Debra Burrough walks into the Fiber room right on time. No, this is not a club or a bar, though it makes a great name for one. The Fiber room is a place in the fine arts department where men knit without a care in the world, and there’s artwork made out of orange peels and gum decorating the walls.
This is another one of those secret places on campus where non-art students don’t usually step a foot in. But this is also where Burrough spends a lot of her time.
The 52-year-old student greets the three girls hanging out in the classroom adjacent to the Fiber room and guides me to yet another connecting room.
Texture, colors and just putting things together is Burrough’s passion. Sometimes passion is not enough to achieve one’s dream of success.
“I’m almost at the end,” Burrough says, referring to the fact that she only has one more class left to take in order to graduate next spring. Burrough said she has the money to pay for the class, but doesn’t have the means to cover living expenses. She said asking her parents for help isn’t an option.
After raising a family in Texas, supporting a husband with his own education and taking a 27-year break from school, she moved to California seven years ago with education in mind.
She earned an associate’s degree in computer graphics from Antelope Valley College and transferred to Cal State Long Beach as an art major.
For Burrough, majoring in art was a natural progression. She’d already begun working in the field as an entrepreneur with her own line of men’s accessories that included neckties, handkerchiefs and scarves. She sold her pieces in a shared space at an indoor flea market in Houston, Texas.
Like many students on financial aid, Burrough wanted to focus entirely on education. This meant that she would live off the money she got through the GI Bill, as her husband is a war veteran.
Though well-invested in her education, that money is gone.
In late August, Burrough attended an open house at Otis College of Art and Design. After filling out a survey that automatically entered her in a raffle, she won the opportunity of taking a class for free at the prestigious school.
Although she wishes to continue her education as a possible graduate student at Otis, she’s realistic about her current financial situation and must focus on figuring out how to survive next semester.
Burrough is hopeful that with her education she will be able to enter a tough job market a little bit more prepared.
“We need educated people in all fields for today’s world,” Burrough said. “But sadly, education is the first thing that gets chopped off in politics.”