruptcy law currently makes it extremely difficult to discharge student loans.
Good news: You don’t have to face a mountain of student loan debt when you graduate.
There are several things you can do to dramatically lower your college expenses. You could save a bundle by implementing just one of these simple strategies, or you can really save big by using several of them simultaneously.
Most of the courses you take in the first two years of college are essentially a repeat of many of the courses you took in high school. So why do you have to take them again to earn college credit?
You don’t. It’s possible to earn college credit on many common subjects by taking and passing multiple-choice challenge exams.
There are three different types of exams you can use for this purpose: AP, CLEP, and DSST. Most schools will accept up to 30 credit hours of challenge exam credit, while some will accept up to 60. Exam study guides are available to help you prepare.
All three types of challenge exams are available for under $100 each and are routinely accepted by nearly 2,000 colleges and universities in the United States. Most challenge exams are worth three credits each, but some are worth up to six, making it an amazing deal.
See Also: 6 Low Paying College Degrees to Avoid
College textbooks often cost hundreds of dollars each, and your total book expense each semester can easily top $1,000. Did you know you can rent textbooks instead of buying them for just a fraction of the cost?
There are now several online companies that rent college textbooks. Finding them is easy. Just do an internet search for “textbook rental.”
How do you know you are renting the right textbook for a course? You may have to contact your instructor to find out for sure. The information you will need includes the book title, author, edition, and a special identification number known as the ISBN.
Community colleges represent one of the best deals in all of higher education. And if you qualify for the PELL Grant, you can even attend a community college for free.
Many community colleges have agreements with four-year schools that guarantee all of your credits will transfer. Why pay much more for the same courses at a four-year school when you can get them at a discount at a community college?
There are many high schools across the nation that have made agreements with local community colleges to award college credit for the completion of select high school courses. These arrangements are known as dual enrollment and represent an amazing way to earn a lot of college credit before you even graduate high school. As affordable as community college credit is, tuition is often discounted substantially for high school students.
Colleges and universities usually charge one rate for students living in-state and a much higher rate for students living out-of-state. There’s actually a good reason for this financial disparity. Schools are heavily subsidized by the taxpayers of each state. Naturally, they don’t want their tax money subsidizing students who live across state lines.
You can save big on tuition and other expenses by attending a school that is located in the state you live in. But if you absolutely have your heart set on attending a school in another state…
If you do plan on attending a school in another state, why not take a gap year in order to establish residency in that state before enrolling? You only have to live in a state for one year to qualify for in-state tuition.
It’s only one year.
You could work a job during this time, take some inexpensive online courses from a community college in your home state, or even take a few inexpensive challenge exams for college credit. There’s no reason why you can’t be productive in a gap year.
Although schools usually don’t advertise it, many have policies that allow full-time employees to take classes either for free or at a deep discount. It’s definitely worth checking with a school you are interested in to see what their policy is on employee tuition before enrolling.
One way you can take advantage of this is to work full-time at a school that offers free employee tuition that also offers online degree programs. You can then take online classes during your spare time and graduate either for free or owing very little. It usually doesn’t matter what type of work you do to qualify, as long as you are a full-time employee of the school you are attending.
To really save big on college expenses, you can easily combine two or more of these strategies. You could, for example, use challenge exam credit for your first year and community college credit for your second. This allows you to complete the first half of a bachelor’s degree for very little money.
See Also: How a 529 Plan Can Help You Save for Your College Education
Earning a college degree doesn’t have to be an expensive undertaking. By taking advantage of some simple strategies, you can graduate owing much less than your peers. All it takes is a little planning to make it happen.
The post 7 Ways to Save Money while Earning a College Degree appeared first on Dumb Little Man.
“LA CASA” de PAUL & SIGI is a private residence renovated by MXMA Architecture & Design. It is located in Montréal, Canada and was completed in 2016. “LA CASA” de PAUL & SIGI by MXMA Architecture & Design: “Located in the heart of Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, facing Lafontaine Park, this turn-of-the-20th-century duplex recently underwent a major interior transformation. The project, realized by MXMA Architecture and Design, was inspired by the..
From the architect. The Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition (MOCAPE) is part of the master plan for the Futian Cultural District, the new urban center of Shenzhen. The project combines two independent yet structurally unified institutions: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and the Planning Exhibition (PE) as a cultural meeting point and a venue for architectural exhibitions. The lobby, multifunctional exhibition halls, auditorium, conference rooms and service areas will be used jointly.
Both museums are designed as separate entities emphasizing their individual functional and artistic requirements and yet are merged in a monolithic body surrounded by a multifunctional facade. This transparent facade and a sophisticated internal lighting concept allow a deep view into the joint entrance and transitional areas between the buildings. From the inside, visitors are granted an unhindered view onto the city suggesting they are somewhere in a gently shaded outdoor area, an impression enhanced by 6 to 17 meter high, completely open and column-free exhibition areas.
