My daughter Rebecca says that I never write about myself--just about others.  So this week, I'm writing about me.  I don't find it particularly interesting.

The reason I kept going to college for twenty five years without a break was because the government had a rule that if you were enrolled in six hours of credit every semester without taking a break, repayment on student loans didn't kick in and neither did the interest on those loans.  So every semester, including the summer, I enrolled in a minimum of two classes--six credits.  So I didn't have to pay back the loans--which we couldn't afford to do yet.

I had a full scholarship from the colleges I attended, but with Ken and me both in school, we needed cash for cars and gasoline and such.  He had retired from the Marines.  His retirement paid the rent and utilities, but it wasn't nearly enough for two of us to go to college--and raise four kids.  We bit the bullet and borrowed money. We borrowed from the bank, the government and student loans for both of us to finish degrees and get a job.

Every time I would get close to finishing a major and graduate, I would change my major.  That way I could keep enrolling.  Keep from paying off the student loans.  I eventually had a zillion college credits.  My advisor finally told me, "Janie, you are one class away from a degree in a number of areas.  Choose one, or two, or three.  I graduated.  Zoology, Pre-med, Chemistry, education degrees and eventually later a math degree.  But kept taking classes to keep from paying off the loans.  We just didn't have the money to pay them off.

Somewhere in there another child (Jon) came along after the others were well on their way through school.  I had open heart surgery--which slowed me down, but I kept enrolling in classes.  But finally, when I was in my fifties, we paid off the loans.  I would not advise you do what I did.  It was stressful.  I learned just enough about a lot of things in college to be semi-educated.  Which is dangerous.