News
Laid Off, Not Defeated: Why I’m Still Choosing Higher Education
HigherEdMilitary
tajimpranto/Shutterstock
I knew higher education was going through a difficult season. Budget cuts, hiring freezes, restructuring, and layoffs were becoming topics of conversation that felt almost impossible to avoid. But knowing layoffs were happening across higher education and experiencing one yourself are two completely different things.
In May, it became personal. I learned that my position was being eliminated as part of a larger reduction in force. I had spent years building my career in higher education, working directly with students in admissions, advising, teaching, and continuing my own education because I believed so much in this work. Suddenly, I found myself facing an unexpected transition and having to figure out what came next.
And somewhere in the middle of that uncertainty, I had to ask myself a question I never expected to be asking at this point in my career:
Do I Still Want to Choose Higher Education After Higher Education Stopped Choosing Me?
At first, my layoff hit hard; it felt like something that happened just to me. But it did not take long to see the bigger picture. Colleges and universities all over the country were facing tough decisions. Budget and enrollment issues, as well as state and federal funding, were becoming increasingly uncertain. When you hear about another round of cuts or restructuring, it is not just numbers or headlines. It is people, people like me, who have spent years helping students and holding these institutions together. For me, accepting the reality that layoffs and job security are a part of the higher ed landscape now, also meant learning not to view an institutional financial decision as a reflection of my value, my work, or my contributions to the field.
Deciding Whether to Stay
Once the initial shock had settled, I had to decide what moving forward would actually look like. There was the practical side of being laid off: updating my résumé, searching for positions, completing applications, interviewing, networking, and figuring out what I wanted my next role to look like. But there was also a much harder question to answer: Did I still want my next chapter to be in higher education?
There were moments when leaving the field completely seemed like the easier choice. A layoff can make you question the stability of the profession, especially when you are watching institutions across the country make similar decisions. But as I continued my job search, I realized I was frustrated with what had happened to me; I was not frustrated with the work itself.
I still cared about helping students navigate college. I still cared about advising, access, transfer pathways, retention, and creating spaces where students feel like someone at their institution is invested in their success. I was still teaching. I was still pursuing my doctorate. I was still researching and writing about the very field I was questioning whether I wanted to remain in. Somewhere along the way, I realized that my relationship with higher education was bigger than one position or one institution.
That realization changed the way I approached my job search. I stopped looking only for another job and started thinking more intentionally about what I wanted from my next opportunity. What kind of students did I want to serve? What type of institution aligned with my goals? Where could I continue growing as a higher education professional, scholar, and practitioner?
When My Military Experience Met My Higher Education Career
Interestingly, some of the tools that helped me navigate being laid off did not come from higher education at all. They actually came from my military experience.
In the military, change is expected. Unit restructures, shifting priorities, changing assignments, and force-shaping decisions can affect careers. You quickly learn that you will not always control the decisions made around you, but you can control how prepared you are to respond to them. If there is one thing my military experience has taught me, it is to adapt, use the resources available to me, lean on my community, and continue keeping going even when I do not have all the answers.
These lessons really came into play when I was laid off. Unfortunately, I could not change the decision that eliminated my position, but instead could control what I did next. I could update my materials, reach out to mentors and colleagues, continue building my skills, prepare for interviews, and remind myself that one organizational decision did not erase everything I had accomplished.
The military also gave me a perspective that I have carried throughout this transition: sometimes the assignment changes, but the mission does not. My assignment in higher education changed. My commitment to serving students did not.
Moving Forward
If you are at an institution where layoffs have been announced but have not yet occurred, do not wait until your position is affected to prepare. Preparing does not mean assuming the worst or being disloyal to your institution; it means being proactive about your career. Take time to save copies of your accomplishments; update your résumé and professional profiles; reconnect with people in your professional network; and be intentional about what you want next. Even if your position is ultimately unaffected, you will be better prepared for whatever comes next. For anyone navigating a layoff in higher education, give yourself space to process what happened, but do not allow the loss of a position to make you question everything you have contributed to this field.
I am still choosing higher education, not because I am naïve about its challenges, but because I understand them differently now. I still believe in the students, the work, and the impact we can have. If this experience and my military service have taught me anything, it is that sometimes the assignment changes, but the mission does not.
My assignment changed. My mission did not.
Article Topics