Behind the entrance area between the museums, visitors ascend to the main level by ramps and escalators and enter the “Plaza”, which serves as a point of departure for tours of the museums. From the Plaza the rooms for cultural events, a multi-functional hall, several auditoriums and a library can be accessed.
A silvery shining and softly deformed “Cloud” serves as a central orientation and access element on the Plaza. On several floors the Cloud hosts a number of public functions such as a café, a book store and a museum store and it joins the exhibitions rooms of both museums with bridges and ramps. With its curved surface the Cloud opens into the space reflecting the idea of two museums under one roof.
The Urban Concept
The MOCAPE monolith completes the eastern part of the master plan for the city center and fills the last gap in the Futian Cultural District between the „Youth Activity Hall“ (YAH) to the north and the opera-library complex to the south.Similar to other buildings in this district, the main level of the MOCAPE lies 10 meters above the ground level and so creates a stage-like platform, which acts as a unifying element with the adjacent buildings.
Skin, Light and Energy Concept
The exterior skin consists of an outer layer of natural stone louvers and the actual climate envelope made from insulated glass. These elements form a dynamic surface, which is structurally independent from the mounting framework of the museum buildings. This functional exterior envelops the two museums, a vertical access and entertainment element (Cloud), the public Plaza, and the multifunctional base.
The technical building equipment is designed to reduce the overall need of external energy sources: Pollution free systems and facilities use renewable energy sources through solar and geothermal energy (with a ground water cooling system) and only systems with high energy efficiency have been implemented. The roof of the museum filters daylight for the exhibition rooms, which reduces the need for artificial lighting.
With this combination of state of the art technological components, a compact building volume, thermal insulation and efficient sun shading the MOCAPE is not only an architectural landmark but also an ecological and environmentally friendly benchmark project.
The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
~Nelson Mandela~
Success is seldom a straight road; it almost always involves many detours and dead ends. It takes tenacity and determination to keep going, but those that do will eventually reach their destination. For example, Thomas Edison failed over 1000 times but continued on despite being ridiculed by the media and those around him. What is it about those that refuse to quit long after most would have given up that makes them different? There are a number of attributes that consistently stand out amongst those who tenaciously follow their own path in life.
People who are able to develop a strong sense of who they are and what matters to them are much better able to resist external influences that will keep many people from reaching their potential. They are able to draw strength from within and therefore less likely to be influenced by what others think of them. This strong inner strength helps them deflect criticism, alienation, ridicule and other factors that everyone who forges their own path, inevitably faces. While they do make strong connections with others they have powerful internal filters that allows them to block out and ignore information they don’t find useful or of benefit to them. They are internally driven and believe that they are the best person to know and decide what is best for them.
When things don’t go according to plan, resilient people look for the learning in the situation and the lesson they can take away. They don’t view failure as final, rather a necessary learning step that will take them further along the path. Instead of taking setbacks personally, they are seen as an inevitable part of the learning process and mentally prepare themselves to deal with them. Resilient people do not lose the lesson when they fail to achieve their objectives. They are mentally prepared for setbacks and expect the goals that they set will require a lot of time effort and therefore lose little enthusiasm or confidence when things don’t go according to plan.
Resilient people are prepared for the long haul, fully realizing that anything worth achieving will be difficult and will take a great deal of time, effort and persistence. Despite not seeing any immediate results of their efforts, they are keenly aware that what their lives will look like in the future will be determined by their efforts today. Their strong sense of the future motivates them to take action even when they see no immediate benefit and don’t feel very motivated in the moment.
Whether it is a belief in a higher power, a strong sense of purpose, or a great sense of humor, resilient people have sources of strength they can rely on to get them through difficult situations. This decreases their sense to belong and rely upon others for motivation. They see their lives beyond the everyday routine and strongly feel the need to follow their own vision. Their motivation is intrinsic and they cannot be easily dissuaded from their chosen path by others.
Most people believe that not knowing how to do something and not being able to, are one and the same thing. Highly resilient people don’t let not knowing how to do something stop them. They believe that they will find a way. They have faith in their ability to overcome whatever obstacles are in their path. Expecting to find new situations uncomfortable and difficult, they are willing to accept this as part of the process.
Highly resilient people don’t suffer fools. It’s not that they never look to others for guidance and direction, it’s that they are very selective in who they chose to follow. They look for mentorship in people who have achieved greatly and whom they admire. Once they have found the people they chose to follow, they soak up all the information, guidance and inspiration they can by reading their books and listening to their spoken messages for insight.
Resilient people are no less susceptible to pressures and life’s stressors than anyone else, but they have developed healthy coping mechanisms they know can be counted on. Whether it is meditation, exercise or an all-encompassing hobby, they have proven methods that allow them to recharge their energy and get back into pursuing their passion. Personal growth and development for them is not a passing interest or flavor of the month, it is a way of life.
