Anyone recently return to college in their 40's

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tjsoccermom
tjsoccermom Posts: 500 Member
in Chit-Chat
I'm considering return to college...and I'm 44. I have been to college but left in my 20's after having my daughter, just couldn't keep up with work, school and a child, although I wish I had toughed it out. So that was about 17 years ago. I don't know if my credits even count for anything, although I had a 3.8 GPA at the time and had the credits of a Junior. So, looking for some advice from anyone else that was in a similar situation and decided to return. I'd probably return for Nursing (although my credits are towards an HR degree), as my other interest is Social Work but it would take much longer for that degree to pay for itself. I don't have the funds on hand to pay for school and next year will have my oldest child going to college as well, but I'm tired of working low paying jobs because I don't have a piece of paper, so I'm hoping that I can figure out a way to make it work financially. I don't see a way to continue working full time and go to school as I have teens that I don't want to have too much time without mom around but if I keep putting off going back to school it becomes less and less financially worth it. Any advice/success stories? I think I partially have a fire in me to do this as I have lost a lot of weight and feel like I'm getting that part of my life in line, it's time to work on the next part of my improvement list.

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  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,841 Member
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    I finished my BS just a few years before 40 and I am still working on my Masters, and I am 45. My wife is 44 and just started back in August to finish her BS and has a few years. It is expensive up front, but eventually pays dividends down the road. Go for all the grants, scholarships and awards you can before looking at loans. There are TONS of funding sources out there if you put time into it. But don't get discouraged or overwhelmed. You can do it.

    PS - I work at a college too.
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,841 Member
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    I would add, we have two younger boys who are active in sports,as well as TONS of personal commitments that via for our time. For me, I did my BS completely online because I could work it in between everything. You WILL have to sacrifice something. For me I started staying up a bit later, and I did miss a few of the kids events, or parts of events/sports while I was dragging my laptop around looking for WIFI for I could post for my class. Just know it is work that is well worth it.

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