I need some advice, preferably from OIT graduates/ students who had an out-of-state externship.

I live in Eugene, Oregon. OIT is in Klamath falls Oregon, and it’s the only Oregon program for Sonography. I plan on saving up over the next year to possibly move there and attend OIT post-completion of my prerequisites.

My issue is, the senior year is a year long externship. All good and dandy, but their externship is lottery selection based, and they have more out of state externships than in state. I can’t afford to move out of state for a year, pay bills, and work for free simultaneously.

I can go to school for two years and hope I get an Oregon based externship, or waste those two years by not being able to afford to move. They have externships across the country; New York, Texas, Wyoming, Alaska, etc.

I guess I’m looking for advice on how to accomplish it/hear from people who’ve done it. Right now, the only option I’d have is to take out a chunk of student loans to live off for that year. I’ll have to cover the cost of tuition during the externship as well. How do they expect is to live while practically being forced to move and work for free?