Amy McGregor didn't set out for a specific degree when she enrolled at the University of Montana eight years ago. Mostly, she needed the money.

McGregor, a 30-year-old mother of three, started school at UM in hopes of not just getting all she could out of an education, but all she could out of student loans. Money was getting tight, and her partner was already working two jobs.

"We needed a boost in our income, but I didn't want to work full time ­— I didn't want to spend time away from my baby. A student loan for going to school gave me that," she said. "When I got my student loans, I could pay my bills."

McGregor started school already a mother, with no major in mind and no concrete idea of the job she wanted when she graduated.

"I started school for the income and I didn't take it seriously," she said.

Along the way, McGregor discovered a way to succeed and to give back.

 

 

 

ENROLLING

It took McGregor, who had her first child at the age of 18, about three years to start thinking seriously about school and about the job she wanted after graduation. Since then she has made the Dean's List three times and the 4.0 list twice.

"Although I started out not realizing the value of a college education, I certainly have had a grasp on that for a while," she said. "College has not only enhanced my career opportunities, but also my self-esteem and my ability to educate my children and my community."

While McGregor explored majors in anthropology or sociology, she worked to fulfill general education requirements at UM. She settled on social work after reflecting on the role those programs played in her own life.

"You can't do anything with a degree in anthropology or sociology," McGregor said. "I didn't have the time to get a master's at the time."

She wasn't sure how long obtaining a master's would take, and she wanted to have a degree that was applicable right out of school. She emphasized that she has a life to live at the same time. Her children — now ages 11, 6 and 1 — are her priority.

"I don't think we value child-rearing enough as a culture, so being an at-home mom is synonymous with lazy," she said. "I wanted my kids to have a healthy start to life that was not reliant on money."

 

RARE REASON

Kent McGowan, the University's director of Financial Aid, said going back to school primarily for the loan money is rare.

"We like to think that everyone comes back to school to be a student and learn. If you are going to be a student, you should be a student, but being a parent is challenging, and we know that," he said.

The financial aid system is built to help non traditional students, McGowan said — especially those with children. What students contribute to their tuition depends on how many dependents — children or spouses — a student has and what type of financial burdens they have in their life.

"If a single parent comes in and asks for more assistance, we are going to do all we can to assist them," he said.

Cindy Boies, a career counselor at UM, said she's used to helping non traditional students work through their lives to fit school into their plan and help them on a fast track to a better income, but she isn't used to them not having a plan.

"When you talk to a single person, you often hear, ‘I need a job after I graduate' … Another potential common [request] is they ask to stay in Missoula, that they need to make something work here," Boies said.

She said it is normal, in the current economy, for an older student to ask for the fastest route to a high-paying job. It is less common that one comes back to school without a plan of some sort.

 

LOOKING TO GRADUATION

McGregor will graduate in the summer of 2012, but graduation brings a burden, too — repaying student loans. McGregor will have racked up nearly $60,000 in student loans for her eight years at UM. Those loans not only paid for her schooling, but also food for her family, gas for her car and money for rent.

Despite looming debt, McGregor said she isn't worried about the loans because of the federal Income Based Repayment program.

McGowan said through the Income Based Repayment program, payments are made easier by capping them based on income and family size, but interest on loans will continue to grow until paid off. McGowan emphasized the program has to be asked for by a graduate. Also, interest on loans will continue to grow.

"The point is, they have to talk with the lender," he said. "The program is easy to get as long as they ask."

McGregor said earning her degree and being able to raise her kids at the same time makes paying back her loans worth it.

"I went through a period where I was really nervous about it [paying off my loans], but they won't make me pay more than my income," McGregor said. "If I do pay them all off, then I'll have lived a long life. If my payments are high, then I'm making great money, and I'm okay with that."

And despite graduating during an economic recession and entering a tough job market, McGregor said she has little worry for her future. In times like these, she said poverty tends to increase and those in unfortunate circumstances need help — that's where her social work degree will come into play.

"In hard times we will get paid less, but there will always be jobs for people in social work," she said.

Boies, a career counselor, said that although social work is a high demand occupation in both rural and urban areas, she wouldn't say that there will always be jobs available in the field.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 642,000 social work jobs in 2008. The bureau has predicated that there will be 745,400 jobs by 2018, a 16 percent increase, making McGregor's future both brighter and more feasible.

FUTURE GOALS

McGregor said her goal is to work for a non-profit, and not for a large federal program, such as Child Protective Services.

This semester, McGregor began her practicum, a course designed to give her real world experience in the field of social work. She'll be working for a program close to her heart — Futures, a program put on by Woman's Opportunity and Resource Development Incorporated to help the needs of pregnant or parenting youth in Missoula County.

The program helped McGregor with her child while she was a teenage mother.

"They were amazing, and now I am going to do my practicum with them because they mean a lot to me," she said.

McGregor said she looks forward to graduating and putting her degree to work. She knows the programs that worked with her during hard times and is excited to give back, too.

Her future is full of opportunities, she said, and she loves the life that's brought her to where she is today.

"I think everyone has this perception that I live a hard life," she said. "My life is pretty great. I took my kids to the art museum today, and we are going swimming tomorrow, and I am going to get some homework done somewhere in-between there."

candace.rojo@umontana.edu