Administrative coordinator Cheryl Holtman was the first to apply for the university’s $10K degree completion program, and one of the first to graduate.

“I didn’t think I’d get emotional,” Cheryl said, her eyes welling up and her voice cracking. 

But a happy tear – an “I-finally-did-it” tear – slipped down her cheek as she talked about earning her bachelor’s degree as a 54-year-old employee of the university; the one she grew up near, the one she originally attended beginning in the spring of 1991 after a couple other educational starts and stops after high school. She was at Texas Tech University several years, as she did coursework part-time, having to pay for it out of her own pocket. 

But it was simply life that happened between then and now that upended her original plan to graduate as a Red Raider. 

She married and started a family, having their first son, Jagger, in 1996. Then came the twins, Jake and Nathan, in 1998. (Fun fact, Nathan has earned four degrees from Texas Tech.) Cheryl never went back to work, and before Jagger started kindergarten they moved to Ropesville, a small rural community about 25 miles southwest of Lubbock.

“There are not a lot of job opportunities out there,” Cheryl explained. “So, when the kids went to school, I went with them as a substitute teacher at their school all of those years. I also ran a direct sales company from my house, so I was working on the side, working at school and raising kids. My youngest children graduated high school in 2017, but I did not return to the workplace as a grownup until 2018.”   

Cheryl was petrified, because being a stay-at-home mom for all those years, she didn’t think she had anything to contribute. She worked four years for another company, and then she began working for Texas Tech K-12, part of Texas Tech Online, in 2022. She is an administrative academic coordinator for special populations.

But she still didn’t have the degree. At first, it was never an expectation that she would not, at some point, go back. It just never came to fruition. She never allowed herself the opportunity to return to college, and by this point, she honestly never thought she would, “because, you know, I’m this old and just never thought I would.”  

That changed in the spring of 2024. 

Cheryl found out about Texas Tech’s $10K Degree Completion Program from a colleague at work who was critical in designing the courses. She knew immediately this was her opportunity.  

She quickly sought out additional information about the program that combines life experience with prior coursework and microcredential courses, leading to enrollment in the online Bachelor of Science in Leadership Studies program. She was thrilled.

Then she argued about the modality. 

Microcredential courses are the first step in the $10K program. They are in-person every other Saturday for the duration of the four-week courses, at the Texas Tech DFW site in Irving. 

“I was going to have to go to Irving for my in-person classes, and I didn’t understand that,” Cheryl said incredulously. “I work for an online school, and I really argued about it, honestly. I was like, ‘Why do we have to go to Dallas? That doesn't make any sense. We are an online program at a department where I work at an online school. I know for a fact that we can do this all online, and I should never have to go to Irving.’ I mean, I really gave it my best.”

But she also understood that these first steps were free. The department covers the courses and the books. And they allowed her to take them two at a time. She would go to Irving on a Saturday and have one course from 9 a.m. to noon and the second one from 1-4 p.m. Several people in her cohort did that; she wasn’t the only one. 

James Childers, assistant dean of faculty in the School of Professional Studies and assistant professor of practice, teaches the capstone course for Leadership Studies. 

“I met Ms. Holtman on the first day of class at the DFW site. From the moment she introduced herself, I was struck by her determination,” he said. “She had traveled all the way from Lubbock—miles away—just to be part of Texas Tech’s new $10K program, determined to finish what she had started years before. Her excitement was contagious, and her motivation was clear.”

Cheryl completed all four four-week microcredential courses in just eight weeks.

Very quickly, Cheryl realized the true importance of the in-person courses, citing the feeling of community and the diversity of fellow students and their experiences as crucial to the process.

“I probably wouldn’t have made it through if I hadn’t done those Saturday courses because they teach you how to do school again,” Cheryl admitted, tears welling up a second time. “We all were apprehensive about going back to school. It helped that we had each other to lean on. It was spectacular. I encouraged the program leaders to keep the class size small enough that the sense of community continues to be strong.”

About halfway through the microcredential courses, students officially apply to the university for acceptance into the degree program. Cheryl again had a jump on other students, with a fairly mundane assignment for her job, when she was asked to test the application for the new program. She was to go through the online application to make sure it had no glitches and was easily doable for interested learners. This made her the first student to be officially enrolled for the new degree completion plan. 

Cheryl cites the program’s diligence in removing barriers to success for adult learners. The application for the $10K program is an abbreviated version for which there is no fee. She spoke to the administrators of the $10K program in May, and two weeks later she started – there was no long wait time. They tell students to bring a spiral, or whatever they want to bring, and they supply the books and everything else needed. At that first class, they walk the cohort through how to work the online system. 

“I mean, because we’re people who don’t know how to do that,” she explained. “Adult learners are not going to jump through a bunch of hoops because we’ve made it this far without having this degree, right? It's just a piece of paper, right?”

After that first meeting in Irving months before, Childers says he didn’t interact with Cheryl again until the fall semester, when she appeared in his online Leadership Capstone course. Seeing her name on the roster filled him with admiration. 

“She hadn’t just started the program—she had stuck with it, pushing through every challenge to reach this final step,” he declared. “Ms. Holtman was an exceptional student, consistently earning top marks and tackling every assignment with determination. She embodied exactly what the $10K program was designed for—helping dedicated students turn their long-held dreams of earning a degree into reality.”

For the cost to stay around $10K, a minimum of 80 applicable prior credits is required for admission to the completion program, then the mandatory microcredentials followed by the courses required for the bachelor’s degree. Cheryl finished those final 16 hours of coursework while working fulltime. She graduated in December, taking only about six months from signing up to attaining that “piece of paper,” one that proves persistence and achievement of a dream to herself and to other adult students. 

Cari Moye, acting superintendent for Texas Tech K-12, says Cheryl was already a huge asset to their program even without the completed degree.

“She is a testament to hard work and the incredible opportunities the $10K Degree Program can provide,” Moye said. “We know that earning her bachelor’s degree will open new doors and lead to new achievements, and she is more than ready and well-prepared for what’s ahead.” 

Thinking about that moment when she was dressed in her black and red regalia, when she heard her name called – when she walked the stage – Cheryl considers others who might have the desire to follow this path but are unsure of the leap. 

“I love the program. I think everybody should do it,” she said, turning her emotion into a smile. “If you need it, you should do it, whether that need is because you want to advance your career, or because you just need to do it for you. The confidence it built in me is worth way more than the $10K.”