She put three of her children through college; now it’s her turn.
For years, Rachel Laubach worked in real estate and put off getting her college education. But, the Dunwoody mom saw academic success for all three of her children.
“One was at [Georgia] Tech, one at Georgia State [University] and one went to Emory [University],” she says. “I was the scholar in the family, though, and never went to college. I couldn’t wait until I got older so I could go back to school,” she says.
When a son died in 2008, she didn’t know what to do with herself. “I was bent over in grief,” she recalls. She found that going back to school helped heal her mind.
Her first class eight years ago was an algebra course on the Dunwoody Campus. Laubach was eligible for free tuition through a statewide University System of Georgia program for people ages 62 and up. Georgia State offers the GSU-62 program university-wide.
While the road to her degree is a little longer than most—she’s just taking one course a semester—Laubach loves the journey.
“I have noticed that taking these course helps your mind, keeps you alert and keeps me aware of the younger generation,” she says. “I’m a philosophy major and love sitting in class and learning.”
She lauds the professors who have engaged her.
“They’ve been very enlightening.”
Now 75, Laubach says she’s done well, earning mostly A's and B's, and she discovered she loves science courses. One day, she’ll graduate and go on to theology school, she says. In the meantime, it’s one class at a time.
“I don’t know why more older people are not doing this,” she says. “If they interacted with young people like they should, they would know what’s going on. I’m 75 years old now and hope [that] to the day I die I’ll be learning something.”