20 years in the making!
My pursuit of a higher education has been sort of a whirlwind. I decided to return to school a few years after failing out of my freshman year - this was in 2005. All was well until my junior year when I was told that I hit my cap for financial aid.
I couldn't afford to pay out of pocket, so I had no other option but to put school on hold.
About 5 years later, got a job at a university with a paid tuition benefit. #great! Call my school and find out they added 6 more classes to my course of study....#ugh
Took the few classes that had transferable credits to my school. Laid off from the job a lil while later. Bye-bye tuition benefit. Oh, did I mention I was pregnant. #lovely
After paying off $75,000 of my prior student loan debt earlier in our marriage, my husband and I committed to remain debt-free and refused to add any more new student loan debt.
Had our beautiful son, got a new job and decided to finish school. Paid out of pocket for the last few classes and I finally finished. All set for graduation ceremony. Whole family made plans for celebration. But wait...registrars office says I still have one more class.
Since the error was on their part, the school paid for my final class, which I aced...and finally I can now say that I AM A COLLEGE GRADUATE!!
May not mean much to some, but this was a lesson of perseverance for me. I achieved what once seemed impossible. I trusted God. I put in the work. I didn't give up. I broke the streak of not finishing what I started. Now I can celebrate and be proud. After 20 long years, this reward is finally mine.