VCU news

By Leila Ugincius

Many of Saturday’s graduates may not appreciate how much Virginia Commonwealth University has changed over the past 25 years. But Heather Herring is not one of them. After all, it was more than 25 years ago that she set out to earn the bachelor’s degree that she received this weekend.

It was 1988 when Herring first came to VCU. Like many students, she worked part time while going to school. But she fell victim to a classic temptation that lured her away from school: money. Herring worked in the collections department at Capital One when the credit card company opened a new department that would employ workers Sundays through Thursdays from 4 p.m. to midnight.

“Being young and thinking I could take on the world, I said ‘I’ll do it,’ because it was good money,” Herring said. “And I figured I’d have all day to go to school.”

But what she didn’t realize at the time was how overwhelming it can be to both work and attend school full time. She went from five classes a semester to four the next and continued to cut back until she was taking just one class per semester. Finally, around 1994 or 1995, she stopped altogether.

“It really ended up that work just overtook [everything],” she said. “I did well at Capital One, and I kept getting promoted and they kept giving me more responsibilities. School took a back seat. … And I got blindsided by the money of it and not having to take tests. ‘I can make money, I can be an adult.’”

I got blindsided by the money of it and not having to take tests. ‘I can make money, I can be an adult.'

Over the years, with encouragement and support from her family, she thought about returning to school. One obstacle always stopped her: money. She didn’t think she could afford tuition or qualify for financial aid. However, after working at Capital One for almost 12 years, she was let go in a a  layoff. Not having a degree hurt her job prospects, but at that time she had hefty bills and knew she needed to keep working full time.

Herring ended up in property management and felt secure in her position.

“Well, two and a half years ago, they actually laid me off from my job in property management,” Herring said. “And that’s when I made up my mind, ‘I’m going to see what I need to do to go back.’” She called VCU and was surprised to learn she only needed 10 classes to finish her degree in business administration and management in the School of Business. “If I had known that from the get go, I’d have probably gone back a lot sooner.”

Still needing to work, she conducted her job search with the mentality that her next job would be part time.

“I planned work around school versus planning school around work,” she said.

Coming back to the school in 2012 was a “very big eye-opener.” VCU had changed so much — for the better. For Herring, the return was a great experience, one that’s vastly different from the first time she was on campus.

For example, on the first day of class upon Herring’s return to VCU, one professor asked students to raise their hand if they  “would be willing to never have to come to this class and get a C.” A lot of hands waved in the air. Then he asked those who didn’t raise their hands to explain why.

“I said, “Because I’m paying for this now and I want you to teach me something!’” responded Herring, who was in the latter group. “It was a whole different mindset.”

But it’s not just Herring who has changed. When she was younger, she said, the campus was just a revolving door of commuters coming and going. There weren’t a lot of activities that brought everyone together. Today, it’s more cohesive and feels more like a community to her.

“Being able to see where it was then and where it is now, I just love it so much more now,” Herring said. “Some of that has to do with my age, but a lot of it just has to do with the school itself and what they’ve done and all the different programs that they have that they didn’t have back then.

“So I just say kudos to the school.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is the amount of hard work needed to succeed in college. While Herring did well in high school, she never had to put forth much effort. College was a bit of a shock the first time around; while she did well, she had to work much harder.

It was no different the second time around.

Managerial economics proved to be a tall hurdle for Herring. She struggled with elements of calculus and other concepts that she thought went over her head. But the professor, Chandra Shrestha, suggested she find a tutor — which Herring hadn’t realized was an option through the school — and checked in with his student who sat in the front every day.

“I think he saw the panic,” Herring said. “That was the closest to an anxiety attack I ever had, because I remember sitting in class wanting to cry … I knew I had to have that class to graduate and I was so scared that it was going to take multiple classes to get me ready to take that class.

“I’m forever grateful to [Shrestha] for telling me about the tutor. He always checked in with me. Anytime I turned in a test he’d ask, ‘Are you OK?’ I really appreciated that, because that was a rather large class, and we weren’t the only class he was teaching. I really thought that was awesome of him.”

Without hesitation, Herring advises any younger students to stay the course: “Don’t stop; don’t get blinded by money.”

“If I can just help one person who’s young now and wondering, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll quit and go to work for now and come back’ — don’t do it. No matter how green the grass seems or how much opportunity someone might be offering you right now, don’t give your education up for that. Nobody could have told me back then: Just stick with it, and stick with what you want to do.”

However, there was one bright spot for Herring in waiting to return to school.

“This time in school,” she said, “even when it was stressful it was enjoyable.”

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