I’ve occasionally talked in this space about being a college dropout. In the past I used to qualify that statement as being a “proud” college dropout, though as I prepare to turn 43 on Friday, I’m not sure how proud of that I am anymore.

I went to St. Marys Elementary School, Pleasants County Middle School, St. Marys High School and graduated from North Pleasants Christian School in 2000. I took a year off to decide my higher education options.

I had thought about going to Marshall University at Huntington, but I just wasn’t ready to stray too far from St. Marys. So instead, I enrolled at Ohio Valley College – soon to be Ohio Valley University – in the fall of 2001.

OVU was a Church of Christ-affiliated private liberal studies college with part of its campus overlooking Vienna, W.Va. It was an odd choice for me, given that at that point I was an active oneness Pentecostal, but the school offered me several scholarships that made it worthwhile.

I knew then I wanted to work in journalism, having been active with my high school newspaper, “The Argus.” I had even worked for a time catching newspapers on the printing press at the “St. Marys Oracle.” OVU didn’t offer degrees in journalism, so I settled for a liberal studies major with a minor in communications.

My other issue: I was just a poor boy from a poor family. The scholarships helped, and I also had Pell grants. But the PROMISE Scholarship would not be a thing until the year after I graduated high school, so I wasn’t eligible for that. My father a city 911 dispatcher who didn’t earn much at that time. I was on my own, so like most college students I had federal Stafford loans.

My first semester I did OK. I had a passing grade point average. I had a B in my newspaper class, of which I was the only student, which meant I was automatically the school newspaper’s editor-in-chief (“The Highlander”), and that meant I got paid as well through work-study. I also got credit and work-study pay for being a member of Pied Pipers, a traveling skit group that traveled up and down the East Coast.

It is also fate perhaps that while editor of the college paper I had negotiated a sponsorship deal with The Parkersburg News and Sentinel that led to a summer 2002 internship as a sports feature writer. The Parkersburg News agreed to print our paper and donated new computers and software to the university’s journalism program. Shoutout to Ogden Newspapers Regional Publisher Mike Christman for helping The Highlander at OVU.

But I wasn’t as successful with my second semester, when I just didn’t try as hard. I had multiple failed classes, as I let my attendance slip, often only showing up for exams. I ran with an equally lazy group of classmates. I also took on more student debt, including taking out promissory notes directly through the college.

I tried to shape up during my third semester at OVU, but the one class I needed to pass to avoid academic suspension, basic algebra and geometry, I failed. So, I left OVU at the end of December 2002.

Without a college degree, I had to work harder in the mid-2000s to get by. That involved working in restaurants and retail, while writing a blog which got me noticed by a now-defunct weekly free newspaper company out of Marietta, Ohio. A friendship from my OVU days helped get me a second job as a radio news reporter.

From there, I kept working, later writing for the “Tyler Star News,” starting a state government news website for a Libertarian think tank, covering West Virginia news for Reuters and producing statewide news for the constellation of TV stations now owned by Nexstar.

Outside of a 5 1/2-year sabbatical in government communications for the state Senate and the Secretary of State’s Office, I’ve predominately worked in news, with the last seven years spent writing for Ogden Newspapers and this newspaper. I’ve had a wonderful career in news, but I often wonder if I might have gotten to success quicker had I obtained my college degree.

I certainly had to work much harder without the degree and it took me longer to make a comfortable living at writing. That’s why I often tell young people who start college to do everything they can to get their degree and don’t drop out or be suspended. I don’t have a degree, but I still had the student loan debt.

As I approach 43, I wonder whether I should still pursue a degree. I don’t really need one at this point in my professional career. But also, very few people in my family have gone beyond a high school education. And with the demise of OVU for taking out too many of its own promissory notes, I’ve been able to obtain my transcript for the first time.

So, I am contemplating what is called a Regents Bachelor of Arts, a non-traditional bachelor’s degree aimed at adult learners. A regents degree takes into account one’s work and life experience and translates those into college credits matching courses offered at a particular college or university.

Most regents programs are flexible and focus on online courses, but a regents degree allows someone to complete a bachelor’s program in a fraction of the time. Several in-state universities offer regents programs, including West Virginia University, Marshall University, West Virginia State University and West Virginia University at Parkersburg.

I have yet to decide to pursue a regents program. I am doing my research and trying to determine which program would provide me the most credits based on my previous OVU transcript and my work and life experience. I would need to take courses for the remaining credits I’d need to obtain a degree, and that won’t be cheap, so an affordable program is a must.

Whether I decide to obtain a degree or not, there is no doubt I have already obtained an education in my 43 years, and I still enjoy learning. That’s why I enjoy being a reporter.

(Adams is the state government reporter for Ogden Newspapers. He can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)