I live in an area that really doesn't have a lot of opportunities. The job listings I have seen around here that only require an associates are typically paying around $10 to $15 an hour. Most people seem pretty happy with that. I think the cost of living is lower here than most places I've lived but I don't see how they live on that. When I first started college most listings required a bachelor's but now a lot of them say a combination of comparable degree and experience. Most jobs seem to be at banks, manufacturing companies, places like that. Most of the accountants I have talked to say an AAS is ok but a bachelors will open a lot more doors and not to worry about my age. I'm thinking I could go ahead and keep taking classes until my youngest is a little older. He has a medical issue that requires a lot of care but he should be able to start managing it himself more as he gets older. When I did the internship along with classes I felt like our homeschooling suffered. I think a lot had to do with the older kids having to look after my youngest. What has been really hard for me is my husband almost getting killed in a terrible accident for me to realize what a vulnerable position I am in. I still have a lot of years ahead of me but I don't know how many I will be able to work and I have no retirement at all. When my youngest is older I will be able to possibly work part time and take at least a few classes at a time. I think I am just tired too. I have always been excited about my classes but I don't feel as excited about this coming term. Maybe because I have to take gen ed classes and I just want to take the accounting classes, lol.

When applying for a job, does an associate’s degree with experience put you ahead of job applicant with no experience with a bachelor’s degree? The reason I ask is I’m at a bit of a crossroads. I recently graduated with an Associates in Applied Science in Accounting. I really wish I had done an AA so I could transfer to get a bachelor’s degree. Anyway, when I was younger, I went to a university but had a really bad experience and pretty much gave up. I just reapplied to see if any of my credits would go towards a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Turns out if I take about 11 more general curriculum credits at the community college, I will have only about 56 credits left to work on for my bachelor’s degree at the university. The thing is I will be 50 by the time I graduate, if I go full time. The university isn’t terribly expensive, but I don’t want to get into debt to do this. I am also still homeschooling 3 of my 5 kids. Two have graduated and I have two high schoolers and a 5th grader left at home. I am pretty much committed to homeschooling the older two through high school, they will graduate at the same time I would. The 5th grader would be ready to start high school. I can homeshool and take college courses or homeschool and work part time, but there is no way I can homeschool, work, and do college (I actually tried it for 6 months during an internship and it was way too stressful). Part of my having to go back to work is because my marriage is not good (trying to put that nicely) and I am worried that I will have to eventually be able to support myself. I have been a SAHM for over 20 years and I have not done anything outside of the home until I started college. I’m more than a little scared because I never thought things would turn out this way. I wish I had taken college more seriously in my teens. I also wish I had checked with the university before starting my AAS at the CC. But I didn’t, and I guess I can only move forward from here. So I was just wondering if any of you have any thoughts on the AAS/experience vs Bachelor’s/no experience (plus the cost of additional tuition) question? And I know the decision will ultimately be mine, but if you were 46 (almost 47) and in my shoes, what would you do?