Graphic Design Degree Fee

DEADLINE: 1st October 2017
Why am I doing this?
Because I love books. Books saved my life, books are my life.
Hi; my name is Cinzia, I'm twenty-five years old and I want to be a book designer: but I really need your help.

Whilst I am mainly known online as a bookish nerd who babbles out some poetry and philosophy from time to time, my roots are heavily set in the art world.
I started using photoshop when I was ten years old. The reason? Disney and Manga. I was obsessed with the idea of becoming a disney animator when I grew up, and as a hobby I decided to launch my own weekly online manga comic series at the age of thirteen. Drawing was my main escape route when I was a child; my mother was an artist, my grandfather had been an artist. Art ran through my family and it was the one talent I had that no child at school could take away from me. To cut a very long and complicated story short, I dropped art at age fifteen. I was encouraged at school to pursue "academic" subjects over humanities subjects in order to channel my future towards a more successful career path.

Here's the ironic twist: I took two degrees I English Literature and I work in a bookshop.
My inability to raise the immense finances to fund a PhD made my academic ambitions obsolete, and whilst I would never take back my two degrees (literature and books are my life), I can't help but feel I'm somewhat destined to remain unskilled for any career outside of the bookselling world with my only practical experience having been accomplished in said world.
In the past year however I had a small epiphany. For numerous personal reasons I returned back to the world of drawing; having been so academically focussed over the past ten years I completely set aside in my mind the very act of I doodling out of boredom. Until one day, around eight months ago, I doodled something. Then I doodled something else. Then I invested in some pencils and started drawing.

For so long I had forgotten how much of me existed in artistic expression, and throigh doodling I finally realised something.
I realised I could be a book designer.
This sudden epiphany six months ago ignited a passion and drive I had been lacking for years; having been knocked down by so many PhD and job applications since graduating I was feeling lost about where I wanted to go in life, or where I could go. Realising book design could be my ambition completely changed my attitude in life, and because of this I want to make changes as soon as possible.

This is why I set up this gofundme. To pay for my Diploma in graphic design.
I will be applying for a BA Graphic Design at IDI (University of Hertfordshere, online distance learning).
(To see the course details you would be submitting funding for you can use the following link https://idesigni.co.uk/courses/graphic-design/ba-hons/
)

This qualification will be undergone freelance, part-time over a 12 month period.
To take this course I have had to cut down my hours at my retail job to part-time which means my income will only get a lot iffier than it currently is (I currently live alone on minimum wage at 30 hours a week, which will drop to 22 hours when the course starts.)

This is very scary for me to do but I really want this out of life; I know I want to work in the graphic design world but without any formal qualifications backing up my artistic skill no employer will consider my job applications.

The dream is to be a book designer. The first step is to get a qualififcation in Graphic Design in order to start working in the design world and hopefully work my way up.
If you could help me that would be incredible. I would take out another bank loan but as I already have £47K+ student debt (including a heavy bank loan for my MSc degree which I am currently paying off), I would like to avoid digging myself into further debt and damaging my credit score rating even moreso (contrary to popular belief, us millennials don't want to eat just tinned vegetables and porridge, work minimum wage and rent our entire lives. We'd like to avoid more debt where possible).

Thank you so much for reading and even more so if you choose to support!

Much love and happy vibes,

Cinzia.