<p>Just saw an acquaintance whose D has to work to help support their two-person household. She said D tried going to school while working but it was too hard, so she’s now just working. I know others who have also had a lot of trouble shouldering working full-time & taking courses, part or full-time. It really gives you more perpective. The sad thing is the acquaintance is the only one of her extended family who went to college (& got her degree). She’s working at the deli department of the grocery store & only two member sof the extended family has attempted college since then, including her D who doesn’t think she’ll be able to balance it while working. Her niece is attempting community college while working fairly long hours as a PriceBuster manager.</p>
<p>I started working at 14 to save for college, worked 30 hours a week undergrad and full-time during grad school. I finished undergrad one semester early; it took me a little longer than normal to finish grad school. </p>
<p>Fortunately, I was only supporting myself during undergrad but was married and had a baby near the end of grad school. </p>
<p>I still had time to have fun by scheduling study and play time. The key is time management and motivation.</p>
<p>Travel time can be a big issue with this, as well as major. Several members of my extended family have worked and gone to college, but no one has completely supported themselves plus paid tuition, particularly at today’s rates!</p>
<p>HiMom: I can’t believe she’s giving up so easily. Encourage her to return to school part time if a full course load is too taxing. As over30 says, time management & motivation are the key. I always worked plenty of retail hours as an undergrad while handling the family’s housework, cooking, banking, etc. for my widowed working mom. Both hubby & I worked & earned degreees in the evening while juggling household & kids’ needs. It absolutely can be done. Maybe this young lady could benefit from a bit of guidance counseling. Does her school provide any?</p>
<p>Is her mom working at a deli counter with a college degree? Or is that the daughter’s job?</p>
<p>I agree with Stickershock. The girl needs more encouragement to stay in college, not people who probably are supporting her leaving school. I suspect that some of her family and friends might have felt threatened by the fact that she was in college and working, so they may have told her that she was doing too much. </p>
<p>Even though she’s working fulltime, with good time managment and high motivation, she should be able to at least take one-two courses a semester. She also could look into taking on-line courses.</p>
<p>I know plenty of people who have worked fulltime and finished college even though they also had kids. I even knew one woman who had 5 school age kids, a husband, a fulltime job at the post office, and still managed to graduate with honors from a 4-year college in Detroit. One of my friends was a single mom of 3 school aged kids who got a BA/Masters while commuting about 400 miles roundtrip to college while also working fulltime.</p>
<p>When I went to Harvard, I worked 10-30 hours a week during the school year, and up to 60 hours a week during the summer, and graduated on time. It really is possible to do such things – if one is serious about one’s education.</p>
<p>Where there’s a will, there’s a way.</p>
<p>Northstarmom: Good points about the possible negative family dynamics. Most of the CC posters come from a world where college is unquestionably the next step for h.s. kids. In some family situations, the risk-taker who attempts college is knocked down. Friends, particularly, may be jealous & threatened as she tries to better herself.</p>
<p>I just received the invitation to a college graduation party which a young colleague of mine is throwing for herself. She is over 30 years old, works full time and has been working toward this degree for over 7 years. She is the first in her family of 11 children to obtain a degree. Actually, she is throwing the party jointly with her younger sister who will graduate shortly after her. This younger sister went through on a more conventional 4-5 year plan. Older sister has forged the way inspiring her younger siblings to consider options for their futures beyond what anyone in their spheres of influence have ever pursued before.</p>
<p>Her achievement trumps virtually anything we see here on cc, imho. It took perseverance, commitment, devotion to her goal; it took not only herculean efforts of time management but scrimping, saving and investing in herself. I’m sure she doesn’t know from “Tier 1” schools versus any other tier. I am proud of our kids, don’t get me wrong. But they get a lot of perks along with their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree - name recognition schools, 4 years of on-campus living, someone else footing much or all of the bill (in many cases),… They had GCs and us parents to guide them. She has done this truly on her own.</p>
<p>Also, I agree that family cultures can be very anti-college. I know of one young woman whose in-laws’ reaction to her plan to get a Master’s degree was, in effect, “who does she think <em>she</em> is?”</p>
<p>ya know whats really hard-IMO?
not just going to school when you also are working- but going to school when you have kids!
The pain was- my H worked second shift so while I went to school during the day- I had to be home to get them from school- and then really hard to do homework- I used to lock myself in the car</p>
<p>The mom has a college degree & is working at the deli counter, so not really much of an inspiration for the D. I don’t think the D has much support to do what it takes to juggle college & job–not even sure about her academic motivation. Don’t really know the D well or see her (she was in my niece’s GS troop), but is still struck by how fortunate most of the CC kids & families are to have the support & encouragement to further their education. That is an important resource that some families simply don’t have.</p>
<p>Support and encouragement from others is a key resource, but better yet, the individual will to succeed. It trumps all.</p>
<p>Yes, individual will to succeed is the most important thing, but the support & encouragement are wonderful resources that can help reinforce the individual’s will to succeed, especially when things are tough.</p>
<p>My H was an orphan who put himself through college and worked along the way. He went to college and worked part-time and also was an RA in his dorm which helped pay for room and board. Then he worked summers full-time to pay for tuition. He was a first generation college graduate and the only one of his siblings who graduated college. It can be done with a lot of hard work and perseverence.</p>