I'm starting this thread partly to vent but partly to ask your advice. My daughter started university in 2015 and really, really hated it. She's naturally very bubbly, confident and social but for some reason she just didn't find her place at uni. I began to see her getting more quiet, withdrawn and generally losing all her confidence and sparkle. She would say that she would go days without talking to anyone which is so unlike her. When she would come home she would quickly return to normal but would dread going back. She persevered for two years as all of the career paths she was interested in needed a degree and she didn't mind the course itself. In April she decided that she was going to take a leave of absence as she could see that she was becoming depressed and extremely unhappy. She is now living and working abroad and absolutely loving it. I'm so happy to see her having the time of her life. She has met great friends and doesn't mind the job too much. Whenever we talk about going back to uni you can see that she is terrified (and I don't mean that in a over-the-top way) - she's scared about becoming so unhappy that she becomes mentally ill but she's also scared that if she doesn't come back then she won't have a degree. She doesn't make much money at her current job and there's no career advancement either. She knows the sort of career she wants to have in the future but at what sacrifice? We have looked at changing universities but they all have limited spaces and she would have to go back another year meaning that her school friends would have graduated while she would be just entering second year. Re-doing a year also means paying for another year of uni which we really can't do. I just feel like she is having to chose between her mental health and her future / her career. Do you have any advice? Is there an option we have missed?
Thanks in advance