Funadvice Logo

College, career, or love?

Home More advice Love & Relationships

Hello! Thanks in advance for reading this.

I'm 21 years old and I graduated first in my class when I was in high school back in my hometown in Pennsylvania. After high school I moved to NYC and I completed a year of college at Fordham University and another semester at Queens College, but had to stop school because I could no longer afford it. The first year that I attended Fordham, my father co-signed a $10,000 loan. The semester I completed at Queens College I paid for in cash ($2,500). I was offered a job at a media company through Newsweek Magazine after a brief internship, and because the pay was way more than I'd ever made waitressing, I had to take it.

I continue to live in NYC with my boyfriend of 4 years, and I am now an advertising sales rep for Newsweek, making a base pay of $33,000 a year plus commision (ends up being around 45-50K a year). I work on Wall Street and Broadway in Downtown Manhattan and I am gaining useful sales experience. I have full benefits and lots of vacation time. I've been here 6 months and although I enjoy it, I've always regretted not finishing school.

I recently went to visit my wealthy Grandparents in Florida this past week, and the two of them offered to pay for school and books, and provide me room and board if I agreed to move to Florida and complete my education. They said that if I provided a car to get to and from school, and got a part-time job to cover gas, clothes, and any recreational expenses, they would cover the rest.

I can't tell you how generous and truly terrific this offer is, but I can't convince myself to go because naturally I don't want to be so far from my friends and family. Moving to NYC was a huge step for me, and being an hour and half from them still proves to be a challenge when I'm not able to always attend dance recitals and Trick-or-Treating. I also have a pretty decent job that I enjoy, and I'm acquiring great sales experience. Also, I've been with my boyfriend for nearly four years. He's a terrific guy, we live together, and although I'm young (he's 26) I am so in love and the thought of leaving him for nearly 4 years breaks my heart.

What am I to do?