Business Student Fulfills Lifelong Goal of Earning a Bachelor’s Degree

For as long as she can remember, Deborah Gillitzer has enjoyed learning. “I once had a teacher who said, ‘It’s a dull day when you don’t learn anything,’” says Deborah. “I’ve tried to live by that thought.” Fond of numbers, she began taking business classes while still in high school. College was always in her plans, but was set aside after she got married and began having children.

Until 1994, Deborah worked as a waitress. Then, she began what would turn into a quarter century pursuit of a bachelor’s degree. She started at a community college and soon earned two associate’s degrees, one in computer science and the other in accounting. That only took three years, but once she got a job, additional schooling had to wait.

Approaching age 60, Deborah decided it was now or never. Last year, she began looking at schools. “From the moment I arrived at ECPI University, I knew I was in the right place,” she says. “I was treated like a person, not just someone they needed to get enrolled. It was such a family-like atmosphere. Most of the students are also adults and see me as just another student, not the old woman in the class!”

Deborah will soon earn her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting, and she already has a new job as an implementation specialist at ADP where she hopes to advance even further after she graduates. “When I walk across that stage, it’s going to take everything within me not to jump up and down, yelling whoopee!” she says. This is something important that I have accomplished in my life. I’m not just a wife, a mother, or a paper pusher. I’ll have a piece of paper that says, ‘you did it!’”