I've Loved Her In Secret, I've Loved Her Out Loud

After my semester ends on Sunday, I’ll only have 1 class to take and then I’ll be graduating next May! 🎓

I can’t believe that I’m this close! 😭

Been chasing the dream since I was 18.

From high school dropout to Bachelor’s degree has certainly been a journey!!

Next up in a few years, going to graduate school!

1/4 of my tuition for this semester has been paid!

My tuition cost with no financial aid for this semester was $3,400.

I got an email yesterday saying that the funding from the state increased the aid amount for all students. The change means that I get the same amount of grant money as full-time students even though I’m only going part-time.

My payments are way more reasonable now! 😭

I feel so woefully unprepared for school next week.

I know it’s because I did everything so last minute.

I didn’t even have school on my radar this soon until my financial aid office messaged me.

There was definitely a little serendipity that took place.

I work at a local technical college and they just announced a partnership with my university like a year ago. My university has academic advisors that now work in the same office as I do.

I’d never seen my academic advisor in person because we always had virtual meetings. I walked past her and I immediately recognized her. It happened on my second day at work.

That chance encounter and the e-mail were the catalyst to everything.

If everything goes according to plan, I’ll graduate next spring. 🤞🏾

This is my buddy Grad Pitt.

I have him on my desk at home and on my work desks.

Seeing him every day is a reminder of my goals and my dreams.

The little grant money that I have leftover isn’t enough to cover the rest of my tuition.

Scholarships aren’t really an option.

My classes start next week and I’m already working 2 jobs with 1 day off.

I have no idea how I’m going to juggle all of that, but I’m determined to find a way to succeed.

I have to write the most important paper of my life (so far) and for once, I'm really nervous about it.

In order to get my Bachelor's, I have 18 credits left to take.

That leaves me with 3 specific classes left and 9 "other" credits to get me to the 120 credit requirement to graduate.

My academic advisor says that for the 9 other credits, I can apply to their Work Experience Credit for Prior Learning program instead of taking 3 more classes.

I just have to write about my work experiences and essentially explain why my jobs should be considered for academic credit.

Had my first official day of work today.

Everyone was really nice and it seems like a good team environment.

I really do think that higher education just suits me well.

Higher education really is my passion.

Even though I don’t have the money to finish my last 2 semesters to get my Bachelor’s, my main goal is still to get my Master’s in Higher Education.

I feel like I was built for this.

Unfortunately, I can’t afford to pay for my last 2 semesters of school because I’ve run out of financial aid.

I’m disappointed, but ultimately, it’s my fault that I ended up here.

I hope that I can save enough money over the next few years to finish my degree. 🤞🏾

I’ll be able to get financial aid for my Master’s degree whenever I’m ready to start.

Just finished my spring semester.

I have about a month free before my summer semester starts!

I'm experimenting with what kind of music I want to listen to while studying and writing papers.

So far, I think I like this classical music study playlist.

I just absolutely love going into Finals week and waiting on my instructor to grade our last paper. 🙃

Me turning in a paper due at 11:59 PM at 11:55 PM

I'm looking up some different TED Talks for an assignment and there are some truly fucking weird and unhinged topics.

I have an assignment where I have to write about my biggest regret in life.

I've known about this assignment for months and I still don't have an answer.

Well, technically, I have an answer. But it's just so deeply personal that I don't know if I want to write about it. I understand that it's just an assignment and it's not like it's going to be plastered on the internet or anything. Still, I feel weird about it.

I'm looking at school options for my Masters and it's actually kind of scary.

I'll definitely apply to probably at least 5 of them just to be on the safe side.

I've never had to go through the process of applying to school and worrying about being denied since I got automatic acceptance to my current school.

I'm going to be a nervous wreck after I start applying.