Akiko Brown is finally earning her bachelor’s in Texas Tech’s $10K Degree Completion Program despite barriers both early and later in life.

Dressed in an oversized white sweatshirt emblazoned with “Texas Tech” in huge red letters, pictures of her parents, children and grandchild on the credenza behind her, smiling from ear to ear and eyes beaming, Akiko (Swartz) Brown jumps into her origin story, enthusiasm and energy bubbling over, eagerly waiting for the questions to start.

Akiko will complete her Bachelor of Science in Leadership Studies this summer through Texas Tech University’s $10K Degree Completion Program. The hybrid program is offered through Texas Tech Online and Texas Tech DFW.  

Becoming Akiko Swartz

Akiko’s first obstacle was actually being born at all. She relates the backstory of her dad, Ron Swartz, being drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and meeting her mom, Toshiko – who happened to work at the military base – when he was stationed in Japan. After a quick courtship, he got his orders to return to the states, and with a new bride, they started their new life in the U.S. 

“So, Mom, who definitely hadn’t even perfected English at that time, came to the U.S. Dad was stationed in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, a little over an hour from Boston, which is where I was born,” Akiko offered. “Mom was brand new there, still trying to acclimate herself. She struggled with getting pregnant, but after five years, I entered the world.” 

When Ron’s active duty ended, he wanted to go back home, which for him was the Columbus, Ohio, area. Gathering Toshiko, Akiko and younger sister Yumiko, the family moved, and he maintained his military career as a reservist.

As an aside, Akiko said at one point she could have claimed tri-citizenship. Her dad, at the time he was drafted, was also still a Canadian citizen. Her mom has maintained her Japanese citizenship.

“And for 28 years of my life before I got married, I was Akiko Swartz, so I dare you, I challenge you to find another Akiko Swartz out there,” she said with an impish grin.

Becoming the Young Mother

Having finally acclimated to being near the big city of Boston, Toshiko went through another transition period, moving to a much smaller, mid-1970s town. She ended up loving it there, where Akiko grew up, in Hilliard, a suburb of Columbus, watching her mother overcome her own challenges. 

“I spent my life in Ohio, all 12 years of school were spent in the same town,” Akiko reflected on the move. “And right after high school graduation, I ended up having my daughter.”

Grateful for her parents, and that her mom wanted to make sure she didn’t become a statistic as an unmarried parent, she remembers the one-sided conversation going something like this:

We will help you. We will not judge you. We will always be there for you, but we’re going to make sure that this does not derail or change who you are. At this point, going away to college is not going to be something that we can make happen. But you will work, and you will continue college; you will go the community college route. So, we expect you to go to school at night.

Akiko had to do everything the hard way. 

“Cloth diapers. Sterilize bottles,” she remembered. “I had to learn and grow up very quickly. But also, living at home during that time, they were taking care of the baby. Without their love and support, none of what transpired later in life would have ever been possible.” 

Proud of the fact that she was able to attend college, Akiko says it’s a wake-up call when you’re going to school at 8 p.m., your classes end at 10 and most of the student body is your parents’ age. She was determined to make something of herself, going to school four nights each week and working on the weekends – pretty much a blur, because her parents would come home from work, take Ailey, and then she would go to school.

Attending Columbus State Community College, Akiko finished in two years, graduating with her Associate of Arts degree in 1995, overcoming another hurdle.

Becoming the Mortgage Professional

Knowing she didn’t want to stop at the associate degree, Akiko immediately enrolled in business courses at Franklin University in Columbus. She struggled, taking economics and accounting; she felt that really wasn’t “her,” even though she was working part-time at a bank and learning a new industry, which included eventually earning her annuities license.

But the young mother was ready to be on her own. She was 21. She wanted a full-time job. As much as she loved her parents, she wanted to branch out. Akiko ended up getting connected to the mortgage side and got a full-time job. At that point, it was Chase (JP Morgan Chase); so, she kind of fell into the mortgage business. She started out as a mortgage processor and was still taking an occasional course at Franklin and Columbus State as well. 