The post 7 Habits of Highly Resilient People appeared first on Change your thoughts.
Public spaces, squares, and parks in New York City are administered by the city’s Department of Parks & Recreation (NYC Parks).
In recent years, the agency has been responsible for creating new programs to help children, youth and adults be aware of the importance of caring for their urban landscape.
One of these programs is a TreesCount! which in 2015 gathered 2,300 volunteers to learn about the trees in their environment, what state they are in, what care they need, what their measurements are, and how they benefit the surrounding community, etc.
For months, they walked the streets of the five boroughs together with a group of monitors who previously trained them to recognize what trees they were studying and their characteristics.
Now the information gathered on these walks, which gave rise to an urban forest registry, is available on the New York City Tree Map. With it, you can view statistics on each of the 685,781 registered trees, a calendar of activities related to tree care, the total number of species and find out which is the most common tree in your neighborhood.
In terms of data for each tree, no detail was left out, since each one was assigned a unique ID number, as well a color indicating its species. In addition, it has its exact location accompanied by its corresponding image in Google Street View, the possibility of reporting any possible issues that may arise and a summary of the ecological benefits for each tree translated into an economic value.
This means that when choosing a tree on the map you can see the amount of rainwater it retains each year (expressed in gallons) and the money each individual specimen saves each year. The amount of electricity conserved is also estimated, calculated in kilowatts per hour (kWh), as well as the reduction of air pollution.
All these are formulated according to figures from U.S. Forest Service that estimate the total ecological benefits a tree gives in dollars. In the case of the tree in the image below, this one has a benefit for its population that amounts to slightly more than $500 USD each year.
If you want to check the map out for yourself click here.
Point Dume – California – USA (by ™ Pacheco)
Suspension Capilano Bridge in British-Columbia 📸: @shotswithsasz
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#canada #explorecanada #britishcolumbia #explorebritishcolumbia #bc #explorebc #beautiful #nature #landscape #capilanosuspensionbridge #forest #mountains #wanderlust #adventure #destination #canadiandestinations #viewsaddict #camerasnipers #instadaily #instagood (à Capilano Suspension Bridge Park)
💙 Red Fox 001 on 500px by Stephen Swofford, Denver, USA☀ Nikon… http://ift.tt/29gU9CV
Previously we had a look at some of the strange habits of top architects. From drinking on the job to polyphasic sleeping, it turns out famous architects are a bunch of weirdos. But what about the rest of us? It’s not just the famous architects who are weirdos—it’s simply impossible to spend such long periods of time on the job without picking up a few strange habits along the way. Whether it’s the way we work, the way we interact with buildings, or things that don’t even seem odd until a non-architect points them out, those in architecture have some pretty strange habits.
1. Spending five hours looking for the right font
2. Smugly carrying a Moleskine around everywhere
3. An uncanny ability to spend hours in your office/studio and get absolutely nothing done at all
4. Planning travel itineraries around buildings
5. Always feeling like you deserve a coffee break
6. Thinking Bjarke Ingels is a bit cute
7. Having imaginary conversations with Bjarke Ingels in the shower
8. Feeling up walls, columns, floors
9. Misplacing your metal ruler every five minutes
10. Misplacing your scale ruler every two minutes
11. Getting way too excited over a nice handrail
12. Dropping $30 (or more) on a pen
13. Getting aroused by heavy paper stock
14. Thinking you have better taste than your non-architect friends
15. Alienating your non-architect friends by saying things like “tectonic” and “how have you never heard of Bjarke Ingels?”
16. Feeling incredibly grateful for hi-res transparent .pngs
17. Having way too many layers open in Photoshop
18. Finding your wardrobe become more and more monochromatic
19. Really really appreciating a well-designed public toilet
20. Pointing out the thermal bridges in every steel building you see
21. Judging books by their cover
22. Having terrible time management despite years of thinking “this year will be different”
23. Including a famous building in your profile picture
24. Feeling disappointed that your profile picture doesn’t have as many likes as it should, because of non-architect friends who don’t get it
25. Abandoning your LinkedIn profile because you don’t like the way the website looks
26. Referring to architects by just their first name like “Zaha”
27. Referring to architects by made up nicknames like “Corby”
28. Referring to clients by made up nicknames… but only when they’re not around
29. Not being able to afford any of the furniture/gadgets/clothes you want
30. Waiting until payday to splash out on furniture/gadgets/clothes anyway
31. Religiously using Muji stationery
32. Getting starstruck around buildings
33. Watching reality tv shows with judging panels and thinking they’re nothing compared to client meetings you’ve been through
34. Feeling way too important when wearing hi vis and hard hat on site
35. Finding masking tape in your hair
36. Fully understanding the business card scene in American Psycho
37. Spending all day rearranging furniture in a plan drawing
38. Overestimating how much you can do in a day
39. Underestimating the time you spend scrolling through the internet looking for “inspiration”
