From Detour to Doctorate
For years, Tara Korfhage believed she had failed college.
After graduating near the top of her high school class, she enrolled with a scholarship and the hope that higher education would help her discover her future. But choosing a biology major without a clear sense of purpose quickly led to frustration. As chemistry courses became more demanding, she realized she was pursuing a path that didn't fit who she was.
"I was choosing the 'least wrong' thing rather than something truly aligned with me."
Commuting to campus, struggling to find support, and feeling disconnected from the university experience slowly eroded her confidence. By her junior year, she made the difficult decision to leave school.
For the next two decades, that unfinished degree quietly followed her.
She tried returning several times, taking classes when work, finances, and family responsibilities allowed. But life always seemed to demand more than she could give. The degree remained unfinished, and the disappointment lingered.
Then, everything changed with one discovery.
While searching for ways to return to school, Tara learned about the University of Louisville's Organizational Leadership and Learning program and its use of Credit for Prior Learning. For the first time, she found a university willing to recognize that the knowledge she had gained throughout her career had value.
"Suddenly, there was a program saying, 'Yes, it counts.'"
Just as important, she found an advisor who listened to her story before mapping out her future. Instead of trying to fit into a program designed for someone else, Tara finally found one designed for adult learners balancing careers, families, and real life.
The difference was transformational.
The coursework connected directly to the leadership work she was already doing, and the flexibility of online learning allowed education to fit into her life instead of competing with it. For the first time, learning felt purposeful.
After a twenty-year detour, Tara earned her bachelor's degree in 2013.
Rather than satisfying a lifelong goal, graduation awakened a new question.
"What else am I capable of?"
That question led to a master's degree, a promotion into corporate training, and eventually a doctoral program. Along the way, she discovered another unexpected passion—teaching. What began as an opportunity to teach a single college course confirmed that helping adults learn was exactly where she belonged.
Today, Tara is completing her dissertation while preparing for the next chapter of her career as both a learning professional and educator.
Looking back, she no longer sees herself as someone who dropped out of college.
She sees someone whose path unfolded in its own time.
Her journey reminds us that setbacks are not always signs that we've chosen the wrong destination. Sometimes they're invitations to find the path that truly fits who we're becoming.
Tara Korfhage is one of fifty adult learners featured in Beyond the Degree: Stories of Adult Learner Comebacks and What They Teach Us. Read her complete story in her own words, and discover what these remarkable comebacks teach us, in the book from the Center for Academic Innovation.