College at 27 years old....

I thought for sure when I was 17, and dropped out of High School, that I was never going to college. School wasn’t for me and I didn’t feel like paying money for school so why would I go to college? That lasted until I was 19 and got pregnant with my son. I was 19, living with my parents, just got fired from my job, and his dad was a loser. So I decided to make a better life for my son and I that I would go to school. So I enrolled in a community college about a 45 minute from where I lived up in Dayton, Oh.
 I waited until my son was one to attend any classes, so by this point I am 20. When I took the assessment classes to see what I would need to take my first semester. As I figured it was the Math, English, and Reading classes first. School wasn’t so bad. I was there by my own choice so it made it easier to pay attention. Only down fall was the 90 minute round trip. So my mom and my aunt decided to pay for a hotel for me once a month I would spend a week up in Dayton so I would be closer to school. That was fine except my mom still needed me some days at home to help watch my son, who she has had custody of since he was 6months old. Out of the 16 week semester I made it to every single class except *drum roll* the final week. My son came down with something and was pretty sick so I wanted to stay home with him. I could not get a hold of any of my teachers to try and reschedule my test so I ended up failing all my classes. I went back to that school for the next semester, but for some reason I didn’t stay with them. They had told me when I started because I was a single mom I would have an EFC of 0, meaning I would have to pay no out of pocket money for school, I would get financial aid from them. They did something, though, to piss me off, which happens a lot, and I quit the school. This won’t be the first time I quit college either, or switch school.

So after a year or two I decided it was time to try this again! So I enrolled into ITT for their new Criminal Justice Program, which is something I wanted to do since I was 17. My moms’ friend had a brother who was going there also and we just so happened to be in the same group (there were groups that had the same class schedule so we would go through the whole two years together) and asked if I would be willing to give him rides back and forth from school. I didn’t mind that at all because Bob was nice enough to help me out with gas every week.  I went through the first semester and got all A’s and was so proud of myself because I had not gotten an A in a class since the 8^th grade. Did I mention school was hell for me? Lol. Second semester comes around and about 2 or 3 weeks into the semester my classmates start to hear that if we decided to go to a 4 year college after ITT that NONE of our credits would transfer. We would have to start all over again! I was not having that at all! I was 21 or 22 so why would I want to get my Associates at 23 or 24 and try to go for my BA just to find out that I have to start all over again? So I quit that school. I told them to take my 12 credits and shove it!

At 24 I am feeling like a dumb ass for not having a college degree yet when it seemed like everyone around me already had theirs or was working on them. My little brother (only 19 months younger) was working on his degree and paying out of pocket for it as well. So it was taking him twice as long. I was proud of him for never quitting when all I was doing was quitting. Well anyways, I ended up going to the Cincinnati Job Corps Center which is a school for 16-24 year old who have already dropped out of High School, are about to drop out of high school, or was given the option of CJCC or Juvie .So I went there already with my GED (got it when I was 17) and decided jus t to get a trade .I spent 9 months in Business Tech and got certified as a secretary pretty much. As luck would have it I was never able to find a job.

Then I tried online College with the University of Phoenix. I last a month! I found it impossible to get a hold of my teachers when I had questions. When I would email them, it would take them over 5 days to get back to me. So AGAIN I quit and switched to Grand Canyon University Online. 

My mom wanted to “ship” me to AZ to get me away from my abusive boyfriend (no hitting, but A LOT of mental and emotional abuse) and since that is where GCU is at I could go ground instead of online. So I moved to AZ and had to leave my son with my mom (until they moved out 3 ½ months later) so I could go to school at GCU. I loved it there! I had such a blast. Although I could have done without the 4 hours round trip Metro ride! I met some pretty cool people and had some fun classes (except math which I failed). I got financial aid through them as well. Second semester comes around and my classes are even more fun. I was a freshman and I was in a 401 class, FBI Profiling. I LOVED that class. I did my final paper on Jack the RipperJ.  As luck would have it, I was unable to enroll for a third semester due to tuition issues. So I transferred to the local community college.

Glendale Community College was the largest community college I have ever seen! I enrolled for the summer classes. This was a mistake! Two 16 week classes shoved into 4 weeks! 2 hours a day for 4 days for one class! I attempted to take Psych 101 in that 4 week period. Um.. I FAILED! Lessoned learned, four weeks is too fast for my brain to comprehend Psych! I made it two semesters with that school as well. Then again, they wanted money I couldn’t afford to pay. So I dropped that school. 

Then God spilt the sea of doubt and I found Everest University Online August of 2010. I went through a really rough time in AZ (later blog) and had to move around a lot and the school was excellent with working with me. Now a year and 4 months later I am still with them, still working on my degree, and have no thoughts of quitting in my head. With the moves and everything my grades have been bad, so my GPA is pretty low, but I have not quit. I have taken classes I do not want to take, like intermediate algebra this term, but I keep going. I have about a year and a half (cause of grades) left until I graduate with my AA. Then I want to go to a four year college to get my BA in Psychology and Sociology. Followed by grad school for my masters in Psychology (hopefully all the way to a PhD).  I am now 2 months away from turning 28 and I am finally half way through my first degree! I refuse to be a quitter ever again!