This article was originally written for FirstGenerationStudent.com, now a part of ImFirst.org.
Making the decision to go to college can be life-changing, and my decision to go to college was based mostly on the fact that my life had changed, quite dramatically.
I started life in poverty. I grew up thinking that people born into poverty die in poverty. I had never been motivated to do anything with my life. Growing up, my mother had impressed upon me that I would need to marry rich. Creating my own future and making my own living was a foreign concept to me. When I was old enough to get married, I did.
My husband was by no means rich. He also grew up with the mindset that a woman should be provided for while she makes the home. I had dropped out of high school to start a family, so when he left me and the children for another woman, I had no money, no education and no experience. I moved into a transitional home for women and children where I was encouraged to get my GED.
I scored very well on my GED tests and almost qualified for a scholarship, but at 24 I was too old for the 18-year-old cutoff. I also lacked the fresh-out-of-high-school spirit. I had never seriously considered college, so I wasn’t devastated about it, but considering that I remember it seven years later, I must have been more miffed about it than I realized. Sadly, my lack of education and experience left me homeless for quite a while, and ultimately led to me losing custody of my two sons in the divorce.
The dissolution of my second marriage went mildly better, but only in that there were no children to lose. After becoming homeless a second time I was getting fed up with not having an education, and being forced to work for minimum wage. I was still stuck in the mindset that I was too poor to go to college, so I chose the military as means to get an education and experience. All was going well and I was about a month away from Basic Training when one of my many poor decisions left me pregnant and out of the military.
After having my baby, I lost my job and turned to welfare for help. It was through the Department of Workforce Services that I was led to a free program at the WAGE Center, where I earned several employability certificates. I also had the opportunity to talk with people who valued education and convinced me of my potential. However, it wasn’t until after getting motivation from my boyfriend, John, that I gave college serious thought.
I was sitting in John’s living room watching TV. In the show I was watching, a housewife was being encouraged to spend her free time taking online courses to get a degree. John scoffed at that and said “People with children don’t go to college.” I took offense to his declaration, and I had never wanted to do anything more than I wanted to be in college at that moment. All I needed was an end goal.
I was so sick of being so poor for so long, and I didn’t want to raise a child in poverty. My daughter deserved to have a better life. I never knew what I wanted to go to college to be, so I kept putting it off. While talking to someone at the WAGE Center I was convinced that I was capable of getting a degree in medicine, which is a field I had dreamed about; but, I never thought that it would be possible because of my impoverished mindset. Having a goal that I wanted badly, I knew that I could follow through and there was something to motivate me through the boring times.
For my daughter to have a better future, to prove my boyfriend wrong and to finally be in control of my own life: these are a few of the reasons I chose go to college.