Considering quitting college for good

[somechick99]

I'm a 28 year old woman who is currently both enrolled in a university psychology program and bartending on the side. I had previously enrolled in college years ago (twice) and dropped out (also twice) because I didn't really feel that it was aligning with my goals or benefiting me socially or emotionally. In fact, it made me depressed and I hated my classes. I re-enrolled in fall of 2020 because I was granted VA benefits through my veteran father that will actually pay me $1200 monthly to go and I needed the extra money at the time. Even since 2020, I have switched my major three times and felt pretty meh about my classes, but I have managed to maintain straight-As pretty easily. I should emphasize that a LOT of pressure from my parents (dad in particular) has been put on me to stay in school, and while I realize it is ultimately not his choice I'd be lying if I said it hasn't influenced my decisions. Regardless, the extra 1200 each month has been nice and overall has been worth the pay off.

Well, last term I got COVID in the middle of the term and the school gave me until the end of this term (ends on the 18th of this month) to complete both this term's and last term's classes. While this is partly due to poor time management on my part, my laptop, router, and phone all broke within a 7 day period and it took quite some time for me to have the funds to repair all of these things. Not having access to my computer or internet has set me back to the point where I'm not only behind in last term's classes but now also somewhat behind in this term's. (I went to the library when possible to do my work, but they are open limited hours and I also have a job).

Is it beating a dead horse for me to keep trying to make this school thing work? It is nice to feel like I will have a future to fall back on other than bartending (although at the moment I really love it and it's great money. I could easily live off of it alone for quite some time). It also seems dumb in a sense for me to throw away my GI bill benefits, and dear lord do I not want to deal with my dad's reaction to me quitting. But it is stressing me out beyond belief at this point. The thought of not being in school and just bartending full time sounds really relieving to me but I also dread the feeling of regret years down the line, still in the service industry well into my late 30s and 40s.

I should add that VA benefits do have a time limit, this is not something I could undo years later if I wanted to go back to school.

Any outside perspective is appreciated. 

 

[indea08]

I have a few questions, but first and foremost:

What do you want your career to be? What are your priorities in your life (raising children, traveling, working for yourself, etc.)?

Start there.

[Jibralta]

 

In all seriousness though, I would take advantage of the VA benefit.

You're in a crunch right now, and the stress you feel is natural and to be expected. But it's temporary. The benefits of a degree are permanent. 

Granted, you don't need a college degree to do great things. But it's nice to have in your back pocket.

 

[somechick99]

15 minutes ago, indea08 said:

I have a few questions, but first and foremost:

What do you want your career to be? What are your priorities in your life (raising children, traveling, working for yourself, etc.)?

Start there.

Thanks for your reply.

Honestly I don't have a specific "I want to do this" career in mind. I only know what I do and don't have an interest in. I have no interest in raising children or really even getting married though I suppose there's an outside chance that will change in my 30s. I do have an interest in psychology with a deeper interest in spirituality, meditation and metaphysics (I realize those don't translate to any real degrees lol). 

 

[somechick99]

10 minutes ago, Jibralta said:

 

In all seriousness though, I would take advantage of the VA benefit.

You're in a crunch right now, and the stress you feel is natural and to be expected. But it's temporary. The benefits of a degree are permanent. 

Granted, you don't need a college degree to do great things. But it's nice to have in your back pocket.

 

This is a good point about the stress being temporary and natural. If I wasn't dealing with the crunch of all these different classes I would continue school next term. I do feel concerned about my ability to get out of the crunch, however. I no longer have certain resources that were necessary for last term's classes and with work taking up a good deal of my time, I may only be able to finish this term and not the previous one.

Anyways thank you for your response, I'll meet with a counselor and see what my options are regarding the incompletes from last term. 

 

 

 

[Rose Mosse]

What is the reason for the psychology degree? Would you like to go on to practice medicine or be a psychiatrist? Or specialize with something else post-grad? An undergraduate degree these days alone doesn’t do much so have a larger goal in mind. 

I hope you’re able to speak with a counsellor soon. Let us know how it goes.