Jenny in Florida 11,688 Report post Posted January 3 It's not a four-year degree, and I still have to focus really hard not to strangle him or bash my head against the wall in sheer frustration sometimes, but my son found out this evening that he actually did manage to complete his associate's degree. Even though he had filed his graduation application back in August, the fact that he actually did it came as a bit of a surprise. He has had an eventful and challenging semester on a personal level, and he fully expected to fail two classes, including one that fulfills a requirement for the degree. (Yes, I'm irked that he let things get that bad. Yes, I've told him this. Yes, he should have handled the whole thing better. Yes, that's all true. I can't waste energy stressing about that at the moment.) What with the holidays and continuing family stressors, I haven't forced the issue of sitting down and having a conversation about the end of the fall semester. When he was here yesterday, though, I told him we needed to schedule time to sit down and check in about school and some financial issues. When he arrived, he confessed that he had been dreading logging into his account at the community college to see just how bad things were. The college shuts down access to its online system for a short period after the end of the semester to do maintenance and reset stuff. So, once he had stalled for the first few days, he had an excuse not to think about it for a little while longer. He also confessed that there were actually TWO of the three classes he needed to fulfill degree requirements that he had been in danger of flunking. I already had in my back pocket the suggestion that, if he had flunked the one required class I knew was in jeopardy, he could take the CLEP exam to make up the credits and, I hoped, salvage his transfer to the university in the spring semester. But it turned out to be unnecessary, because he somehow pulled out A's in two classes and a C in the one we had assumed he was probably flunking. We then checked his unofficial transcript online, and it shows that his A.A. was awarded on December 17! So, yeah, totally not the way I would have preferred he get to this point, but, hey, I will take it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twigs 2,478 Report post Posted January 3 (edited) Congratulations to your son and yourself!! An AA is a very nice accomplishment! :party: 👨ðŸ»â€ðŸŽ“🎓ðŸŽðŸ“šðŸ““ Edited January 3 by Twigs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lilaclady 959 Report post Posted January 3 Congratulations to you and to your son. I’m sure you will all look back on this time as challenging but he made it through. Not easy but - great that you held on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Storygirl 5,440 Report post Posted January 3 :party: :party: :party: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MerryAtHope 5,009 Report post Posted January 3 Congratulations to you and your son! Good to celebrate every success! And you know, it's good for him to have a learning experience like this at the CC rather than later at the 4 year school. Life is full of things we all could have handled better. Encourage him to learn from it and move on. Sounds like a great end to a difficult semester! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GoodGrief 2,399 Report post Posted January 3 That's great! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bettyandbob 17,673 Report post Posted January 3 Totally awesome!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RootAnn 7,181 Report post Posted January 3 Jenny, I have seen all the posts on how hard it has been on you to get him this far. Good job to you for sticking out the hard mom job scaffolding him to this point. (I would have given up on him at the last speedup!) What a reward! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fifiruth 2,105 Report post Posted January 3 That’s great news. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
J-rap 10,931 Report post Posted January 3 That's great! Hopefully it will motivate him to keep at it, if that's his goal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
amathis229 246 Report post Posted January 3 Congratulations!!! :party: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
katilac 11,538 Report post Posted January 3 :party: Celebrate every victory! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson Wife 18,753 Report post Posted January 4 C's get degrees! ;) Congrats! :hurray: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dmmetler 17,243 Report post Posted January 4 Congratulations! Sometimes I think people don’t realize how hard it can be to parent and guide the highly able, motivated i. Their own direction kids! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nancy in NH 436 Report post Posted January 4 Congratulations! That is great news! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nan in Mass 14,246 Report post Posted January 4 That is wonderful, Jenny! I'll take anything I can get, here. : ) The organizational skills needed to manage finances and school don't seem to kick in here until aged 25, no matter how academically capable mine are, so I sympathize. Two of mine graduated by the skin of their teeth and we haven't known if they were going to until the very last final was graded. The third didn't go to college until he was 21 and hence did a bit better at being consistent. Graduation is good! Nan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jenny in Florida 11,688 Report post Posted January 5 Congratulations! Sometimes I think people don’t realize how hard it can be to parent and guide the highly able, motivated i. Their own direction kids! Right? Sometimes, when I talk about my son, I think people are left with the impression that he's some kind of slacker, which isn't it. At all. He's super energetic and capable and talented and smart and driven . . . just not interested in directing all of that towards school or most traditional "jobs." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eternalsummer 8,994 Report post Posted January 5 What a great break for him, and for you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tsuga 18,185 Report post Posted January 5 Woohoo! He is a college degree holder now and nobody can take that away from him. Great job to him! At nineteen! I was 19 when I got my AA and it was awesome. Totally worth it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maize 53,612 Report post Posted January 7 Congratulations to both of you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nan in Mass 14,246 Report post Posted January 14 Right? Sometimes, when I talk about my son, I think people are left with the impression that he's some kind of slacker, which isn't it. At all. He's super energetic and capable and talented and smart and driven . . . just not interested in directing all of that towards school or most traditional "jobs." Ug. Tell me about it. And it doesn't necessarily get any easier as they get older. Nan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
seekinghim45 3,635 Report post Posted January 14 Whoo hoo!!!! Congratulations! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
