The Months Between

Three Central Texas high school graduates intend to go to college this fall. But will they? This summer, KUT is following the students and their counselor through the transition period. Click on the tab in the upper left hand corner for their stories.

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Joseph’s Story: Beating the Odds and Making the Grade

The Months Between: How Do Your Beat the Odds, Find Your Place & Make the Grade?

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Mauricio’s Story: Balancing Work and Classes

The Months Between: How Do You Balance a Full-Time Job with College Classes?

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Erika’s Story: Is Student Debt Worth a Four-Year College Experience?

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Wrapping Up The Months Between 

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Settling in

Erika moved to her dorm room at Our Lady of the Lake a week ago. So far, things are going well.

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Erika Moves into her Dorm

There were a lot of tears Friday when Erika said goodbye to her family and moved into her on-campus dorm room at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. 

Erika was like a lot of students heading to college: nervous, but ready to move out of her parent’s home. 

Erika was able to go to OLLU because she appealed her financial aid package with the help of Breakthrough Austin. The school gave her a few more thousand dollars to help her pay tuition. 

Erika went to a single sex school for middle and high school. She hasn’t gone to school with boys since fifth grade. She says she’s nervous about what that will be like. She’s also nervous about making friends. 

Her classes start today. 

Photos by Miguel Guterriez Jr. 

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Who Enrolls in College in TX?

Joseph made it to class. Mauricio made it to class. Erika is expected to head down to college on Friday. But there’s still a lot of Central Texas students who aren’t enrolling in college--especially Hispanic students.

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Mauricio Starts Classes

Mauricio started classes at ACC this week. He’s taking Introduction to Business Principles, English and Speech. Speech is one requirement to get a real estate license. 

Mauricio is hoping to move out of his mom’s house in the next month, but he still needs to save money to do so. This summer, he spent $8,500 on a used car. 

Mauricio is very confident he can manage classes and work four days a week. Right now, his money situation seems stable. But living on his own costs money and he’ll have to keep his job to pay rent. That could make it harder to become a full-time student and take four classes a semester. 

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Just Under the Wire

A few days before classes started at ACC, Mauricio reemerged to make sure everything was in order before he starts. His entire life has been consumed by work.

He qualified for ACC’s Free Books program, which is one less thing he needs to worry about financially. 

His Breakthrough counselor, Daniel, met him at ACC so he could stay on top of him and his schedule this semester.

Mauricio’s father doesn’t live in Austin, and his mother is getting remarried. Mauricio says she’s been too busy planning the wedding and buying a new house to help him with the college enrollment process.

Right now, he’s working four to five days a week. The question is, how he manages three classes with his busy work schedule.

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Joseph Starts Classes

Joseph starts his first week of college this week at St. Edward’s University. But he still has to figure out how he’s going to make each monthly payment. He’s interviewed for a few jobs and is waiting to hear back. 

For now, he’s enjoying his first week as a college student. 

Photos by Miguel Gutierrez Jr. 

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The Cost of Getting to Class

Another wrinkle in Joseph’s summer plans was that he got into a minor accident on his motorcycle. His parents were concerned about his safety and scraped together enough money to buy him a used car. Joseph had to get his driver’s license so he can get himself to class everyday. 

Even getting to the DMV to take his driver’s test was an obstacle. Neither of his parents have licenses to drive him. KUT photographer, Miguel Gutierrez Jr., ended up taking him to the DMV so he could get his license and snapped these photos.

Photos by Miguel Gutierrez Jr.

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Diary Entry: Last Day of Summer

From the desk of Joseph Ramirez: “I feel pretty excited that school is about to start. But yet I feel a bit nervous if I'm prepared for everything. I kind of still wish I should've taken more hours but think I made the right choice of keeping it at 13 for right now. I'm going to go early with a couple of friends just to find my classes so I don't show up late to class tomorrow. Other than that I hope that my professors are kind and that everything goes well during my first semester especially how I no longer have an hour gap between classes to study.

Additionally tomorrow I have two interviews for possible work and volunteer opportunities so I hope that goes well. But tomorrow is also my last day to spend with my brother until he has to go back to Lubbock so hopefully we have enough to catch up.”

Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr.

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The Checklist

Now that Erika has chosen a college to attend this fall, she has A LOT to do before orientation on August 28th. Here’s just a few of the things on her list.

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Finally, Making a Choice

After months of uncertainty, Erika has picked a college! After comparing the financial aid packages at two private liberal arts colleges nearby, she chose her original first choice: Our Lady of the Lake.  After meeting with a financial aid officer, the school gave her a little more money. 

She’ll have to take out loans, which she and her parents were worried about repaying. The additional money from the school means she’ll take out fewer loans. Plus, the loans will allow her to stay on campus and have a true college experience. When she was making her decision, Daniel, her counselor, asked her, “what is a college experience worth to you?” Erika ultimately decided it was worth it to live on campus rather than live at home.  

Photo by Kate McGee

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Why college matters

Over a lifetime, a college graduate can expect to earn $1 million more than a high school graduate

On average, college graduates have lower employment rates than high school graduates-even in tough economic times.

College graduates have more jobs to choose from.

College gets you out of your neighborhood and into a bigger world. It can open doors you never imagined.

People see you as a leader when you are the first in your family to go to college.

People who go to college live longer

-Taken from firstinthefamily.org.

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Nearing the End

Today is Joseph’s last day at his internship with Luminex, a biotechnology company. They manufacture and market technology for biological testing. Joseph started the summer wanting to pursue a degree in biology, but now he’s also considering a Master’s in Business Administration down the road. 

All of the money he made at this job will go toward paying for school, including books and other supplies. According to his budget, that’s about $2,400. 

Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr. 

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‘It Makes Me Feel Kind of Alone’

“I feel like my parents are just kind of like going with the flow and they’re not really understanding what it is I’m doing. Everyday they ask me, ‘Have you picked a college? Have you picked a college?’ and I always come home with ‘I don’t know yet, I don’t know.’ I don’t want to say they don’t care, but it’s not like their priority because they know either way I’ll probably end up at college this fall. However, it makes me particularly feel like I have to make my own decisions. My life depends on a decision that I make and I have no parent guidance to it. It makes me feel, kind of, alone.”