Note: My handle changed from @VLRAmyCurtis to @RantyAmyCurtis because of changes to the site where I did (and will do again soon), my radio show. Since I'm not affiliated with VLR (which stood for Vigilant Liberty Radio), I changed it. Someone else has apparently snapped up the old handle but that's not me or affiliated with me in any way.

I'm Amy and many of you know my from Twitter as @RantyAmyCurtis (formerly @VLRAmyCurtis). If you follow me there, you know 2016 has been a tough year for me, personally and professionally.


In 2001, I entered my undergraduate studies at Alverno College with the goal of becoming a teacher. Dissatisfied with my first semester of teaching, I switched my minor to Professional Communications and decided to become a journalist.  In 2008, I decided to really get serious about writing as a profession. I returned to Mount Mary University (formerly known as Mount Mary College) and worked on my MA in English. I changed jobs while in graduate school and was soon pregnant with my second son. Shortly before his arrival, I left my job and decided I’d had enough of working in cubicles. I started taking education classes again with the hopes of finally finishing my teaching certificate. I graduated with my MA in May of 2011, and looked forward to finishing my student teaching and getting a classroom of my very own. Family obligations put my degree on hold yet again.

Fast forward to 2014, and I was in a new job but still sitting in a cubicle. I liked the work and my colleagues, but I longed for something more. I wanted a career with a purpose and I wanted to go back to teaching. I found an alternative certification program, applied, and spent 2015 learning how to teach while going to school. It was the hardest year of my life. And I learned, much to my chagrin, that teaching was actually not the profession for me. I loved my students and fellow teachers, but the demands of being a “newbie” and trying to learn the profession while working in the profession proved to be too much. I felt like a failure and I had let many people, myself included, down.

And as my short-lived teaching career was coming to an end, so was my marriage of nearly eleven years. And I have three young sons - ages 9, 6, and 3 - to support now.

I was truly starting over in every possible way.

I was excited about enrolling in the BSN program until it became clear I couldn't financially afford it. Not even with financial aid, which won't cover the tuition and won't be enough to get me through the program.

I will have 8 semesters where I would need to pay $1,600 out of pocket, excluding books, and then 1-2 more semesters of full tuition, excluding books, at $9000/semester. So I would need about $30,000 to cover the expenses.

It would mean the world to me to complete my BSN and be able to support myself and my sons, and I would be eternally thankful to anyone who donated and, as best as I could, I would pay back those who wanted me to.

Any additional funds would go to books, emergency living expenses, and paying down prior student loan debt (just so you know it won't be spent wastefully).

Thank you all!