Time and again we are faced with decisions on where to study, what to do and the reason we want to be at the institution and why we want to do a certain course.

See when we are in high school our decisions are factored by a lot of things, our friends influence our choices, teachers put pressure on us and people in general have a very high standard of where a student should study after their matric and when you don’t meet those standards you find yourself living in guilt and being ashamed to admit to them that you have failed and that you have found another outlet to further your studies because you feel like you have disappointed them and mostly you have disappointed your reputation.

I spend two years at home, thinking hard about the life I wanted and the reasons I was not progressing. I didn’t stay at home because I wanted to, I stayed at home because all the government school rejected my application but private colleges were ready and willing to accept me. See my mom couldn’t afford it, but with people around me thought that going to Kiev International University was more than getting an education, it was status, status that they thought everyone should know about. It broke my mom’s heart knowing my dreams of going there would never be fulfilled, that she had disappointed me, but regardless of that I still wanted to go to school even if it meant I had to start small.

So I say it doesn’t matter where you study, it is not important who knows where you study and it is okay to make the wrong decisions about where you want to study, so whether you pay R100 000 per a semester or you pay R5 000, education is still education and it is up to you to make with the little you have. We all come from different backgrounds and we can’t expect our parents to afford what the next person parents can afford, so take your time and give it your all despite the institution you are in because those who judge you by your institution are the ones that will admire your work in the future and as Shelby Foote said; “A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library.”

Article issued by Student Brands