Embracing Individuality in the Pursuit of Dreams

Hearing the deafening echo of the gavel as it slammed down in the courtroom, I knew my destiny was to be a criminal defense attorney. Fast forward to my second semester of freshman year at Arizona State University, and the world had other plans for me. As we navigate through the maze of higher education in this latest episode of Infuse YOU, I take you on my journey from a first-generation college graduate to a business management professional. We grapple with the tough questions - the necessity of a college degree, the magnitude of student loan debt, and the proposition of free education.

As we delve deeper into the realm of higher education, we will unravel differing perspectives, backed by recent articles and research. We'll discuss the two-edged sword of free college tuition, the declining college enrollment rates in the U.S., and viable alternatives like free or low-cost programs abroad. Each one of us has a unique path, a story to tell. It's time we embrace our individuality, without the burden of societal expectations, just as my oldest son did when he chose to follow his passion for cinematography and more outside the traditional college setting. Join me in this enlightening discussion on education, personal growth, and the pursuit of dreams.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Welcome to season two of the Infusion podcast. My name is Teresa and I am your host. I'm excited to be back for another season. The goal of this podcast is to help women and young girls fill up their cups. Oftentimes, we are so focused on helping and supporting others that we forget to take care of ourselves too. My mission is to spread love and joy through movement, education and motivation. Today, we will dive into a discussion about higher education. Should young adults be forced by their families to attend college? Should you attend even if the career field you decide to work in doesn't require it? Should it be free? We're going to talk about this and much more, but before we dive into the discussion and the information that I've researched, I would like to share my perspective and my journey.

Speaker 1: 0:54

In my immediate family, I was the only child of four who graduated from high school, so the pressure for me to continue on to college was great, as you can imagine. However, my love for criminal law and the legal educational experience that I participated in during high school led me to want to pursue a career as a criminal defense attorney. Knowing that this type of profession had specific educational requirements, I already had my mindset on going to college and then on to law school. I was fortunate to have earned a college scholarship while still in high school through a program called ACE. This program allowed me to take on-campus college courses on Saturdays during the normal school year and then on weekdays during the summer. So when I graduated from high school, I had already earned 23 college credits. So I was well on my way and excited for what was next to come.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Fast forward to my second semester of freshman year at Arizona State University and I had to drop out because I was pregnant and very sick. After having my first child, I thought of returning to school to pursue my dreams of being an attorney, but there were so many roadblocks that kept coming up that I decided it wasn't for me. I'm one of those individuals who loves learning and I love school. I would go to school sick. My parents would have to make me stay home. I didn't care if I was sick or not. I was getting up. I didn't want to miss school. I loved having perfect attendance.

Speaker 1: 2:14

So although my dreams of becoming an attorney had faded away, I still wanted to get a degree in something. So there was. I was searching online, looking at degree programs, what was available, how much it was going to cost, and I finally settled on going back to school to get my bachelor's degree in business management. I received both my bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Phoenix while working full-time, being a mom and being a wife. It was very challenging, but it was also very rewarding. There were no major scholarships available to adults returning to school, so I did what most people did when they don't have funds to pay for college and I took out student loans.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Now, with over $80,000 in student loan debts to pay back, I asked myself was it all worth it? Have you ever thought about starting your own podcast? Do you like to talk to people? Do you have something to share with the world? Well, if that is, you, just like I was. I was so confused, didn't know where to start, what tools to use, what tools I needed, but I'm so excited to be partnering with Buzz Sprouts. They helped me kickstart my podcast. They have all of the resources that you need, both in written form and also YouTube tutorials, and if you sign up for their paid plan, you will receive a $20 credit if you use the link in my profile bio and you will also be helping to support the Infugee podcast Three, two, one.

Speaker 1: 3:35

I have very mixed emotions about it. On the one hand, I'm proud of myself for not giving up on getting a college degree, but then I look at all the job positions I've been blessed to have throughout my life and wonder did my degrees really make a difference in my ability to secure those jobs, especially the jobs early on in my career? In my personal opinion, the cost of attending college is outrageous, and there are not enough grant funding for those that qualify, so people are left with no other choice but to take out student loans that they can't afford to pay back, because most jobs that they receive after they've graduated from college don't even pay enough to pay their regular bills at home. So now that you've heard my perspective, I would like to share a little bit more on this topic from other perspectives.

