The Technician

The summer of 2008 can be summed up in one word for me……tired

My daughter, Integrity aka Kiwi, was born July 1st and then didn’t sleep a full night until she was at least 6 years old. The Financial Aid Office was extremely far behind in application processing and we were authorized to work as much overtime as needed.

One week after Kiwi was born, I went back to work starting as a Financial Aid Technician and was working 70 to 80 hour weeks trying to get as much money as possible for my new family before school started in the fall. Because of my connection with Eric, I was able to make a special arrangement with North Idaho College (NIC) that I could work 20 hours per week as long as I was a full-time student. Any time school wasn’t in session I would revert to full days and a full-time schedule.

Because I was one of a handful of people on campus working under this arrangement and my connection to Eric, who was the Vice President of Student Services at the time at NIC, I wanted to make sure I worked hard, did a good job, and uphold Eric’s reputation and vote of confidence in me. I’m sure people questioned how I got the position in the first place and I wanted to erase that question as soon as I could.

July 1st, 2008 to July 1st, 2009 I worked my first year as a Technician at NIC all the while going to school full-time as a Business Administration major. After a tough spring 2008 semester I redeemed myself in school, completing 14 credits in fall of 2008 and 16 credits in the spring of 2009. In the fall, I was an A- away from achieving a 4.0 GPA. For a 21 year old, I was doing what most kids my age do in terms of going to school full-time, doing what a lot of people do in working half to full-time, but also raising a baby. As hard as the spring of 2008 was for me, I eventually accepted my new path in life and also was in ‘dad mode’ knowing I needed to finish school and provide. Being 21 years old and hearing about and seeing my best friends doing young man things made me jealous as I changed diapers and entered fatherhood.

After 3 years of college, which included a semester at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a summer session and semester at Mendocino College (1 year of college) and 2 years at NIC (Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, and Spring 2009), I was officially graduating with an Associates of Science in Business Administration.

This was a bittersweet time. I had just weathered, arguably, the most turbulent time of my life and came out on top to graduate but also was in the process of breaking up with Kiwi’s mother. We were together for 2 years total. We knew each other for 5 months before finding out the baby was on the way, and a majority of our relationship was spent surviving and getting ready for a baby. When Kiwi was 10 months old, we split up. She eventually moved back to Missoula, MT where she had family and has been ever since.

Despite it all…..that A.S. in Business Admin was dedicated to me. And reminded me…..I can still do things and achieve in life despite my circumstances.

Summer of 2009 can be summed up in one word………Lost

Although my daughter’s mother and I have always seen eye to eye (for the most part) on raising Kiwi, we didn’t get a long a majority of our relationship personally. So the break up and custody arrangement was a difficult one. But by the end of the summer, we had a week on/week off arrangement that we would uphold until Kiwi reached Kindergarten age.

NIC was my life saver. Kiwi went into the NIC Children’s Center starting at 6 weeks old and was raised there. We met a ton of great teachers and people that would baby sit her over the summer until she was 10 years old.

July 1st, 2009 to July 1st, 2010 I worked my second year as a Technician. I really didn’t know that I was starting my first career. I treated my job as a job. I remember hitting my unofficial 1st year anniversary in February and then my official anniversary in July and thinking “wow….I’ve never worked anywhere for an entire year.”

NIC and Lewis-Clark State College, Coeur d’Alene have a Consortium Agreement where as long as you take a majority of your credits from Lewis-Clark State College, Cd’A you can receive financial aid for the combined credits at both Lewis-Clark State College and NIC. That, in combination with the fact that NIC employees receive a discount at NIC when attending the institution, I made money going to college.

Fall ’08 and Spring ’09 I received an NIC Foundation Scholarship and became an independent student Financial Aid wise because of my daughter, and didn’t pay for anything out of pocket. The excess money was used to pay for the Children’s Center for Kiwi since I had to occupy a full-time spot for her. From ’08 to ’09 that was fine, but in ’09 after Cory and I broke up, Kiwi was with me for a week and then in Missoula with Cory for a week. But in order for her to go full days at the Children’s Center when she was with me, I had to pay for a full-time spot.

Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 I took 3 credits each semester from NIC and 9 credits each semester from LCSC – Coeur d’Alene as a Business Administration and Business Management Major with a minor in Marketing. During the fall ’09 semester I was still operating under the full-time school part-time benefited work model arrangement but that changed after I saw a 3rd director fired from the Financial Aid Office. This time it was incompetence and over promising and under delivering when it came to disbursing Financial Aid to our students (of which 75%+ of students attending at that time needed financial aid to attend).

That resulted in me working full-time since the office needed all hands on deck in addition to going to school full-time and being a dad every other week. 6 months into my second year as a Financial Aid Technician, I realized I was learning all of the nuances of Financial Aid, learning the NIC systems, and having good practice at helping students and families navigate the financial aid application process. It was at this point that I started taking my job seriously and realizing I could take what I was doing somewhere long term.  The goal went from being a “businessman” for a career to eventually becoming a Community College President like my older brother.

Kiwi, made my risk threshold for life/business shrink drastically. I thought I would always start my own business but that all changed once I did a ‘run your own business’ project in school. It was too much headspace to run my own company trying to finish school, working full-time, and raising my daughter. That was the same when I had an opportunity to interview for a Financial Aid Technology Specialist position. It was an internal opening only, I applied, along with 3 other colleagues, and eventually opted out because I personally wasn’t in the right space to take on a new job. In my current career, whenever someone tells me that’s where they are personally, I respect and understand what they mean.

Fall ’09 and spring ’10 I worked under an Interim Director, hired as a contractor (knowing what I know now as a recruiter, NIC spent a TON of money on this person) who got our office up to speed, in a good stable place, and then was part of the hiring process for our new permanent Director.

Summer 2010 I continued my 4th year of college at Lewis-Clark State by turning my job as a Technician into an 3 credit internship.

July 1st, 2010 to July 1st, 2011 can be summed up as me……..finally starting to hit my stride.

Another perk as an NIC employee was that I would receive a discount on credits taken from LCSC – Cd’A as long as I was in 11 or less credits and would pay half price for the first 6 credits. After 4 years of school, I had 15 credits left to complete my bachelor’s degree. An advisor mess-up warranted me to change my major from Business Administration and Business Management with a minor in Marketing to a Business Administration Major with a Minor in Marketing (otherwise I would need to take an additional 14 credits).

To take advantage of the discount, I took 9 credits in the fall of ’10 from LC and 6 credits in the spring of ’11. Between NIC, Mendocino, and the University of Hawaii I transferred all but one of the maximum amount of credits I could transfer into Lewis-Clark. I remember describing my credit situation to a person in the Admissions Office and without giving her my personal information she knew exactly who I was.

3 years in as a Technician I was doing well helping students via email, phone, and in-person. That lead to me taking on new projects like running the Work Study program, managing our own student workers briefly, and starting to learn the next phases of the application review process to help with overflow.

pring of 2011 I graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Business Administration and a Minor in Marketing from LCSC.

All of the sudden, I was established in a career with 4 years of experience overall, had two degrees, was raising a 3 year old daughter, and life was starting to take shape for me at 24 years old. When you keep going and keep pushing, all of the sudden, positivity starts flowing your way.

In my life……that flow manifested itself in the way of a newly created Financial Aid Office position that was opened to internal applicants only….a Financial Aid Advisor…..the next logical step in my career……

Keep Climbing

Alex deGolia