‘Don’t Stop Until You’re Proud’: How One Purdue Global Grad Kept Going
Nichole Marshall (BS health care administration ’25, Purdue Global) says her degree changed everything. (Purdue Global photo/Kelsey Lefever)
Now that she knows what she’s capable of, Nichole Marshall is determined to give her son a life of empowerment
Nichole Marshall had no idea that the click of a single “submit” button on her computer screen could be an emotional moment. But it was.
It wasn’t just the relief of submitting her final assignment for her Purdue Global bachelor’s degree. It wasn’t even the celebration of reaching the finish line. It was the kind of pride that swells up the moment you know you’ve won a lifelong fight against an internal critic who says you’re not capable or worthy of your dream.
Generational barriers broken, skeptics proven wrong, self-image changed forever — click.
“I cried,” she says with a laugh. “I finally felt like I was doing something great.”
The circumstances hadn’t been right for a long time, but Marshall never gave up on herself. When the timing finally aligned, she seized the opportunity — determined to finish what she started.
A degree in health care administration
Long before the thrill of that moment, Marshall (BS health care administration ’25, Purdue Global) had chased her dream of earning a bachelor’s degree across all the different phases of her life. She earned her certified nursing assistant (CNA) license while still in high school and began nursing school at 18. But when family needed her, she left classes and entered the workforce.
She took a job in the medical unit at a local jail. And even though she already knew she wanted to pursue a career in health care, this was the job that settled it.
“I realized health care was a really good place for me,” she says. “I was good at the work.”
A few years later, she applied to nursing school again. She wasn’t admitted, but she did get an unexpected phone call.
“An instructor in the medical assistant associate degree program at Ivy Tech Community College called to tell me that even though I didn’t get into the nursing program, she wanted me in her medical assistant program,” Marshall says.
The instructor pointed out that it was a strong foundation to build on. And, having already taken some college-level classes, she finished her associate degree in less than a year.
By then, there were little toddler eyes watching. Her son could not have been more excited about that graduation ceremony.
“He still talks about it all the time,” she says.
Seeing how much it meant to him reinforced her next goal.
“Having my associate degree wasn’t going to increase my income from what I was already earning as a medical assistant, so I knew I wanted to do more,” she says.
And “doing more” meant earning that bachelor’s degree she wanted so much — from a school whose name commands respect.
One of her instructors suggested Purdue Global, and Marshall saw her chance.
“As soon as I graduated with my associate degree, that was the first thing I did — apply to Purdue Global for my bachelor’s,” she says.
Defying the odds with an online bachelor’s degree
Purdue Global accepted nearly all of Marshall’s Ivy Tech credits, allowing her to complete her bachelor’s in just a year and a half. And it offered the flexibility and support she needed as a working mom.
Although she often studied after her son was in bed for the night, he was still watching — and learning.
“When I would do homework during the day, he would make up his own,” she says. “Or we would do ABCmouse for him and he’d say, ‘I’m doing my homework too!’ When he sees what I’m doing every day, he’s realizing what happens when you work hard for what you want.”
Marshall also found herself surrounded by people who refused to let her give up — staff and faculty devoted to giving the kind of student support a working mom needs.
“I heard from my professors all the time, probably once a week, just checking on me to make sure I was doing OK,” she says. “Sometimes I wasn’t — in the middle of all of it, I ended up getting divorced. My professors, even my advisors, were all calling me, setting up meetings to help. And that really helped me push through.”
That care and support is paying off. Since earning her degree, she’s taken on new responsibilities in her current job, joined employee leadership groups and been selected to help strategize new initiatives.
“I’m looking at applying for different positions like supervisor and clinic manager,” she says. “Because of Purdue Global, I have the capability of furthering my career and doing all the things I want to do in life.”
But why stop there?
BS health care administration ’25
"My motto is ‘Don’t stop until you’re proud.’ I’ve already enrolled in the MBA program with Purdue Global, and I’ll graduate in a year. Now that I’m on the path of doing great things, I can’t stop!” she says, beaming. “I have to keep going.”
Earning her bachelor’s degree didn’t just change her trajectory, however. It changed how she sees herself.
“When I was younger, I believed people when they told me I wasn’t going to do great things,” she says. “But now that I’m older and I’ve started doing more for myself, like achieving my bachelor’s degree, I look at myself as not just some kid who had a bad childhood. I’m a professional. I’m a woman who can do all the things she wants to do.”
She smiles. “I’m unstoppable.”
Learn how you can redefine what’s possible for you at purdueglobal.edu.