Speaker 1: 4:18

A May 2022 article in the New York Times online that was written by Cali Holterman discusses the pros and cons of free college tuition, after the state of New Mexico passed a new state law that would allow the use of their 1% of their budget to cover tuition at public colleges and universities, regardless of family income. Now, of course, some lawmakers and others have criticized this new law, stating that there should be some type of income cap in case the state is unable to support this funding long term. In addition, they are also trying to understand why this funding is available to inmates and immigrants regardless of their immigration status. The article goes on to share that other states are working to come up with their own plans for tuition assistance, and some others have provided free college to residents who were essential workers during the pandemic, and then any adults that want to attend college ages 25 and older. There are various other initiatives that are being pushed, and the reason for this is due to college enrollment declining. There is a college enrollment crisis in the United States. Total undergraduate enrollment fell by 6.6% from 2019 to 2021, and this was according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. In the past three decades, the average cost of attending a private college in the US has tripled, at about $50,000 per year. So I wondered and I looked this up because I wanted to know what are other countries besides the United States doing about higher education? Another article that I pulled up was written by Lisa Goats, and it's on Investopediacom, and this article discusses the increased cost of US college tuition.

Speaker 1: 6:07

Having prospective college students thinking about pursuing a degree abroad, because there are some countries that offer free college. Among the list of countries offering free or low cost programs with studies that are available entirely in English are Norway, finland, sweden, germany, france and Denmark. However, some of those countries do have their own stipulations, such as some of them require you to have at least one year of college completed before you can transfer into one of their programs, and then others require you to be a doctoral student before you can enroll in their program. Another thing that Lisa calls out and mentions is that prospective students should consider that the cost of living abroad can be higher than that in the United States. So moving abroad may not be the solution. Even though there's free college tuition there, the cost of living may be higher than that in the US. So brings me to my next question what should prospective students do if they want to pursue a college education but their families can't afford it, and the families don't want to be drowned down in student loan debt? Should they pursue colleges and states that offer free or low cost tuition? Should they try to figure out a college that will work for them abroad that offers this, or should they just choose a career that doesn't require a college degree? Well, these are all very good questions and they're very difficult ones for prospective students and families to answer without doing their own research and finding out what will work best for them.

Speaker 1: 7:52

I always tell people that we are all uniquely made. No one person individual, no one family situation. It's all different. So everyone has to stop comparing their situation to what their friends are doing. Parents, stop comparing what other parents are doing versus what you decide to do for your child. And lastly, as parents, we can't compare what we did. We can't compare our journey to what our kids should be doing, because we grew up in a different time. There's different opportunities that are available to them that weren't available to us back then. Everyone's life journey is different.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Our oldest son set out on his college journey at a community college to pursue his degree in cinematography, but once the pandemic hit and schools went to virtual, that put a damper on him and many other first-time college students' college experience the college experience is all about going to the campus. You know being there with the other students, going to the college events. You know meeting people and experiencing all the things that college has to offer. So when they changed that to virtual, that took all of that away, and for first-time college students it put a damper on everything, right? So he decided that college wasn't for him at that time, but he never stopped learning. He did a lot of self-learning online and researching different things that he was interested in, and since then he's become a photo and videographer. He does that professionally not full-time but he's learned and taught himself how to do that. He has his own fashion company, he's taught himself how to sew and he's selling his custom pieces online, and he's been able to travel to places that my husband and I have never been able to travel to. He's done all of this at the age of 22. So I can only imagine what life will look like for him at the age of 30.

Speaker 1: 9:48

Our son is among the many talented people who have been able to find their way in the world and be successful without having a college degree. As his mom and a dual degree holder, I was bummed at first when he decided not to stay in college. However, we've always taught him that when we make decisions in life, we have to live with that decision and any good or bad that comes from it. So, again, decide what works best for you when it comes to higher education. Don't let anyone tell you that the decision you are making is not right, because if it's right for you, then it's right. I'm super excited to share that.

Speaker 1: 10:27

This September, I will be doing a weekend recap special episode of the Infusion podcast covering the Gaines Fit Retreat. If you haven't heard about it, go to gainsfitretreatcom. I will be presenting as an instructor at the Dance Cruise on Friday night, also presenting EDM body fitness on Saturday morning and my Cultivating your Confidence Workshop on Saturday morning. It is a weekend fun, filled with fitness and all the things. So make sure you follow Gaines Fit on Facebook and on Instagram. If you want more information, hit me up, but we will have a special episode that weekend. The retreat goes down September 14th through the 18th in Las Vegas, nevada. Stay tuned. Tune in next week as we celebrate and share the history of International Left Handers Day. Yes, I'm a lefty and I'm proud of it. You have been listening to the Infusion podcast. I hope that something was said today that will help you along your life journey. Until next time, continue to do you, be you and infuse you. Be blessed.