Education used to be for the young only. It was a straight ascent through elementary, middle and high school. Some went on to college and graduate school before joining the work force and raising a family. Most worked for about 40 years based on what they learned before age 25 and later on the job.
Today, people change jobs and careers more frequently and those changes often mean more education. Online learning and flexible college programs make it possible for people to go back to school at almost any age, providing they can fit it in with their other obligations.
Maybe you’ve considered it yourself. The question to ask is, how well can you juggle?
"Knowing how to balance your time is the key to going to school, working and having a family," said Roger Aubuchon, an assistant manager with Wal-Mart and a student at American Public University, a for-profit online learning institution. He's working toward a bachelor's degree in management with a concentration in retail, while supporting his wife, Gretchen, and sons, Kaleb, 8, and Kolby, 4.
Retail was not his first career. Aubuchon earned a nice living as a mortgage executive on commission until the housing and lending industries collapsed during the recession.
“My salary went down to a couple of hundred (dollars) a week. We maxed out the credit cards, sold the BMW and lost the house,” Aubuchon said.
Jobs were scarce, especially for someone without a college degree.
“I finally found a job as an overnight stocker at Wal-Mart. I was shattered and humbled but after a couple of weeks, I found myself enjoying it and seeing the innovation that came out of retail. I worked my tail off and started applying for assistant manager positions in the company.”
Aubuchon earned a spot in Wal-Mart’s manager training program and graduated at the top of his class in 2008. After being promoted to assistant manager, he enrolled in American Public University in 2011.
Out of the classroom since 1974, Aubuchon found higher education to be a totally new environment. “I had to learn about FAFSA forms and took tutorials to learn how to write a paper,” he said.
Wal-Mart’s agreement with the school gave him a 15 percent tuition reduction but it still took family budgeting, Pell Grants and loans to pay for school.
Aubuchon, who carries a 3.499 GPA, received a $5,000 Ray M. Greely Scholarship from the National Retail Federation last spring. He was one of 27 students in the nation identified as a future retail industry leader.
His flexible work schedule of four days or nights on and four days off allows him to spend time with his family and take two or three online classes per semester. The couple is also involved at church and with A Fresh Hope, a charity for needy children.
To balance everything that’s on his plate, Aubuchon often gets up at 4:30 a.m. to do his school work.
“Being a manager, you learn how to manage time. If I block out time to study, that’s what I do, and the more you do it, the easier it gets,” he said.
Aubuchon is applying Six Sigma principles at work and loves to share some of his retail experiences with classmates. His goal is to become a store manager and keep advancing his career after earning his degree in 2014.
“It’s not been easy, but now that I’ve been classified a senior, I can see an end in sight. When I get up now, I can’t wait to learn more about retail,” he said. “This job is about people and I love mentoring younger employees. I want to be a leader who helps people be successful, not just someone who gives orders.”
Big, busy calendar
Registered nurse Vicky Reed believes education will help her make a greater impact in her second career. Ater earning a bachelor’s degree in international business, Reed worked in banking for five years until a volunteer stint at a hospital emergency room convinced her that nursing was her true calling.
“My husband was totally supportive, so I quit my job and started an associate degree (program) in nursing while pregnant with our first child,” she said.
Reed earned her degree from West Georgia Technical College and started working as a nurse in 2010.
“If I had known how much work nursing school was going to be, I probably wouldn’t have done it, but now it’s worth it. I would do it again,” she said.
In fact, Reed is back in school in an RN-to-MSN program at Clayton State University. The program will allow her to earn a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's degree in leadership and management.
A mother of three (ages 6, 4 and 1), Reed works one day a week in a medical/surgical stroke unit at Grady Memorial Hospital and three days a week in WellStar Douglas Hospital’s emergency room.
“I couldn’t do this without the full support of my husband, Lemont,” she said. “He works long hours, but then picks the kids up at day care, feeds and bathes them many nights.”
After a 12-hour shift and a one-hour commute, Reed comes home to prepare bottles, wash dishes and organize things for the next day. On her days off, she takes the children to day care and studies for at least four hours. Then she runs errands, cooks meals ahead of time and spends time with her family.
How does she do all that and still manage to take three online classes per semester?
“We keep a huge calendar at home with everything on it. One daughter takes gymnastics and my son, karate, so we have to keep track of their activities and also plan family times,” she said.
Reed plans to complete her bachelor’s degree by May 2014, and her master’s degree by January 2016.
“I knew that higher degrees would help me make more of a difference as a nurse, but it was a hard decision because of the time and the money involved,” she said. “Deciding was the hard part. It seemed impossible, but now that I’m doing it, I’m learning so much more to help my patients.
“It’s worth it. I tell friends who are thinking about it to just decide. Once you’ve committed, it’s just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other.”
