Am I wasting my time?

[sharkstale]

I started a Law degree through the Open Uni 7 years ago. During my first year, I fell pregnant. I completed that year, then deferred for a while. I went back part-time and completed the second year. I then fell pregnant again and deferred again. I'm now enrolled part-time again to finish my final year, however, it's been so long now since I started that the entire course content has changed and I've been unable to continue with a degree in Law. My only option now is to move my completed modules over to an Open Degree and finish with an open degree. Is there, realistically, any point to me finishing? I'm 37, I will be 39 when I finish as it's part-time.

I have been able to convert my completed modules into a Certificate of Higher Education in Law. Should I just cut my losses and walk away with that and be happy?

Do you want a degree for yourself? For the experience and life-skills finishing a degree after sticking at it so long will give you? Do you enjoy the studying for its own sake? Will you feel more proud of yourself and confident? I think finishing just for yourself would be very worthwhile.

Whether it will make any difference to your career, I don't know. But I would have thought an employer looking for someone with a degree, but not a particular subject, would be impressed by your resilience and staying power.

If on the other hand, it's become torture to study and you won't be able to use it in your chosen career anyway, I'd think twice, now that the modules are so expensive.

I think, at this point, I want to feel the accomplishment of having finished it. It's taken so long, and I'm so close, it feels wasted not to complete it - but I won't be finishing with the degree I wanted, which does put a downer on it.
I no longer believe I could pursue any law-related career, due to my age now and lifestyle. I was kid-free when I started and had different ambitions (first pregnancy was not planned).
Finding the time to study and complete the assignments at the moment is difficult as I have a toddler who doesn't sleep well.
I'm just weighing up the pros and cons of pushing myself to get it finished now that I'm finally back on it. Yes, it would feel good to have it done. And yes, i do love learning the content. But it is starting to stress me out as I have very limited free time to study.
So, I'm trying to be realistic now and work out if it's worth my while in the long run.

Oh, what a tricky dilemma!

I'm impressed you've got as far as you have, BTW, and I hope you are able to make the decision which is right for you.

I no longer believe I could pursue any law-related career, due to my age now and lifestyle.
So why is an Open Degree such a problem? Doesn't it mean that you can pivot into a new interest or career - surely that's a plus?

Turn it into a positive and use your life experience to walk away with an Open Degree.