Yo Carlos!

My mom recently met you at a conference; she saw you speak and thought that maybe you might be able to help me.  I’m 22 years old and I’ve been out of school for 4 years.   I went to a technical school and got an associate’s degree in occupational studies in collision and refinishing technology.  I’ve got about $21,000.00 in student loans that I just started paying.   Here’s the thing.   I want to make a change in my life.  I want to go in a totally different direction.  After working with cars, I realize that it’s not my passion.  I’ve found my passion and it’s cooking, and I was planning to go back to school for culinary arts. The problem is that right now it’s looking a bit difficult because I already have student loans and a $26,000.00 car payment.  Should I stop fixing cars and start cooking?

Fixin' to Start Cookin'

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Dear Fixin',

Yes and yes.  Those are the answers to your questions:  Should you and can you.   Now let me break down the whys and hows.  Some people live their entire lives never finding something that they are passionate about.  You’ve been blessed to find your passion at 22 years old and now it’s your responsibility to take that dream and make it a reality.   Having dreams is awesome, but if we don’t do something with those dreams, if we don’t work to make them a reality, they become fantasy, and the fire that fuels passion gets extinguished.  Don’t let this happen.

Now for funding.  “Without a doubt, he has a lot of debt on his credit, but luckily, Student Federal Loans are not credit based,” says Lilyan A. Prado, Assistant Director of Financial Aid at the University of North Texas and one time spokesperson for the “Paying for College” bus tour.  “The first thing you should do is fill out your FAFSA.”  The FAFSA becomes available to you January 1st of each year.  “Even if you have $21,000 in student loans already,” Lilyan says, “as long as you have not defaulted on them, you should be able to apply for FAFSA, defer the outstanding loans while you are in school, and apply for additional aid if you need it.”

Aside from loans, you may want to apply for some scholarships.  You can try links like FastWeb.com ,  LatinoCollegeDollars.org, HACU.net, LULAC.org, CHCHI.org, NCLR.org and USHLI.com.  The deal with scholarships is that you have to keep trying.   “Applying for scholarships, realize that for every 20 you fill out, you may receive 2,” says Lilyan.   The applications may be long, but be smart and recycle your essays and recommendations.  Be organized and you’ll see that they pay off. 

Now there is one last thing to talk about.  You are going to have to figure out how to pay off those debts you have once you graduate from school.  Especially the car ($26,000.00, that’s got to be one heck of a ride.)    You are going to have to find a job that will not only let you pursue your passion, but let you pay the bills too.   One resource you can you is ONet Online (online.onetcenter.org.) ONet  is the nation's primary source of occupational information and sponsored by the US Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration. ONet provides comprehensive information (including salary and wages) on thousands of jobs.  This information will help you find a job that compliments your skills, passions and (in order to pay off those debts) your salary needs.  You could be head cook, a food service manager or an executive chef.  Check it out and choose wisely.

Lastly, I’m sure you are probably thinking, “who’s heard of a mechanic that becomes a chef?”   I have; it’s you!  Make your dreams  a reality.  I did.  When I graduated college I had a corporate job that paid me lots of money.  But it wasn’t my passion, my dream.  So I quit and took a job helping people start business for $5.15 an hour.  Many people said it was a mistake.  It turned out to be the greatest mistake of my life, because it led me to where I am today; happy, living my dream, following my passion.   Just like you will.  Start cooking!

Sincerely,

Carlos

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Yo Carlos,

I wanted to send you an email giving you an update of everything and say thank you for the advice. I have been attending a Culinary Academy since August and so far all is going well. I have a 3.63 GPA and almost half way through the program. 

Thanks for everything .

Fixin’ to Start Cookin’