Enrolling Friends and Family into Your Educational Goals
Not that long ago, there weren’t many options for working professionals who wanted to go back to school and earn a degree. To help meet the need, colleges and universities would occasionally offer evening or weekend courses. But for students taking these courses, time usually spent with family was instead being spent traveling to and from classes on campus. Correspondence schools—aka, college courses completed via mail—helped solve part of the problem, but students were still at the mercy of postal deliveries to advance their education.
Fortunately, times have changed. Thanks to 100% online schools like Grantham University, you have the flexibility to earn your degree at your convenience. Online universities allow you to fit schooling around your already busy schedule. Whether you’re juggling a full-time job, meeting military commitments, fulfilling family responsibilities or doing all three at once, online education allows you to earn a degree without sacrificing the things that are important to you. It also presents a unique opportunity to enlist the aid of your friends and family to ensure you stick to your educational goals—or to give them the encouragement they need to actively pursue their own degree dreams.
Sharing your goals with others
Online education is still a relatively new concept, so it isn’t always easy for friends and family to understand. After all, you’re not leaving to physically attend class every day. Those in your circle may not realize that attending an online university still requires you to amend your schedule and make time for your studies. Some may not realize you’re working toward a degree or certificate at all.
The truth is that online learning does not always offer your friends and family the same visibility into your life as they would get if you attended a traditional university. If those close to you do not understand why your schedule has changed after enrolling in an online university, they likely just don’t understand how online education works. By spending a little time explaining the online education process, you can help those around you recognize the commitment you’ve made and stay focused on your educational goals.
Dealing with skeptics
Because getting an online education looks different, it can be easy for friends, family, and coworkers to dismiss it as not important. Or worse, not “real.”
You know that your Grantham education is real and accredited. Your degree is every bit as legitimate as the one you would get at a large brick-and-mortar university. The difference is that an online education has been designed to meet the needs of students with outside responsibilities. However, your friends and family may need help understanding that.
If your friends and family don’t see the benefits of your online education, it can be difficult for them to support you in reaching your goals. If they can’t see your education taking place in a traditional environment, they may devalue your studies and encourage you to step away from them. The best way to handle a situation like this is to make those around you a part of your team.
Getting others on board
To help your friends and family understand online education, it’s important that they also know your goals. Take the time to share your dreams and ambitions with those in your inner circle. Explain all the reasons you’re pursuing an online education. Point out the benefits of earning your degree and pursuing an education online, including:
- Cost—often, an online education can be less expensive than a traditional university
- Professionalism—you can pursue your studies and keep your day job
- Free time—you’re able to spend time with family and friends and still be successful
Sharing goals helps everyone
Sharing your goals and your reasoning doesn’t just help your friends and family understand what you’re doing—it helps you, too. Research from the Dominican University shows that people who share their goals with a friend are more likely to achieve them. Sixty-two percent of people in the study who wrote down their goals and shared them with a friend had either completed those goals or were more than halfway to completing them by the end of the study.
Asking a friend to hold you accountable for reaching your goals can also be helpful. According to the same study, 76% of participants who sent a progress report to a friend once a week had achieved or were more than halfway toward achieving their goals by the end of the study.
Being transparent
As part of the online education discussion with your friends and family, be sure to show them some of what you’re working on in your classes. Seeing the work you’re doing can make them feel like they’re a part of the process and validate the idea of online education to them. (Maybe it’s the kind of validation that will help them see the value in pursuing their own education online, too.)
Show your friends and family your class syllabus so they can see the volume of work expected from you. This will help them to adjust their expectations of how much time you need to spend on school as well as give them a picture of the scope of what you are learning.
Asking for support
The road to success requires hard work and tough choices, which is why it’s important to ask your friends and family for their support in your online education endeavor. Juggling family, a job and studies can create stress. According to Verywellmind.com, “Being surrounded by people who are caring and supportive helps people to see themselves as better capable of dealing with the stresses that life brings.”
Explain to people in your circle that for you to be successful, you need their support. Ask for specific types of support, like encouragement to keep going or understanding when you don’t have as much time to spend with them. Friends and family are most likely to offer support when they know it is needed, so make the effort to ask for it.
In addition to friends and family, know that there are others available and eager to support you. Grantham offers several options for academic support. Your instructors’ primary purpose is to help you succeed, so don’t hesitate to reach out to them. Each student at Grantham also has access to a personal student advisor whose sole purpose is to answer questions and help you overcome any hurdles in the way of your success. Grantham also offers online tutoring and 24/7 online resources so you can access the help you need whenever you need it.
It takes a village
Getting your education online may seem like a solo activity, but including your friends and family into the process benefits both you and them. By helping those in your inner circle understand time commitments necessary to succeed, sharing your goals with them, and asking for their support, you can make them feel like an essential part of your education. When you do that, it’s easier for them to become the support system you need to meet those goals.
Sharing their dreams
One last thought: Getting the support you need from family and friends to achieve your college degree is wonderful. But helping them realize they can reach for their own degree dreams, well, that’s even better.
Take the time to show your friends and family that as they have helped and continue to help you on your educational journey, you’re there to help them on their own. Encourage them to look over the more than 50 degree programs at Grantham University.
Talk about the convenience and flexibility of online learning. Discuss how affordable the tuition is and how valuable the education can be. Remind them that they will be learning from expert instructors with real-world experience in the fields they teach. And let them know that they will have your support and the support of a University that truly appreciates the time, energy and effort they put into making an education a part of their lives. We’re here to help you—and them—build better lives through education.
Are you ready to take the next step on the path to success? Apply now and set up an appointment to speak with a Grantham admissions representative.
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