What's Your Major..... ?

“Congratulations”, the letter said, “it is my pleasure to inform you that you have been admitted to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado at Denver”. I was thrilled beyond words! I was more than a bit apprehensive about even being accepted in the first place. The last time I was a college student was twenty-three years ago. The letter went on to explain to me about financial aid options and credit transfer evaluations, and wished me the best for my success. I did it – I really was going back to college to get my degree!! I started thinking about how out of place I might be, that most of the students in my classes would be freshman (like me), but that they would be my son’s age! Realizing this, I came to the conclusion that I really wasn’t supposed to be that different than anyone else on the campus – that I was there for an education.

While I am a parent of a college student, it’s amusing to me to know that I, myself, am a college student. I’ve often thought about how my attitude toward my education, at my age, is different from that of my son’s. I’ve now officially been a college student (again) for a little longer than two months, and I’ve found that my thought process regarding my education is so very different now than it was twenty-three years ago. I seem to be more driven now, almost more eager to learn, than I was all those years ago. I take more pride in my work, worry about my assignments being completed on time, and worry less about what I’m doing after my classes, or who’s going to what party over the weekend. As I said to my Mom, “I see things with forty-year old eyes.”

I tried to remember my first days of college, lo those many years ago, and speaking with my son when he started college in the Fall of 2006, I reminded him that I did indeed remember the first semester of my freshman year – being away from my Mom, being able to do what I wanted, when I wanted. I told him of my status as a founding member of the “Lounge Chair Club” for my dorm.

A group of us had decided that the Spring weather was absolutely too nice to be inside studying for midterms, and that we should be outside. We decided to combine the two, went to K-mart and each of us bought a tri-fold chaise lounge chair, sat them up on the lawn in front of our dorm, and went back to studying. It wasn’t long before we had a group of about fifteen people in the “club”. The club continued to hold regular “meetings” – long past the conclusion of our midterms!! I also reminded my son that while I did remember the frivolity of my first semester, I also remember being placed on Academic Probation because of my lackadaisical attitude toward my grades and my education.

During my many conversations with him, it seems to me that my son is quite cavalier about his learning process. He tells me stories of “Rush Week” for his fraternity, of being awakened at three o’clock in the morning in order to do some activity that the fraternity brothers thought the new pledges need to do. He told me that he knew his grades were suffering, but also how important it was to him to join the fraternity. He tried to assuage my worry by telling me that once he was accepted into the fraternity that his grades would improve, that there were systems in place to make sure he had the assistance he needed to raise his grade point average, and that his academic performance would improve. As a parent, I sometimes worry about this, but I also know that he will have to learn from his own “mistakes”. I cannot tell him what he should do; I can only offer guidance and support of the choices he makes for his education and future. I try to keep in mind that I have quite a few more years of being in the so-called “real world”, and know the value of an education with a degree.

I talk to my son, as a parent, and now as a college student, of the importance of having a degree from college versus only having a diploma from high school. In general, the earning potential is higher for someone who has a college degree, and in speaking with one of my sisters, she told me of reading an article in the New York Times about how that it’s even more important for women to have a college degree. The article explained that during the course of a woman’s lifetime, the difference in total salary of someone having a high school diploma versus a college degree can be upwards of one million dollars. Through the support and generosity of my family, I am finally going to be in the same league as those women who have a college degree. While we as a society know that men tend to have a higher annual salary than a woman, I am happy to know that I will be counted in the group of women who do indeed have a college degree and have increased their earning potential. I remember my mother telling me of her mother’s thoughts on having a degree…. “It simply means that you were able to put up with, and follow the necessary steps to get that piece of paper…. that what you do with it is of utmost importance.”

I’ve graduated Magna Cum Laude from the “School of Hard Knocks” with a master’s degree in “Life”. Now am going to graduate from a real institute of higher learning with at least one degree, probably two. My new degrees will be just as beneficial as my previous one, but the new ones will help me secure my future. I can only hope that my son will follow in my footsteps.