As the years passed, Randolph and his brother talked about returning to school to achieve this important family milestone. Throughout these years, he continued working and made one
additional attempt to return to school but it didn’t stick. Sadly, his brother passed away at a young age before they could reach their shared goal to become college graduates. Randolph ended up moving from Virginia to Georgia for a fresh start. As he continued to work at AT&T, he frequently received emails about the NACTEL program.
As he tells it, “I was getting emails left and right.” In finally deciding to carefully read one of the emails, he was pleasantly surprised to read about all that PACE had to offer. He was familiar with PACE but initially concerned about the tuition cost. His manager knew about his situation
(80 credits - no degree) and encouraged him to enroll for an Associate’s. What tipped the scales for Randolph this time? The support of the AT&T tuition assistance program and
encouragement from his manager inspired him to do it.
It took some time to gather up transcripts and create a plan for degree completion. PACE accepted most of his credits and the tuition assistance support was key. He found their
admissions team to be incredibly responsive and willing to answer all of his questions. Randolph established a great relationship with his academic advisor. He mapped out every course needed in excel and she helped him to find the quickest path to degree completion. “It was a smooth oiled machine,“ he shares. I maxed out my AT&T tuition assistance plan for a bachelor’s. He was “adamant” about finishing this time. At the same time that he returned to school, he was also planning a wedding and raising his four year old son. Time management was paramount. He found himself completing homework late at night, during lunch breaks and whenever he could fit it in. He had Blackboard on his phone and could check in on student threads at any hour. The online format worked really well for him - better than a traditional classroom setting. He shares, “For me, online was so much better because I was able to work around my schedule. I feel like I got the same amount of content that I would get in the classroom. I had a lot of interaction with other students but it was through discussion posts.”
