Stacy Gingerich
AABA
Bachelor of Information Technology

Meet Stacy Gingerich: From AIU Online Student to AIU Online Staff

Change is always hard, but it is especially so when you're leaving something you love behind. AIU graduate Stacy Gingerich figured out a way to both move on and stay close to the thing she loved: after graduating from AIU Online with an Associate's degree in Business Administration Completion and a Bachelor's degree in Information Technology Stacy went to work for the school as an Admissions Advisor.

"I had such a positive experience at AIU Online," Stacy says. "It allowed me to realize a lifelong dream – getting my college degree. I decided it would be great to take my experience and help others achieve their dreams."

On the job for nearly half-a-year now, Stacy says most prospective AIU Online students she talks with have the same concerns she initially did: "Time and money: most people are concerned about how long it will take them to get their degree and how they're going to pay for it."

"I know that when I was looking at schools, I certainly didn't want to be 44 years old and spending four years getting my Bachelor's degree. I know exactly what prospective students are thinking ... and I can share with them my exact experiences at AIU Online."

While Stacy is now happy to be a part of the 9 to 5 workday world, that wasn't always what she wanted. When her daughter Amanda was in elementary and junior high school, Stacy wanted a job that allowed her be home when Amanda was. Stacy drove a school bus. The job fit the bill perfectly: the schedule gave her weekends, holidays and summers off and kept Amanda out of daycare.

While driving a school bus was the perfect job for Stacy when Amanda was younger, Stacy knew Amanda wasn't always going to need mom at home so much ... and Stacy also knew that, when that time came, she didn't still want to be driving a school bus. "It was a great job when Amanda was young, but it was never meant to be a career" Stacy says. Stacy says the kind of job she did want to do for herself required a college degree.

When Amanda began approaching high school age, Stacy began exploring online schools. After several months of diligent research Stacy enrolled through AIU Online, liking the school's degree programs and reputation. Initially she did have doubts, but they were more about going back to school than the fact she was going back to an online school. "It had been 25 years since I had been in school," she says. Those doubts quickly disappeared however. "I realized I hadn't forgotten what I had already learned in school and that the online environment was actually better for me than the traditional one."

"In traditional classrooms, teachers don't always keep me engaged; sometimes the teachers are downright boring. I can't learn if I'm daydreaming or a teacher is putting me to sleep. With the online environment, it's not so much up to the instructor. Instructors are there to help and answer questions, but you don't need to sit there and listen to lecture after lecture. I can log on, get through the information, find what I need to know and get on with it. My schedule and pace are in my hands."

The online format obviously worked very well for Stacy: she graduated with a 4.0 GPA from both her Associate's and Bachelor's degree programs.

Stacy says she likes online education better than traditional classrooms for other reasons as well. "In a traditional classroom, physical constraints can get in the way. Online, you get to know people solely by what they write and say. There are no prejudices." Stacy still keeps in touch with former AIU Online classmates. "It's not difficult to make friends at AIU Online."

While Stacy is now happy helping others start toward achieving their educational goals, she does plan to eventually put her AIU Online IT degree to use in the IT world. "Whenever that change happens though, I know I'll be missing AIU Online. It has done so much for me."

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