What the Future Might Look Like

Discussion Open Forum
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Hey, Y’all.

Can you believe that this year the HouseKitten is a high school Sr?! I sure can’t. We’ve been way down and a good way up a few times. I didn’t plan on raising a wonderful son alone, but I have. He’s nearly 18, has fantastic grades and a very, very bright future, full of potential. I am NOT at ALL ready for him to be grown and, honestly, I’m not going to good at letting him go completely. But, until recently, I thought I at least had some idea of what that might look like.

He’s been settled on microbiology as a field of study for a couple of years now, and wants to go to Johns Hopkins in Maryland. I’m unable to pay for it, but I have no doubt he’ll be able to earn all the scholarships he needs, and don’t see any reason he wouldn’t be accepted. So I thought I’d be driving him to Maryland, bawling, and then after dropping him off, going to look for my own new place to stay near-by–thus thwarting his plans of moving away! Ha!

But the world has turned both upside down and inside out. I am genuinely worried about the escalation of civil unrest in the US between now and January. There are people here (I’m deep in a red state, too) who are pushing hard to cause a civil war. The president needs an excuse to grab power and avoid/void an election. He knows if he loses, he’ll be prosecuted. At this point, his loss seems pretty likely.

I am FANTASTICALLY impressed with Taiwan’s response to COVED-19, but of course, the US is disastrously impacted and its people so ignorant that they refuse to wear masks, or wash hands, or stay the hell out of other’s space. There is no way to deal with this, under these conditions, other than to just let it kill those who are susceptible. This is just insane. When a vaccine is available, many won’t even take it.

The US economy is in the garbage, too, and it’s part of what’s driving the civil unrest. I’m fortunate because teachers are needed and because I’m licensed to teach high demand areas. In fact, I’m hoping this next school year to finally earn enough in one year to qualify for Taiwan’s Foreign expert visa–but that will likely fall short, as it always has. I keep hoping to make it because it’s my desire to retire to Taiwan–and I want to do that after this next year–or had planned to–maybe.

The plan was that the Kitten and I visit Taiwan next summer and then decide where he’d be. He’s still crazy allergic to seafood/fish. That’s another real concern. But I know I don’t want to stay in this country much longer. I miss my island home so much.

The other day, considering all these things, and considering that school here may return online only, the Kitten and I were talking about going back to Taiwan in the next couple of months. He could study from there. I could get better health care for my feet (which have become arthritic), and we could avoid living through more of this American madness.

But I’d have to find another path to permanent residency, & he might still have to move back here on his own for college. I couldn’t follow him to Maryland to thwart his plans of moving away.

One of the harder parts about single parenthood is trying to see far enough ahead to be prepared in case you face something you didn’t count on. You want to do this to keep it from impacting your child as much as possible. Well, I do. And I can’t see two steps ahead now. So I’m asking what you think. I’m not asking you to tell me what to do–and indeed probably won’t do whatever you try to tell me to do, to be honest. But I need a sounding board.

And, what are the right questions? CAN I travel to Taiwan right now? If I were Taiwan, I might not be happy to welcome Americans. I’ll be 49 later this year; is there an age limit to finding a good teaching job? (I used to know the answer to that one, but have been gone too long to remember.) And: if I move back to Taiwan again, I never want to move back here again–so permanent residency, some how, is a must.

Thanks for your thoughts. I’m sorry if this is a bit rambley.

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Taiwan is a relatively easy place to survive. Salary jobs won’t make you rich here, but you will be comfortable. And despite discriminatory laws against foreigners who are permanent residents, Taiwan is pretty accommodating to English speaking foreigners.

Your kid should look at the UK for school. Schools are half the price for the same caliber and it’s usually 3 years for a undergrad so you save 25% of the cost. It’s good for people who know what they want to study where as the US lets student study gen ed classes for 1-2 years before they need to pick a major. Imperial college is just as respected as Johns Hopkins in terms of STEM subjects like micro biology.

I looked at doing my masters in the US but went with the UK for finance. I got into a top 10 masters program in finance in the UK which costs about 30k USD. A top 10-20 masters program run 50k in the US and is usually 1.5-2 years. My program is only 1 year but it’s continuous besides 2 weeks off for Christmas. So runs from fall to end of summer.

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Andrew, thank you for the reply. My son was born on Taiwan and is a citizen, and I lived and worked there for many years.
I do really like your idea of UK study and I hadn’t even considered that. Thanks again.

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The UK is looking for non EU students now that they left. They need foreign talent now less EU students will go. Plus they want money with a slighter higher tuition for international students. If he can get into Johns Hopkins and get scholarships there, he has a good shot at a place like imperial college which dominates in STEM.

He should have no problem finding a job in the states with a respected Uni like Imperial or Oxbridge. And he would have Europe open to him. UK planned for graduates From the 2021 forward to also receive a 2 year grad visa that allows him to work. This is again to attract non EU talent. So he could also work in the UK without pressure of finding a work sponsorship visa right away.

