Advanced Education

Let me begin here with the fact that Barbara and I both finished a Degree post High School.  Barbara's first two years were in California where she had to pay little more than books to get her AA from Barstow Junior College.  She brags about the quality of her education and how much the low cost helped her get that far.  If you would meet her, it would be clear that she is a highly educated person.

I started at Wichita State University in 1965 but really didn't have a clear goal in my life and no Barbara to help me.  I goofed around the second semester and dropped out because I couldn't attend classes and play 10 point pitch in the Campus Activity Center. At least I couldn't drink beer there.   I found myself Drafted the next fall and my goal there was to use the GI bill to pay for my education.   When I first was drafted, I had a 24 month obligation and that would have paid for my education through the start of my senior year.  I decided that I would attend Officer Candidate School and that would add 9 months to my GI Bill.  By the time I finished my Military Obligation, they had upped the benefit to 36 Months and I went through my degree using the GI bill.  


When Barbara and I returned to Kansas after I came home from Vietnam, she too went to Wichita State with me for two years.  She completed her degree in Education and I finished my AA at Wichita State.  We drew a radius around every college in Kansas and Barbara applied to the school districts to get a job teaching elementary Education. She was hired by Leavenworth and I commuted back and forth to Kansas University.   If I had it to do all over again, I would try a lot harder to stay at Wichita State.  You could take any class anytime as they focused on all segments of the community. 

We delayed starting our family until we both had our degree and I had a full time job with the National Guard.  Barbara took a couple of years off when Dave was born and also completed her work on a Special Education degree through Kansas University.    We both finished our education without significant student loans. Barbara also finished her Masters Degree from KU.


I am not sure of the exact dollars, but I am pretty sure that over our lifetime, we by the end of our working years made at least $50,000 more per year because of our degrees.  


I advocate that everyone try to find a way to get an advanced education is something.  The world is full of things to do and jobs that will pay you almost as well as the jobs that require a degree.  The next time your furnace, car or any electronic item breaks look at the bill to fix it.  I'll bet the labor cost is listed there on the bill and those guys are worth every dime they cost. 


MUD