Patrick's Place

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Sunday 7

Name the seven factors that most likely did or could cause you to not complete college.
(suggested list)

1. Financial reasons. I went to a private college and my dad was ... I can't remember if he was retired or just not making a lot of money. Don't know where they found the money, but they did.
2. Family illness. If either of my parents had gotten seriously ill (or worse), I'm not sure I could have continued, either emotionally or financially. They were both in their 60s at that point, after all.
3. My own illness or other medical issues. I didn't get sick much in college, but had I developed anything major, I'm pretty sure I'd've dropped out and headed home. I suspect my parents would have pushed me to finish the degree if I could. I had my sister Ellen as a role model for that after all; she continued taking classes throughout her treatment for aplastic anemia, treatment that included regular--sometimes daily-- blood transfusions.
4. Not finding friends. The college I went to was 1,000 miles from my home, and I was fortunate to be assigned a wonderful roommate and to find great friends. Had I not...I would NOT have lasted my freshman year.
5. Changing majors. The school I went to had a lot of options, but due to its size, it couldn't be good at everything. If I'd picked something I knew it wasn't good at, I would have moved. Probably. ;-)

I'm stretching, even with that last one, because there is basically no way I wouldn't have finished college. I was (am) the stereotypical Good Girl following her Good Girl sisters who all finished college. My Black Sheep brother did NOT finish his degree until he was in his 40s, and I had lived in the subtext and angst of my parents' feelings about that for 10 years before I left home. I wanted to make them proud of me. And believe me when I say that it would have taken a Major Act of God for me to come home--I dreamed of getting the hell out from the age of 13 on!