“After six months, I was making more money than I ever could have imagined,” Akiko said, wide-eyed. “I ended up saying, ‘Gosh, why am I doing both? I’m doing really well. I’m kind of coming into my own. I’m making a name for myself.’ I was a top producer, and lo and behold, like I’ve said to many, life just took over. My career started to take off.

Becoming Akiko Brown

Although Akiko’s mortgage career sidelined her college studies, without that diverging path, she may never have become Akiko Brown.

Eventually Akiko transitioned into a training manager role at Chase. Her face lighting up, she explained how much she loved being the trainer because she got to lead the classes. 

“The focus was on me. I was center stage during that time,” Akiko said, a grin spreading over her face, obviously adoring the attention. “But I met my husband, Mike Brown, who was also in the training world at Chase at the time.” 

She says Mike remembered them meeting much earlier when he was looking to purchase a home. He had relocated from Milwaukee, and Akiko was his mortgage loan processor – she has no recollection of that meeting.

“We knew mutual acquaintances, and we ended up starting to date – after I’d ‘stalked’ him to find out if he was available and interested in dating,” Akiko reminisced. “Two years later we got married when Ailey was 10.”

Akiko vividly remembers Mike’s proposal, though. Describing him as a phenomenal father, he made sure Ailey was fully involved in the process. 

“At the point that he got down on bended knee and asked me to marry him, Ailey was right there, and I, for probably the first time in my life, was quiet,” Akiko confessed, laughing at herself. “He said I was silent for like five minutes – and has never heard me quiet ever since, actually.”

Becoming a Texan

Living in another suburb of Columbus through the 2010s, Akiko and Mike both continued working for Chase. Mike was moved into a different area within the company. Akiko, still in the origination mortgage side, had moved out of training and had become a senior manager.

The couple welcomed two sons, Benjamin in 2005 – now a Texas Tech senior – and Lucas in 2009, a high school freshman. 

Everything was going well – until it wasn’t. Around 2013 or so, the housing market shifted; after several rounds of layoffs in the mortgage business, Akiko was affected by the economic situation. 

“After being there for 15 years, it was a difficult time. I grew up there, and I worked with pretty much the same leadership team the whole time. It was a very close-knit group,” Akiko said, disappointment still audible in her voice. 

Akiko ended up taking a new job. Mike had a reorganization in his work, and his new boss was in Dallas. It was February – bitter winter in Columbus – and the couple was tired. They’d been tired of the weather for a long time. Mike had grown up in Alabama most of his life, so they had already been considering moving south. 

“Dallas sounded pretty inviting,” Akiko said. “There was a lot of job opportunity, cost of living much more reasonable, and we took a leap of faith.”

She took her severance money, Mike was able to transfer within Chase, and in the spring of 2014 the family of four relocated to a community about 30 minutes northeast of Dallas. Ailey was enrolled at Kent State University at the time but eventually joined them in Texas to finish her degree at the University of North Texas. 

Becoming a Texas Tech Mom

Finally taking a breath, a drink of water and a quick break in her story, Akiko skips ahead to just a few years ago and launches into the narrative of finding a college for Ben.

“We started touring different colleges, and I loved it! It was so much fun because it’s part of me that I always felt I missed out on, since I didn’t get to go away to college,” Akiko recalled from her earlier life. “I didn’t have that traditional college journey, right? And I probably took over a little bit too much with Ben’s process, but I was very envious!” 

Ben was a soccer player, but he knew playing at the college level was not for him. He also knew he wanted to attend a big college with a well-known athletic program. Cheering for his team at football and basketball games was an important part of selecting the “right school.” They toured a lot of colleges: Auburn, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor. They ended up touring Texas Tech the summer before his senior year, and the young man who already had 65 hours of dual credit fell in love with it. 