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Thank you, Andrew. Great to hear. I’ll be speaking to him about this and contacting some Unis if he’s interested.

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Good luck. Johns Hopkins is also a fine school. Can’t go wrong.

Is he a US citizen as well? Federal loans should have lower interest rates this year if he wants to go that route. It’s one thing positive for students, interest rates have been slashed to near 0% to combat the virus ravaging the economy. Federal loans will also be lower this year as it’s based of the 10 year bond rate.

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Trying to avoid loans, as I really feel he won’t need them if he keeps working hard, as usual. They’re a real ball and chain in the States.

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Federal loans aren’t too bad if he takes out just a little. The rates are manageable if he gets a job in STEM. And they should be lower this year. I wouldn’t recommend anyone taking out 100k for creative writing, but 20k at 4% for micro biology isn’t too bad. He could probably pay that off in a year. Definitely shoot for as many scholarships as possible though.

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Welcome back Housecat!

As said, Housekitten is a citizen, he can come and have access to school and loans. He could even do a BA of his choice here and the Government would give him low interest loans to study post degree or specialization abroad.

Problem would be you. If you come in as a dependent of Housekitten, a relative, on family join visa, you would have to leave when he is 18. So, the only reasonable choice is a work visa. With your credentials, a high end foreigner school like TAS or even Kuang Chun/Cambridge makes sense. 5 years and you will have an APRC. Other choice if possible would be teaching college, if you have a master’s or PHD.

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Sorry, I have no suggestions but still wanted to say welcome back.

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… maybe, if the first half of 2020 is anything to go by.

but jokes aside, welcome back, Housecat!

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For microbiology Johns Hopkins is second to none. He should do it there if he can imo.

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true, but China is at the center of ground-breaking virus research and he’d be closer to outbreaks and their investigations

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closer to outbreaks and their coverups

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The Future? Only God knows. We should hope for the best and prepare for the worst I suppose.

oh and welcome back !!

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just a quick dig into Imperial’s fees structure shows you’d be charged as an overseas student, and this:

" As a guide, the Overseas and Islands rate of tuition for the 2020–21 academic year was £33,000 ."

which means it will become virtually free as the pound collapses.

I have placed a few students into Imperial’s courses (they have a very good electrical engineering school for example, which we don’t), and was astounded at their fees. Some of the highest in UK.

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Thanks for the warm welcome, guys! You never fail to make me feel all squooshy.

My son’s reaction to this new pandemic has surprised me. I thought, as he’s so interested in this kind of thing and can speak so intelligently about it, he’d be very interested to keep up on all the latest. In fact, he avoids new news and updates. He says that he wants to do research in this field because it’s the most likely to contribute to a cure for cancer, but watching so many here suffer and die is too sad and he doesn’t like to hear about it. That’s my kid. A big brain and a massive heart. Anyway, he did his own research and is pretty set on that school. But he also misses Taiwan. He also wants to live there again, at some point, but must constantly deal with food allergies there. It is very, very difficult for him to eat safely there.

I don’t know how this will be worked out. I do have an MA, Teaching. I qualify for the foreign expert visa program–except that no teacher in AR makes $60,000 without having maxed out the salary scale in a single district. I’m not ever likely to make that much. And being qualified for a good western school is one thing, but I’m older than most candidates and there are limited positions. I’m licensed to teach English, English as a Second Language, and Special Education. English teachers, even certified, are a dime a dozen on the island. Not much demand for Special Education there, usually. Traditionally, few special needs kids are seen in public schools, or at least, that’s the way I remember it. (Or you just don’t diagnose them and they’re thought of as disruptive.)

I kind of like the idea of a British uni alternative for the Kitten because he would not be here–and because I don’t know what it’s like there.

Also, Kitten may be able to study easily enough in Taiwan for a BA, but he hasn’t learned to read and write Mandarin. I know that’s an important omission, but you’ll have to forgive me. I’m only one person, not literate in Mandarin myself, and he’s off the charts good with the English! He’ll be studying Mandarin in HS next year and I hope he’ll learn much more when/if we return. He should. He picked up Cantonese quickly when we were in China.

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Not free yet! That’s $41,626 US. Wow. Similar to a year’s salary for me.

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if going to Taiwan Univ. is one of his opinions, you may better to check some regulations.

If he has HHR, he cannot be accepted as a foreign student. To be accepted as an overseas Chinese students, maybe he should not stay in Taiwan for more than 120 or so days per year. If not, he should be accepted by the same criteria with local kids.

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I believe Johns Hopkins is over 50k now. This is why I recommend the UK. Even the most expensive schools I’ve looked at was around 42k. In the US going to elite schools are over 50k and 4 years. UK undergrad is usually 3. So take that into consideration. You will save 1 year of tuition.

He could also have a masters and BS degree in 4 years in the UK if he wanted.

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