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In desperate straits, need to find a way to make money, but how?

Asked by hug_of_war (10735points) December 11th, 2015

I’m about to fail out of my master’s program in speech pathology. The details don’t matter at this point, I’ve been through the remediation process and despite my best efforts I just can’t seem to pass the swallowing studies portion of my learning outcomes. Im NOT looking for advice on fighting this, or anything like that.

But I don’t know what to do now. I am majorly in debt due to loans, and now I have no chance of getting a decent job to pay them off. I have about $5000 to live on now.

Additional Complications:
1. I have low vision and can’t drive. I don’t qualify for any services, yes I’ve checked.
2. I have Asperger’s, and I have been fired from retail-type jobs before. Combined with my vision, it’s really hard for me to do the typical minimal-wage jobs because they 1. require people skills I can’t seem to get and 2. have unpredictable hours which is a problem as buses don’t run much at night.
3. My school health insurance runs out in December, I don’t qualify for Obamacare because I have no income, and I don’t qualify for medicare?/Medicaid? in my state because I have too much in resources es, according to them.
4. Moving home would be difficult because my mom sold our house and now everyone lives in small, 1 bedroom apartments, and it would only be a temporary solution.
5. I don’t have any friends.

I was at one point unemployed for a year, and despite spending 6+ hours for that whole year every day looking for a job, I only had 2 interviews, none leading anywhere. I did work for 2 years thanks to nepotism, but that position was eliminated when I left for graduate school, and due to budgetary concerns, is unlikely to be an option anytime soon. I also tried really hard to find a roommate, but I can’t act normal enough I guess. After meeting people, it was just a long string of rejections.

My bachelor’s is in speech pathology as well. As I said, it didn’t help me find any jobs. I don’t know what to do. I feel the walls of life caving in on me, and I’m scared. I already have loans from undergrad, and I’ve already used up some of my 3 year deferment time (during that year I was unemployed).

This is my second time failing out of college, so I’m not feeling great, but I can’t afford to talk to someone. This has been a really bad year, with moving here, having some injuries, losing my best friend to suicide, struggling to pass this class, and seeing all my classmates get to go on their internships while I’ve been on academic probation.

My question is, what do I do to just make some money to survive? I have no skills obviously. I suck at math. I have transportation difficulties, I don’t have a support system, and despite seeming normal I can’t seem to connect to people and I guess I weird them out, and I’m ugly and fat so I can’t even prostitute myself. I don’t want to be homeless. I’m devastated I don’t get to do this thing that I loved, where I got to help people, and finally, for once, be someone worthy of living, but that is secondary to surviving at this point. So I need to know how to figure out how to earn some money.

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