Parents at once have an excellent reason to go back to school and a tremendous barrier to completing it. Both factors have the same root cause.
You want to improve your career trajectory for your children. You also don’t want to add responsibilities that pull you away from them in the process.
It’s easier than ever for busy parents to complete a college degree program. In this article, we take a look at how you can overcome common roadblocks.
Pivoting Into a New Career as a Parent
Thousands of parents across the country make the choice to move into a new career. Difficult though it is to manage on the front end, the payout is worthwhile.
- Better pay
- Higher levels of career fulfillment
- Improved professional trajectory
Most people who move into a new career in their 30s or 40s pick something that will feel meaningful to them.
They think about whether or not they have what it takes to be a social worker or a teacher. They evaluate the registered nurse skills needed for the job and decide that’s right for them.
They start looking into program requirements. How long does student teaching take? What sort of job shadowing would be needed for social work? What kind of clinical requirements are in place for aspiring nurses?
The point of all of this work is to connect with a career path that will prove personally and financially rewarding for decades to come.
You accept a level of short-term stress for long-term gains. Unfortunately, acute obstacles often act as a barrier to program completion. In the next few sections, we’ll troubleshoot common issues that keep parents from getting their degree.
Roadblock Number One: I Don’t Have Time to Drive to School Every Day
Even commuting to college can be a substantial barrier to program completion. The average commute in the United States is 30 minutes each way.
That means that if you are enrolled in just a few classes, you could spend three or more hours a week driving. That’s not time that goes into attending lectures or completing classwork. It’s just you and traffic.
Solution: Consider remote learning opportunities. E-learning eliminates the commute entirely, giving you the flexibility to work wherever is convenient for you.
Between the elimination of prep time and the commute itself, you’ll save hours every week.
Roadblock Number Two: My Schedule Changes Every Week
Even if you’re learning remotely, you’ll still be at the mercy of your kids’ schedules. One week, they might have soccer practice.
The next, club participation or a performance. You don’t want to miss these events for school, and historically, it’s been virtually impossible to develop an academic schedule permissive enough to allow full commitment to parenthood.
That’s no longer the case.
Many remote learning programs feature flexible, pre-recorded modules that allow you to complete work over the course of a general deadline.
In practice, this means you’re given a set of lectures and assignments to complete over six weeks. As long as everything is finished by the final due date, it doesn’t matter when you work.
This makes it considerably easier for busy parents to fit school into their schedule without compromising other responsibilities.
Roadblock Number Three: A Traditional Course Load Is Too Intense
To be considered a full-time student, most universities require at least 12 credit hours. In practice, this can result in 35 or more hours of work per week once homework is factored in.
That’s nearly a full-time job on top of employment and parental responsibilities. Finding an extra 35 hours a week can feel almost impossible.
Solution: Choose a timeline that’s realistic for you. It’s tempting to finish as quickly as possible so you can move into a new career. But if you burn out in your second semester, an accelerated pace does more harm than good.
There is nothing wrong with taking one or two courses per semester until you reach your goal.
Roadblock Number Five: I Can’t Do This All by Myself
Parents are often torn between conflicting responsibilities. Professional obligations demand attention, while family must always come first.
You’re in the middle of a busy workday when a child calls home sick. You finally sit down for dinner with your family, but work is still on your mind.
After the kids go to bed, you return to your desk to respond to emails or get a head start on tomorrow. In school, the conflict becomes choosing between keeping up with coursework and taking care of responsibilities at home.
When you’re pulled in multiple directions at once, feeling overwhelmed is natural.
You don’t have to do everything alone. If you have a support system, rely on it. Ask your partner to take on some chores.
See if your parents can help with childcare. If those options aren’t available, re-evaluate your criteria for success.
Accept a standard of good enough. A less-than-perfect house is fine. Frozen pizza for dinner won’t hurt anyone. Your kids might even see it as a treat.
Give yourself as much grace as possible. Feeling overwhelmed is a reasonable response to difficult circumstances.
It doesn’t have to be your permanent baseline. Look for help where you can find it, and when help isn’t available, go easier on yourself until you’ve earned your degree.
Conclusion
Remember, you can do hard things. Even following all of the advice in this article, there will still be roadblocks, obstacles, and moments of hardship as you work toward completing your degree.
During those times, emotional resilience plays an important role in success.
It’s not easy to take on additional responsibilities as a parent. Remember why you’re doing it. You’re doing it for your kids.
You’ve got this.
