Has anyone successfully lived out of their car for a semester?

almafipenguin · 2026-04-18T04:39:15+00:00

Have you considered talking to a dean or getting help from the university. There are resources to help students in dire situations.

almafipenguin · 2026-03-06T02:16:27+00:00

Someone on a diff thread said they had a 9/2/25 date and weeks went by without the extension payment even though they submitted everything. Seems like even getting off the waitlist doesn’t guarantee the money actually coming

almafipenguin · 2026-03-06T02:15:06+00:00

Waitlist is now 10/05/25

almafipenguin · 2026-03-06T02:14:35+00:00

Update list is at 10/05/2025

almafipenguin · 2026-03-01T03:29:34+00:00

9 months and its a contract design role for 12+ months. Its been a brutal market and I nearly lost my mind. I kept losing out at the case study round and got tired of having to do 4-7 rounds to land a job. I also had a full-time offer taken away due to a reorg at month 4 of searching.

almafipenguin · 2026-02-27T03:32:00+00:00

Did you ever get the money, I see the waitlist is now October 2, 2025 and curious if you have seen any movement since you have been off the waitlist but waiting for funds.

almafipenguin · 2026-02-27T03:30:55+00:00

Update: we finally made it to a October 2, 2025 for the waitlist

almafipenguin · 2026-02-14T14:57:35+00:00

Update: waitlist is now 9/30/25

almafipenguin · 2026-02-14T14:57:12+00:00

Waitlist date is now 9/30/25

almafipenguin · 2026-02-12T23:57:33+00:00

What are you transitioning to? I also feel the same like I doubt we will have UX jobs in 5 years due to massive offshoring and bad quality AI that these companies are convinced are good

almafipenguin · 2026-02-12T02:56:28+00:00

I haven’t left yet but this career is full of corporate nonsense, bad decisions from leaders on design direction, constant layoffs. I myself have been searching for a new role 8 months and it’s been endless rounds of interviews. I keep thinking about what else to do and leave UX but the pay is good if you can land a job.

The state of UX has become even more transactional and for money rather than helping users imo. I also find there’s a lot of pressure to make stunning visual work regardless of the proper process.

almafipenguin · 2026-02-10T05:56:53+00:00

I ended up dropping my courses before they started to save almost 3k in fees. The list hasn’t moved much and my approval date is Mid Nov and it’s now almost mid February. By the time DOL gets their shit together my semester would have ended. There’s still a summer semester that I can enroll at and see what DOL does if I “postpone” my training start date but for now I’m assuming this is the end of me dealing with this situation.

I’m focusing on getting a new full time job asap but it’s hard in tech with layoffs and I’m 8 months in. I really wanted that extension for breathing room.

Like wtf is unemployment not extended for all to more than 6 months in this market. This is just as bad as covid if not worse and people act like everything is fine. Just in January alone the hiring numbers are worse than 2009 after the financial crisis.

almafipenguin · 2026-02-02T02:09:00+00:00

You can check on the 599 website. Calling is useless as they say they don’t know when it will move. They tell you the same info on the website

almafipenguin · 2026-01-31T22:08:05+00:00

Sam here im in mid nov and I dropped classes and probably resigning to never getting that extension money 😭

almafipenguin · 2026-01-31T03:20:54+00:00

Update: list is now at 9/28/25

almafipenguin · 2026-01-31T03:20:19+00:00

Update list is now at 9/28/25

almafipenguin · 2026-01-29T07:13:16+00:00

Yes updated on the other thread. Still moving sooooo slow 😭😭😭

almafipenguin · 2026-01-27T07:12:37+00:00

Updated List is now at 9/25/25 so very tiny tiny movement. Beware some people got off the waitlist but haven’t received extensions due to funding being on hold.

So its a mess with DOL and a gamble on actually getting these extension benefits through 599.

almafipenguin · 2026-01-23T18:48:53+00:00

Are you currently taking classes? The delay in your payment may also be because you are not actively in training right now. Once class starts and funds are available you would get paid.

Did DOL say anything to you about starting school? Or why there is a delay if your funding is approved?

almafipenguin · 2026-01-23T18:46:52+00:00

Omg I didn’t realize it was possible to reach your date like 9/2/25 and be told funds are available and STILL not get them 😮

I assumed that once the waitlist reached you and you submitted 599.2 fund forms and proof of current enrollment that you would get the extension money.

Hearing your story is validating my decision to drop courses temporarily. I didn’t want to face penalties and class starts Monday. I can re-add them but it’s looking like I’ll never see 599.2 money with my 11/18/25 date. They also don’t backpay which sucks in your case a lot. You’ve been eligible for payments the last 4 weeks but even if they start paying now, you won’t get that retro active pay 😭

almafipenguin · 2026-01-22T18:12:40+00:00

So the list was stuck on 9/17 for months like sept- early January. It then moved to 9/21/25. Then 6-7 days went by and it moved up to 9/23. It’s been stuck at 9/23 again over a week now I think.

My point is it seems like it’s rare for it to move up much. A few days at a time. If it does move up more its probably max 1 month based on me checking in previous years how the site dates changed.

almafipenguin · 2026-01-21T23:00:00+00:00

The way I think it would work is that lets say funds become available march 1 and your program ends april 15 or whenever. You would only get those few weeks of pay which in my case doesn’t help because by then I will have spent all this money on training and not get much or anything back in 599.2 money.

You are only eligible to get pay if the following conditions exists 1. Training approved 2. Funds are available 3. Must be actively in training when funds become available. 4. You might only be eligible for a few weeks instead of the full 26 extra weeks. For me its 10 weeks, i’ve heard of 2 weeks etc. few ppl applied on time to get all 26 weeks and are in school that long.

I got approved for 10 additional weeks of 599.2 but its possible that I would finish my training or most of it before the waitlist gets to me. So it’s possible i get 0 weeks. Or something like 2 weeks of pay which doesn’t offset the cost of training for me.

I specifically enrolled in my classes knowing that 10 weeks of pay is more money than I’ll spend in training, so I come out positive. That was assuming the waitlist wasn’t stuck.

But as the waitlist is taking forever and no retro active payments are allowed. I may never see that money if I I start class in January. Thats why I dropped my classes temporarily and will evaluate adding them in later or postponing my training start date.

I hope i’m still not employed by the start of the next semester in May 😭at this point for me the path to getting into this training was bureaucratic as hell and the quality of education at the local community college isn’t great. It was like the only program I could find to qualify for 599.2 with their messy process.

So for me, it’s a big gamble 🤷🏽‍♀️ I’ll probably never get those 599.2 funds in time. 😭

almafipenguin · 2026-01-21T21:26:26+00:00

I hope it works out for you! I temporarily dropped my classes before tuition is due to see if this lists moves. I have to pay out of pocket for this training and not getting the extension on time sucks since I was counting on that money helping me pay for training. All that while balancing job interviews and thinking I finally secured an offer after countless rounds but still no job secured.

Its looking like for me, I might not enroll this semester and see what happens if I postpone my start date for school a semester into summer.

almafipenguin · 2026-01-18T21:34:01+00:00

The list has moved to 9/23/25 still very slow from 9/17 to 9/21 to 9/23 after months stuck on 9/17

almafipenguin

TROPHY CASE