1. Get (and stay) organized.
You’re already well aware that time goes by very quickly. You’ll be even more aware of that feeling once you start taking your college courses. From the onset, you’ll want to get (and stay) organized with your schoolwork, your study area, and your resources. Pick one designated area in your home where you plan to do most of your reading, studying, and writing. While you can certainly move around with your laptop ~ from couch to bed to desk ~ on any given evening, you’ll still want to have an area in your home that is organized with your school stuff. If you’re printing articles or chapters from online books, immediately staple the pages, put the date on the top of them, and label them with the course name and the designated week. When you are wanting to refer back to the resources weeks later, you will be very glad you did this. In no time at all, it’s easy to have a desk stacked with miscellaneous articles and portions of research studies you’ve downloaded from Averett’s online library. It doesn’t matter if the rest of your home seems like it’s in disarray; for your school stuff, keep it all organized, together, and easily accessible.
2. Prepare to make sacrifices.
Just accept the fact that while you are accomplishing this life-changing goal, you will be making sacrifices in other areas of your life. Let your family and friends know that, too. For a while, you might have to forego your Wednesday nights out with the girls or your Friday poker nights with the boys, but that’s okay. You can still keep in contact with your friends and, if you get your schoolwork done ahead of schedule, you still might be able to meet with your pals a few times a month. What you don’t want to do, however, is think that your current routine will be exactly the same when you start your classes. It won’t. Accepting that fact now makes it easier to enjoy and embrace the change of your routine later.
3. It won’t be easy.
It won’t. If earning a college degree were a breeze, every person on the planet would do it. You might find that you are reading the same chapter in one of your academic books three different times and yet still not understanding it. You might get frustrated trying to find a research article online. You are enrolled in the courses to learn. You aren’t expected to know everything. What will help to make it easier, however, will be all the online resources and links Averett University provides to its students to help you any time of the day or night. It won’t be easy, but it won’t be impossible either.
4. It can be very affordable.
Students’ costs of attending Averett are less than 80% of other private colleges throughout the state of Virginia. In addition to the very likely possibility that your employer probably has a program already in place to help pay for your college coursework (check with your HR Department), Averett University has lot of plans and options to help make your academic journey affordable, too. Each year, Averett University awards $20 million in financial aid and scholarships. In fact, 99% of the traditional program students benefit from financial aid. From scholarships, grants, and loans, to work study options and alternate resources, Averett makes attending college affordable with its various funding options and sources.
5. It will be worth it.
There are no material things that you can buy that you can absolutely guarantee will increase in value over the years. While a classic car, a beautiful home, or a stunning piece of jewelry may seem like a great investment at the time you purchase it, there is no guarantee that someone else in the world will one day want to pay you what you paid for it, or pay you more for it. Investing your time, attention, and finances in your education, however, will never decrease in value. Your college degree can never be taken away from you or de-valued; it will instantly and permanently add value to your life.
Investing your time, attention, and finances in your education will never decrease in value.