Chose between finishing my accounting degree at Ohio State or taking a $17/hr job at my uncle's insulation company, picked the insulation, and my first day involved crawling through a 110 degree attic in July

Tessa Hill · 2026-09-22T09:35:04.050241+00:00

Two years into my accounting degree I was $23,000 in debt and honestly bored out of my mind, so when my uncle offered me steady work spraying foam insulation I said yes mostly because it paid actual money right away. My first week I crawled through an attic in Delaware, Ohio that had to be 110 degrees, and I sweated through three shirts before lunch. Turns out I'm weirdly good at it, and four years later I run my own two-person crew pulling in about $68,000 a year with zero student loan payments hanging over me. My mom still asks when I'm going back for the degree, and I keep telling her the attic doesn't care if I have a diploma. Anyone else here pick a trade over finishing school and deal with family that just won't let it go?

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Chose between finishing my accounting degree at Ohio State or taking a $17/hr job at my uncle's insulation company, picked the insulation, and my first day involved crawling through a 110 degree attic in July | College Dropout Stories - Rigidtalk