Getting Past the Doubt: Becera Found Education in Her 40s was Easier

by Jonathan Petty,
Director of Enrollment Marketing and Communications –

KILLEEN — For Jayme Becera, the fear of going back to school was real. Questions clouded her reality. It was the same doubt that most people face when considering a return college in their 40s.

“Am I going to be able to do this?”

“I’m too old for it. I’ve been out of school for 20 years.”

“Who goes back to school in their 40s?”

Where it all Began

Jayme grew up in the deserts of El Paso. She had every intention of getting a degree out of high school, enrolling at the local university as a pre-pharmacy major. While the draw of professional pharmaceuticals appealed to her sensible side, her young, free spirit found another path.

“I met a boy and fell in love, and he was in the military,” she said.  

Life as a military spouse took precedent and education tumbled to the back seat as Becera moved around the country with her husband, Nacho, and their daughter, Angelina. She managed to take a few classes along the way, eventually earning an associate degree in a business-related field from an online university. Even then, however, education was just an afterthought with no real plans of moving forward.

The military carousel continued. Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, then finally back to her beloved Texas. Becera found a job in a county appraisal office, working on profit and loss statements to determine the value of commercial property. She loved the work, but the environment and culture of the office left a little to be desired.

“I was miserable going to work,” she said. “I told my husband, maybe I’ll just quit this and go back to school.”

Back on Campus

Angelina had just graduated from high school when Jayme made the decision to go back to school and earn a degree in finance. She looked at the finance program at Texas A&M University–Central Texas. With an associate degree in hand, she already had enough college credits to apply. The degree path, however, called for some lower-level prerequisite hours that the university didn’t offer. Jayme found those courses at Central Texas College and knew transferring the hours back to the university would be easy.

Based on her work in the appraisal office, Jayme was excited about the prospect of earning a finance degree with the goal of becoming a loan officer at a bank.

“I really loved looking at property and loss statement and determining value,” she said. “Property and real estate kind of interested me and that was my ultimate goal.”

But the demons of uncertainty were real, and her previous track record as a college student only fueled her doubts.

“Young Jayme, she was an idiot,” she said. “She thought ‘Cs get degrees.’ Her overall GPA was not the best.”

Finding a Study Partner

Fortunately, now 20-years removed from “young Jayme’s” exploits, wiser Jayme had a ready-made study partner when her daughter also enrolled at CTC in the spring of 2023. Together, the pair set out to conquer the halls of education. The journey, however, was transitory at best.

“It was really fun going to school with [Angelina],” Jayme explained. “Not taking the same classes, but, you know, we would study together and have lunch together.”

Despite the quality time, Jayme quickly discovered that she hated economics while Angelina quickly discovered that she hated, well, college.

With the final grades coming in at the end of the semester, Jayme was excited to share with Angelina. The younger Becera, however, responded with a half-hearted excuse that her grades had not yet been posted. This went on for a week before Jayme seriously questioned her daughter.

“Did you fail a couple of classes?” Jayme asked.

“Well, yeah,” was the reply.

“How many?”

“All of them.”

“She was literally going to school, sitting in the classroom, and never turning anything in,” Jayme said. “That’s when we decided education may not be for everybody.”

Rethinking Her Educational Choices

For her part, Jayme began questioning her fixation on finance. Her economics professor at CTC told her that if she didn’t like economics, she wouldn’t like finance. She recalled an earlier encounter when attending an orientation meeting with A&M–Central Texas accounting professor Anthony Fulmore, Ph.D., who told the group of prospective students that if they were at the orientation thinking they would major in finance, they would more than likely end up moving to accounting.

“I hadn’t taken economics at this point, so I was like, no way. Finance is where it’s at,” Jayme said.

After her initial experience with economics, Jayme enrolled in her first finance course at A&M–Central Texas and found her true calling—accounting.

“After that first finance course, I was like, alright. I’m switching,” she said.

Jayme fell in love with accounting, getting numbers on spreadsheets to agree and searching for answers when they don’t. The love of balance. To Jayme, accounting offers explanations and assurances as to why everything has its place. It is concrete. It is real. Finance, on the other hand, bordered on the abstract.

“I feel like finance is more guessing and estimating, and honestly, those are things that make me uncomfortable,” she said.

The Educational Journey

Jayme’s academic pursuits began as her husband was preparing for a six-month deployment. To pass the time, she took a job as a student worker in the Military and Veterans Services (MVS) office at A&M–Central Texas and focused on work and coursework. There, she met Nadine Tochi, also a student worker for MVS and an accounting major, and the two became quick friends and study partners.

Bonding through their common goals, Jayme and Nadine supported each other throughout their education. They coordinated their schedules so they were enrolled in the same classes and could work together on assignments and homework. They supported each other and encouraged each other when the going got tough.

Now both full-time employees in the MVS office and recent graduates with bachelor’s degrees, the two will begin the MBA program this fall.

“I probably wouldn’t be doing it without Nadine,” Jayme said. “We rely on each other. We work together and it just really works.”

Lessons Learned

While it hasn’t been easy and, quite frankly, Jayme isn’t looking forward to all the writing she’ll have to do as a graduate student, she offered her insights on returning to college in her 40s. For her, the fears and doubt were unfounded. Tackling college life in her 40s turned out to be easier. The “idiot” who wasn’t too concerned about her GPA had grown up. And with maturity came a better understanding of the importance of education.

“It’s a lot easier than it was when I was young,” she said. “I guess when you’re grown, you know how to manage your time better. Your priorities are a little bit different. Your perspective is a little different and that makes it easier.”

For Jayme, the education isn’t really about the neatly framed parchment paper heralding her accomplishments that can be hung on an office wall. It’s about the journey.

“The degree says you can show up and do something,” she said. “It’s the experience that I feel is very important. It’s definitely more than learning what the textbook says. It’s meeting people from different walks of life and helping each other. As an adult learner it’s more about the experience of being around people, learning from people, networking, and growing.”

And, as a benefits specialist working with university students in the MVS office, that is what she hopes to pass along—an understanding that true education comes not only from the textbook and course material, but also from the opportunities, friendships, and personal growth you experience along the way.