A Carpool Parking Permit Application: Fill & Download for Free

Get a job, work, save your money so you can pay your tuition, fees, books and course materials. Figure out what you will for your living arrangement. Have you talked with your parents (assuming that you’re living with your parents) about your post-high school plans? If not, you should! Find out if they will permit you to live at home, if they’re going to charge you rent, discuss all expectations (theirs and yours, including but not limited to curfews, chores, paying rent, contributing to the bills, etc.) and if they are, find out how much. How far is the community college from home? Do you live in an area in which there is good public transportation? If not, how do you plan to get to school? Will you carpool with someone? Do you drive, have a car? If not, and if you don’t have good public transportation, then you’ll need to get your driver’s license and buy a car. Having a car is expensive—not only because of the cost of the car, but you’ll have to insure it, get it inspected annually, pay the excise tax, put gas in it, and make sure you can maintain it or pay someone to do this (oil changes, new tires, new battery, etc.). It will also cost you to have a driver’s license, and as a younger person, particularly a male, your car insurance will be high. Some of the car costs may not be applicable in your state—I don’t know where you live, but if you live in Massachusetts, you are REQUIRED to have car insurance (and yes, males under the age of 25 pay the highest rates), you’ll have an annual bill for excise tax (based upon the value of your car and your garage/residence), plus gas, plus maintenance, and if you’re going to drive your car to school, the college will likely charge you for a parking permit so you can park there while you’re in class. The parking fees at the local community colleges in my area are $50.00 per year for students.What you should also do is contact your community college and find out when you need the placement tests, then plan your schedule for that. The community colleges in my area give them to incoming students over a period of a week or two, giving incoming students the option of choosing when to come in to take them. Many students opt to take them during the day, but those who work full time will take them on a Saturday or during one of the evenings the college has scheduled for the placement tests.Find out when new student orientation is, and go to it. Find out if you need to fill out any other paperwork (especially if you’re hoping to get financial aid), and make sure that you’ve submitted everything the college requires. Follow up with the appropriate office if you don’t hear from them. Find out when you can register for fall semester courses. Find out if you can meet with an advisor to discuss your college and career plans. If you can, schedule an appointment and go. Find out when the books, schedules, etc. will be available, and find out the college bookstore’s schedule. You won’t be able to get your books until you’re registered for courses, and once you are, shop around. Used books, unless they are in bad shape, are less expensive than new books. You can also find textbooks online (Amazon, ebay, Barnes & Noble), so you’ll be able to compare prices. Just pay careful attention to the edition, because you might find a textbook much cheaper elsewhere, but you’ll find it is NOT the edition required by the professor. Check out the library, and find out if there are textbooks on reserve (this means you’ll be able to borrow the textbook, using it only in library, to do your reading, instead of having to buy it). Find out whether the library has OER (Open Educational Resources) available to students. Check out the computer labs—if the labs have enough computers and are open enough hours, you will be able to use them instead of buying your own computer. Ask the library if they have Chromebooks and hotspots. If they do, it is likely that they loan them out to students.Find out about other support services offered. Do they have tutoring services for free to students who need them?If your long term educational goal is to earn a bachelor’s degree, you’re smart to begin at a community college. Tell your academic advisor that you plan to earn your bachelor’s degree, and ask him/her what YOU need to do while you’re at community college to ensure that you can transfer. Ask about curriculum, which 4 year colleges and universities with which they have agreements (many will have compacts or agreements which guarantee community college graduates admission provided the community college students earn above a certain grade or GPA and if they follow a certain curriculum). If you plan to go to a technical community college and learn a trade or earn a two year degree so you can enter a certain field, find out what you need to do, which employers hire grads of the program you hope to study, etc.