“He knew immediately that’s where he wanted to be. He loved Texas Tech. He loved everything about the school,” Akiko said excitedly.

But coming in with 65 hours, Ben had to immediately declare a major. He had no idea what he wanted to do. Akiko says, “This is the kid who’s never even had a job.” He didn’t have time, like many first-year students do, to take his time deciding. With his mom’s help (who loved every minute of reviewing potential courses and setting his college schedule), they settled on the Bachelor of General Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences, for which students can build their own program with three concentrations instead of a major and minor, allowing Ben to go into various fields. His areas of focus are political science, history and organizational leadership – the latter also something Akiko is taking now.  

Becoming a Red Raider

Being consumed with getting her son situated at the Lubbock campus, Akiko felt like Texas Tech was her university, too. Ben became totally immersed as a Red Raider, and she was along for the ride as a Texas Tech mom. 

By now, Akiko has been with different companies and eventually landed at a sustainable living company called GoodLeap, since late 2020 as vice president of processing operations. So, she is back in mortgage, back in processing, back to running a department. She feels very fortunate to have found a home at this company and loves everything about it. Her lack of higher education other than her associate degree has never held her back on her career path.

Then there was the day she saw possibility and potential while scrolling on the LinkedIn social media platform.

“I came across this post about this new Texas Tech program called the $10K Degree Completion Program, and I said to myself, ‘Well, damn, the program sounds perfect, and it was if they created the program just for me,’” she exclaimed.

Akiko was drawn to the program because she could leverage her existing credits from Ohio, allowing her to graduate in a year. And her son loved Texas Tech. She even had a brief vision of her and Ben graduating together. Akiko convinced Mike that she should just try it, as there was no upfront cost involved. It would only take her time – two Saturdays a month for eight hours initially, for the microcredentials required to then apply to the degree program.  

It’s no surprise that Akiko loved the in-person setting, especially getting to hear everyone’s stories. She quickly immersed herself back into the classroom and found some lifelong friends like those in her study group, Micah Moore, George West-Perry and Christie Loveless – a kindred spirit and mom who also has a son graduating from Texas Tech. 

“We’re all in the same boat,” she said. “It’s unfinished business. It is something that we’ve always regretted. We all had the same basic story but maybe different reasons.”

Becoming Her Own Advocate

At the completion of the microcredentials, Akiko was preparing the necessary documents and prior learning to apply to the Leadership Studies program to finish her degree. Unique challenges came her way in the process of making sure her prior credits would transfer.

But Bonnie Cordell, managing director of Texas Tech Online, made it her mission to help Akiko get those sorted out. Akiko is grateful to Bonnie and so many others within the program for aiding her in getting it done.

“Akiko’s persistence and her determination to get her degree is so impressive,” Bonnie said. “She always knew to reach out to her Texas Tech Online support team, and she never gave up.  

“Her story continues to inspire us to find ways to make returning to school easier, no matter when or where a student started. We are so proud of everything she has accomplished, and we can’t wait to see her walk across that stage a Red Raider.”

Akiko did have to pivot a little because there were still core classes she never took in Ohio, such as a couple of Texas history and government courses. To remedy that, Bonnie introduced her to self-paced courses, another offering of Texas Tech Online. Akiko took four self-paced courses – 12 credit hours – in the fall of 2024. She was ecstatic to finally enroll in her bachelor’s degree program and is even more excited to graduate this August. 

Becoming a College Graduate

Perseverance, grit and determination are the key traits Akiko references for her success thus far. She gets chills thinking about completing the path she was originally on so long ago and graduating from the same school as her son, making them both Red Raiders for life.

“Anything is possible as long as you’re willing to put in the work, you have that grit and that focus and that fire,” Akiko said. “Because it’s not easy. I mean, if it was easy, we would have gotten that done 30 years ago. Anything is possible if you’re willing to do the work and you’re determined enough to get to the finish line.”