Heather Herrera
As a young child, I always knew I wanted to go to college. My parents did not even graduate from high school. My dad was 19 years old and my mom was 16 years old when I was born. Growing up, I saw how hard it was for them to make ends meet. I remember when I first found out what a "bounced check" was and I always thought it was kind of cool when our electricity would go out and we would use candles for light. As a child, I didn't not associate this with my parents' lack of education.
Over the years, I saw my dad go from job to job never being satisfied. Fortunately, my mom got a decent job at a car dealership where she worked for 15 years until she got laid off. Even now, she has trouble getting another job because of her lack in education. Both of my parents will never be able to retire. They have no savings for retirement. Needless to say, they had no savings for my college education when the time was approaching.
My senior year of high school, I started looking into scholarships. I really did not know the process and I didn't have much help. Then in February of my senior year I found out that I was pregnant. To make a long story short, I got married to my high school sweetheart, had a beautiful daughter, and graduated all in the same year (1995). College got put on hold. When my daughter was 1 year old, I enrolled in a local community college and signed up for 2 classes. I figured I would sign up for the classes I had the most trouble in high school, math and history, to get them out of the way. I passed my history class with a B. The math did not go so well. I took a self-paced class thinking it would all come back to me. I did fine until the math started getting in to calculus. I was never even exposed to calculus in high school. I got frustrated and quit college. I wanted to be home with my new husband and my baby.
Fast forward 13 years later. I am still happily married to my high school sweetheart and my daughter is a level-headed 13 year old straight-A student in gifted and talented classes. She already has her sights set on colleges. We now also have another beatiful daughter who just started kindergarten at the top of her class. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful family. I spent 12 years working in chilcare part time so I could be available for my children.
In 2007, an old friend of mine, offered me a job at his telecommunications company. It is a contracting firm that works on contracts from companies like AT&T and T-Mobile. I was hired as a contractor. Every time my contract would end, I would be off work for a couple of months without pay until a new contract would come along. It is hard to pay for daycare and keep things consistant for my children when I have to go a coulple of months without pay. I have searched telecommunications jobs in my area of expertise, and they all require a bachelor degree or at least 5 years of experience.
So now I find myself in the same predicament as my parents. I have been meaning to go back to school all of these years, but I haven't had the money. My husband and I have no savings for retirement or for college for our children. I would like to go back to school to get a business degree. Now that there are so many classes offered online, I have more time to complete classes and spend time with my family. I am so thankful for this opportunity.