How Did You Survive Financially Through Academy

[TXFL1987]

For those of you who self-sponsored your way through the academy how did you afford to eat, rent, and other bills. It seems to me that with the academy consuming most of your day and studying after class that leaves zero time for a paying job?

I am not married so I have no one to depend on but I suppose it helps by lowering the amount of bills.

[vacbanned4]

Work a night job and go to day academy, or work a day job and go to night academy.

You can also work heavily on the weekends which supplements your income well.

Some good places to work would be Security, Food Service, Retail, and Office. On the weekends, things like cutting lawns, moving furniture, painting, etc., basically any odd job, would act nicely to supplement your income if you are not working full time.

While I was in academy, I was pushing 80 hour weeks between academy and work. It sucks, but after the 5-8 months are over (depending on full-time or part time academy), things slow down a lot.

[Leandrod08]

I am currently enrolled in the night part-time academy at PBSC and work during the day from 7 till 4, after work I go to the wellness center at the college to shower and go to the Academy, I'm barely home because I live in Broward County. money wise,I can manage to survive so far, with so much stuff to study it is hard, but I know in the long run will pay off.

[USMC0481]

The book work is pretty easy if youve done any type of college before or already have a degree. Even guys without degrees blow through it, so realistically you only have to look through the book a day before the test.

GI Bill, unemployment, loans, school loan, grants, scholarships, living with parents or relatives, getting a roommate or lower rent, saving up, part time job, weekend job, night job, night academy, etc. There are a lot of ways to make it through the academy if you put some thought into it. TBH and I know it sounds mean, but if someone cant figure out how to make it through 5 1/2 short months of an academy, they probably shouldn't be considering law enforcement in the first place. That wasn't aimed at you btw, just in general. I know some academies cost more than others, so moving closer to the cheaper ones is always an option too.

[kermit315]

I went through while being active duty Navy. I would get up to PT students at 0400ish, work at the base all day (I was on instructor duty at the time). I would leave my office about 1500, go home and change, get across town in traffic, and go to the academy from 1700-2200 every night, Monday through Friday.

I thought this was going to cost me a fortune in gas, uniforms, etc. However, I found that I qualified for Pell Grants, which ended up paying for my whole academy.

I would look into the Pell Grants before dipping into your GI Bill, and use that for higher education later.

Good luck.

[USMCPOG]

I went through while being active duty Navy. I would get up to PT students at 0400ish, work at the base all day (I was on instructor duty at the time). I would leave my office about 1500, go home and change, get across town in traffic, and go to the academy from 1700-2200 every night, Monday through Friday.

I thought this was going to cost me a fortune in gas, uniforms, etc. However, I found that I qualified for Pell Grants, which ended up paying for my whole academy.

I would look into the Pell Grants before dipping into your GI Bill, and use that for higher education later.

Good luck.

I would suggest using both because that extra spending cash can come in handy and the academy is only 5 1/2 months anyway, so you'll still have a lot left over for bachelors/masters degree. A word of caution though, you can only get the pell grant if you don't have a bachelors degree yet. I didn't know that and figured I would get one because I had before when I was in college, but it turned out not to be the case. Some guys are getting A LOT from their pell grants too.

[ChevyPower]

I was full time employed as a dispatcher during my academy time. You do it by loosing sleep. I went to a part time night academy, so 4 nights a week for 11 months. It took forever, but I couldn't have done a full time academy. As it was I pulled 7 day weeks for those 11 months.

I got lucky with mine. I had a supportive family that helped some. But I had guys going through it with me that had families and worked full time to support them and made it through. Nothing but respect for those guys.

[11B250]

I had the army pay for my academy tuition (FTA = Federal Tuition Asst)

I collected GI bill

I applied for a federal student loan which covered more of my bills

I worked sat-sun

I was fine.

consensus? join the military. pay your dues, and they'll pay your academy

I was also very lucky to have a supporting gf (wife now) who helped me out. but I was bringing in decent money to offset our living costs.

[Maverick1701]

work my old job on nights/weekends.
I also ate lots of ramen and put the kibosh on going out with friends to save money.

[GopherFanatic19]

Well, during my academy I would work during the weekends. To be honest, the weekends are when I would make most of my money, because working during the week was sort of slow, except Wednesday. Wednesday was a good night, because it is ladies night everywhere. I have to say I made a lot from being a male dancer. So if your not fat like 90% of the recruits then you can go do that and make 1500 plus a weekend, then money would not be an issue.