Crimson Wife

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness forgives loans after 10 years so long as you work for a non-profit (any public school, private schools run by non-profits, Early Intervention, non-profit hospitals, etc.)

Grad school is 3 years for out-of-field vs. only 2 years for someone with a bachelor's in CSD. The cost for a 2nd bachelor's at USU is $10,465 and a lot of my target grad schools charge way more than that for a year's worth of tuition.

In terms of the leveling vs. full 2nd bachelor's, one thing to keep in mind is that the fewer courses you take at the undergrad level, the more you'll have to take at the grad level paying $$$$ for graduate tuition. Also, a bachelor's in CSD is required in my state for SLP Assistant licensing. If I want to have the option of working as a SLPA either PT during grad school (like the Northern AZ summers-only program) or FT if I don't get in the first time around, I need to have the 2nd bachelor's.

I'm in my 3rd semester (doing 2-3 courses at a time) at Utah State. USU doesn't have every pre-req for every grad school (no neuroanatomy, fluency, voice disorders, multicultural, or autism) but it has most of them. Tuition is pretty reasonable (cheaper than Sacramento State or Cal State Northridge even though I'm a CA resident) at $299/credit. One reason I chose them is because USU has a strong graduate training program in Listening and Spoken Language for the deaf & hard-of-hearing. When I checked out the bios of the students who were in the LSL program, every single one of them had either a 1st or 2nd bachelor's from USU. So I got the sense that USU really favors its own undergrads in their grad admissions. That's something that I've heard is true for certain other schools (like many of the Cal States) and is worth checking into if your "dream" grad school offers a post-bacc/2nd bachelor's.

I've found the ASHA Special Interest Groups to be a great way to network with professionals working in my area of interest. Auditory-Verbal Therapy is something that can be done either as a SLP, an Aud.D., a Teacher of the Deaf, or as a PhD. in Speech & Hearing Science. Since CSDCAS forces the applicant to choose between either SLP and Aud.D. for any given app cycle, I found it helpful to ask the question on the SIG 9 (Hearing and Hearing Disorders in Childhood) forum and got a lot of great responses about the pros and cons of each option. Whether it helps my application or not is less important to me than building those connections, KWIM?

They offer summer intensives. I considered going last year while sending my hard-of-hearing child to their summer camp but ultimately chose a different parent-child workshop. I think if you expressed your intention to enroll in one prior to starting in the fall that would definitely help your application. http://www.gallaudet.edu/ccs/summer-asl-courses.html

I believe that you can start taking Utah State online CSD courses as a non-degree student while finishing up your bachelor's. They are relatively inexpensive ($299/credit hour for out-of-state) and that's cheaper than most grad schools. Even if you can only get 1 pre-req course out of the way per semester over the next 2 years, that could wind up shortening your grad school from 3 years to 2 1/2.

The academic language therapists I know have their own private practices and get more inquiries than they have available slots. A CALT with a master's in special ed could work as a reading specialist in public or private schools. SLP focuses on speech and oral language whereas ALT focuses on written language (both reading and writing). SLP's can get ALT certification if they go through the reading intervention training. I most likely will do so at some point. But a CALT who wants to add SLP to his/her practice would need to go get a master's in SLP. That's why I decided against doing the M.Ed. in Educational Therapy that I was in the middle of applying to last winter when we discovered my daughter's hearing loss. ETA: Here is more information about ALT/ed therapy: https://www.aetonline.org/CareerInET.html

Salus, Misercordia, Jackson State. There may be others that are non-CSDCAS.

The option for just the 3 clinical courses for those with a bachelor's in CSD is called "Advanced Placement standing". https://www.deltacollege.edu/div/hs/slpa.html I corresponded with the head of the SLPA program about my options for doing the full Associate's plus a few upper division leveling courses vs. just the SLPA certificate plus the full 2nd bachelor's in CSD. She advised doing the latter if I wanted to pursue my master's. It's more expensive but opens up more choices for grad school plus it makes me a stronger candidate for SLPA positions.

At the community college where I'm doing the SLPA program, only the 3 clinical courses are required for those who already have the bachelor's in CSD. I won't complete my 2nd bachelor's until the final semester of the SLPA program so I am required to take 1 pre-req and 1 co-req. But still way fewer courses than are required for the associate's degree.

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You could try checking your local community college to see if they offer a field practicum in either Special Ed or Early Childhood Ed that you could do. Then just arrange to do it in a language-delay or autism class. You won't get CSD credit but it would be relevant for your grad school apps.

According to CSDCAS, if you started an application this cycle and sent in your transcripts, etc. they will not retain the info for the 2016-2017 cycle unless you apply to at least one program. Bummer but at least there are a few late deadline programs like Salus (4/1), Jackson State (3/1), and Misericordia (3/1).

I have the impression that most post-bacc's are relatively open admission except for the handful that are guaranteed admission to the master's program (Loma Linda has one, not sure about others).

Most of the deadlines for starting this coming fall are either past or in the next 30 days. Given that you have not yet taken the GRE, I don't think it is a realistic goal to apply for next year. Might as well start the 2nd bachelor's since you will need to wait until next cycle to apply anyways.

Courses vary in credit hours. This past semester my observation course was 2 credits. One of the courses I'm taking in the spring is 4 credits.

Longwood says that their tuition is $350/credit so their 3 credit Audiology course is $1,050. That is MORE than USU.

USU's Intro to Audiology course is $897 for out-of-state students. Eastern NM might be cheaper but I'm not sure they offer every course every semester.

Manhattan Prep 5lb. book of practice problems. Be aware that programs typically want to see >300 combined V+Q and more heavily weight the verbal score.

Aside from UWEC, USU, and CSUN there are also Eastern NM and ID State. If you're looking to apply to the Cal States, both San Jose State and CSU East Bay in Hayward accept out-of-field applicants and you just go 3 years instead of 2 for the master's. Sac State and SF State require the 2nd bachelor's and I'm not sure about the other CSU's.

Utah State will let you start as a non-degree student this spring (January 11th start date) while they process your application for the 2nd bachelor's. Cal State Northridge will guarantee admission to their master's if you maintain a certain GPA in their post-bacc. If I were interested in doing a distance ed master's rather than an in-person one I would've chosen CSUN over USU for that reason. But USU has much cheaper tuition even for CA residents.

Typically with a PhD. in CSD you would complete the certification requirements for SLP licensing and after graduation you'd split your time between teaching, research, and treating patients. Also doctoral programs are typically funded vs. having to take out loans for a master's. If I were in my 20's rather than pushing 40, I'd be aiming for it since I'd love to be a professor. But in my 20's I had babies on the brain rather than figuring out what I wanted to do with myself careerwise.

About half of the programs that I'd be interested in accept out-of-field applicants. I've got a professional interest in working as an auditory-verbal therapist for the deaf and hard-of-hearing so my list is geared towards programs that offer a specialty track or work closely with an oral school for the dhh and/or a cochlear implant surgery center. I've been networking with AVT's in the field and asking their advice on which universities have relevant coursework and clinical placements. With your stats and interest in research, you might want to consider PhD. programs in CSD as well as master's. My husband keeps encouraging me to apply but I'm middle-aged and at this point I really don't think a doctorate is practical.