Viewed one way, Andy Hedrick’s story is a positive one. He belongs to the relatively small group of students who succeed in earning bachelor’s degrees after beginning their studies at two-year colleges.
But Mr. Hedrick faced several obstacles on his path from Tarrant County College, in Fort Worth, to the University of Texas at Arlington. Chief among them, he says he would have wanted better advice on how to make sure that all his classes would transfer and count toward his chosen degree. It’s a common problem in higher education and one the two institutions are trying fix with course maps for students — an idea that the 2016 graduate says might have benefited him. Here’s his story, as told to Ben Gose.
I got laid off in 2010. I was 34 years old. I’d gone from operating a forklift to being a supervisor at a distribution center, but when the economy tanked, they were getting rid of people without degrees.
It was the kick in the pants that I needed — not having a degree had cost me my job. I took an English composition class that fall at Tarrant County College.
I did have plans for a four-year degree, but I wasn’t sure what it would be in — all I knew for sure was that I liked numbers. My experience was that the counselors were there for when you were having problems; it wasn’t a proactive system. It would have helped if someone who knew what they were doing had gotten ahold of me and said, “So you like this kind of work with numbers? Wow, you really have an interest in economics, even though you don’t know that yet.”
Colleges are simplifying the steps from community college to four-year degree.
There was a time when I was taking the introduction to everything. Intro to Anthropology. Intro to Sociology. Intro to Psychology. Human sexuality. Growth and development. Philosophy. Ethics. Those courses were interesting, but they ultimately had nothing to do with what I wanted to do. They transferred to UT-Arlington, but they didn’t end up going toward anything. For an economics degree, you have to have three humanities courses. If you come in with seven, like I did, only three will go toward your degree.
And I ended up having to take a few basic things for my degree at UT-Arlington — a technical-writing class, and another science course. If I had known that I needed those, I would have taken them at TCC. Why would you not take something at a community college when it costs so much less?
When I graduated in May of 2016, I had about 20 credit hours that didn’t count toward my degree. Economics can be a four-year degree, but it took me five years. I’ve got some student loans that paid for classes that ended up having nothing to do with what I was trying to do.
I’ve always wanted to work around a professional sports team, that’s my dream job. Baseball teams are hiring people who are able to analyze and present data. Those jobs start at about $60,000 per year.
You really don’t budget for what it will take to pay off your student loans. That’s one of the reasons I’m in graduate school, finishing up my first semester of a master of science in economic data analytics. You don’t have to pay off your debt while you’re in school. I know my student-loan debt will be at least $40,000 when I’m finished. I’m hoping to not break $50,000.
When I think back on the courses I took at TCC that didn’t count toward my degree, it wasn’t just time wasted — it was also money wasted. I can’t imagine I was the only one in that kind of position.
This new program would have been useful for me while I was there. I really like the idea that TCC and UT-Arlington are actually going to sit down with students and help them figure out where they want to go.
Correction (1/4/2017, 2:50 p.m.): The introduction to this article originally said that only a “few” students successfully earn bachelor’s degrees after transferring from community colleges. The number, while relatively small, is more than a few, so the text has been changed.
