Decision Making Model

1. What is my goal?
Finish my Associate of Science degree by December 2010.

2. What are my options?
What am I going to do with my kids during school?
• Have my children in daycare while I go to conventional classes.
• Have my husband watch the kids while I go to weekend classes.
• Have my Mom watch my children while I go to conventional classes.
• Take online classes so that I can be at home with my kids more and only have a babysitter sometimes.
How am I going to pay for this schooling?
• Get a job during school and pay my own way, with kids in daycare.
• Try to get a scholarship.
• Apply for financial aid and hope that it is enough.
What will I do for transportation?
• Utilize the bus system.
• Get a second car.
• Carpool with another student in my area
• Have my husband carpool with a co-worker, so I can have the car.
• Drive my husband to work on the days that I need the car.

3. What do I know already?
• My Mom has volunteered to watch the kids while I go to school.
• My income for the past couple of years has been pretty low, so I should at least apply for financial aid.
• I want to be with my children as much as possible, so I need to find out more about distance education.
• I will need to find out more about on-campus requirements before I can make a decision about how much, if any, transportation time I will need.
• I will need to find out how much school I have left.

4. What could be the consequences of going back to school?
Good consequences:
• Give myself a sense of accomplishment by finishing my general degree.
• Show my children the importance of getting a good education.
• Broaden my future career opportunities.
• Enrich my mind.


Bad consequences:
• Not having as much family/social time, because of school obligations.
• Have to put school as a top priority, instead of house maintenance or personal hobbies.

5. My action plan:
• I met with an academic advisor and found out that I needed 43 credit hours to graduate with my Associates Degree.
• I met with a distance education advisor to learn how to accomplish these types of classes.
• I then decided that I could make my degree in three semesters if I stuck to the plan of 14 credit hours the first semester, 13 credit hours the second semester, and 15 credit hours my last semester.
• I would only need transportation for the first block of the summer classes and test dates for the other semesters. This works with one car and a motorcycle.
• My Mom would watch the kids on days that I needed to be at school.
• I have to schedule time everyday for school.
• I have to keep up my grades.
• I post my action plan and goal to the front of my fridge to help me remember that it is all worth it.