A degree at 50 Patricia rebuilt her life and won

Patricia Williams lost almost everything while chasing one dream. Her business disappeared. So did her marriage, home and car. She buried her mother, battled a life-threatening blood clot, and even completed coursework from a hospital bed. Yet, despite the setbacks, the 50-year-old is preparing to graduate with a bachelor’s degree.

“From I started the degree I lose everything. I’m like Job,” she said, while comparing her tribulations to those of the biblical character renowned for enduring immense suffering and loss without losing faith. “I lost everything.”

Williams, a native of Gordon Town, St Andrew, graduated from Mona High School with only three CSEC subjects. In order to matriculate into the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica, she had to strengthen her academic qualifications by returning to complete additional CSEC subjects, including mathematics and human and social biology, while simultaneously pursuing a Level Three entrepreneurship course at the Vocational Training Development Institute (VTDI).

“I was going to VTDI in the morning and then leaving in the evening to go to UTech to do the CSEC subjects and then started college,” she said.

Her decision to pursue higher education came after a shoulder injury forced her to walk away from the salon business she had built with her then husband.

“I realised that I had to do something else to help myself,” she said.

With just $40,000 to her name and no steady income, she enrolled in an associate degree programme even as she eyed the ultimate goal of earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.

“I didn’t know where the rest [of money] was coming from,” she recalled. “My friend kept motivating me and encouraging me, so I said, ‘Alright, let me start it.’”

The financial burden quickly became overwhelming.

“They were saying they would have to kick me out of college because I couldn’t find the rest of the school fee. I had just got a job, but it wasn’t enough.”

As she struggled to remain enrolled, her marriage broke down and she moved into an adjoining section of her mother’s house.

“It was just stressful, and I started to pray and fast because I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had reached so far and finished the first year. I didn’t want to drop out because that would be a waste.”

Her search for assistance led to a departmental scholarship, allowing her to continue her studies while maintaining mostly As and Bs. However, fresh challenges soon emerged, as her mother became critically ill and her daughter repeatedly required emergency treatment.

“Almost every night I’m at the University Hospital with my daughter because she keeps collapsing. Sometimes I had to rush out and leave my mother there alone,” she said.

Despite the emotional strain, Williams refused to put her studies on hold.

“Somebody was saying to me, ‘Sit out of college for a while,’ but I was determined that I wouldn’t make whatever I was going through affect my studies.”

Williams’ determination eventually attracted financial support in the form of wards and bursaries that helped her remain in school.

“It was like God saw me struggling,” she said, reflecting on how she was able to clear her balance with the university.

But as her financial standing improved, her mother’s condition worsened.

“I had to spend nights at the hospital with her while still doing my schoolwork. Shortly after she came home, she died.”

Not long after laying her mother to rest, Williams lost her job. She later found another one, but that company also closed.