Below is a transcript of episode one of the Educated Women Podcast
GABRIELA MIRABAL: Hello, everyone. Nice to meet you. My name is Gabriela Mirabal, your host today on the Educated Women Podcast. This podcast is about understanding how college affects students — from undergrad to graduate school and beyond. On this week’s episode, we are gonna be talking with three students at different points in their academic careers: I’m joined now by Pearla Borunda, Noelia Borunda, and Adrianna Mirabal.
ADRIANNA MIRABAL: Hi, yes! I’m Adrianna, and I am a second-year PhD student studying musicology at the University of Southern California.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: What have the struggles been, being a college student, specifically for you, out of state, not in New Mexico?
ADRIANNA MIRABAL: Yeah, so I’m originally from Las Cruces, New Mexico, but I’ve done all of my degrees out of state. I did my bachelor’s in San Antonio, Texas, my master’s in Champaign, Illinois, and now I’m here in Los Angeles doing my PhD. I think there are a lot of struggles that come with being far away from home. I think most, like. significant have been being away from my family and not having an actual support system physically there with me. Um, there were also, I mean, financial strains.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: Because you’re not an in-state student here at New Mexico, where we have free tuition through two different types of scholarships, what has the struggles of like being in debt or having to deal with having different types of student loans or stuff that you have to pay for? Rather than a student here in New Mexico, that might not have to deal with anything like that, because we have that free tuition.
ADRIANNA MIRABAL: So, I did have to take out a bit of student loans in addition to all my merit scholarships and financial aid. But I was lucky enough that my master’s and PhDs have been fully covered, and I am able to live with a stipend provided by the university. But, as far as it goes for my undergrad degree, for which I have accrued a good amount of debt for, I think I have continuously had to postpone those payments because I am still a student and I’m not making a full income yet.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: I’m very glad to have spoken with you, and I hope you have an amazing day, and yeah! Thank you, Adrianna.
PEARLA BORUNDA: Hi guys, I’m Pearla. So, I am a fourth-year student here at the University of New Mexico. And I was originally studying nursing, but in my fourth year I switched to community health education.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: How have you struggled with becoming a college student now that you’re on your fourth year? Is there anything that you would say particularly that has caused you any stress or anxiety throughout your college experience?
PEARLA BORUNDA: For the first three years of college, I was a nursing student. And, in my third year, a couple of things had happened, and that forced me to, like, figure out my whole life again, if you want to say that. I am also a first-generation student, so that in itself was a challenge to navigate through, you know. My family was really supportive of me, like going and venturing out to a different city to get education in college. And so, it was a financial struggle at first, but because school and everything was paid for, thankfully, it was kind of easy to navigate and also focus on school.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: When we are talking about the free tuition, there is the Opportunity Scholarship and the Lottery Scholarship. What have those done to either affect you or kind of help you out within any situations that you’ve had as a college student within the past four years?
PEARLA BORUNDA: If I hadn’t had the New Mexico Lottery or the Opportunity Scholarship, that wouldn’t have been a possibility to do that at all. So, I’m really thankful that the state gives students that opportunity to even pursue higher education like that, and especially vigorous degrees that you really need to focus on deeply.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: Thank you so much for speaking with me, Pearla. I had a great conversation with you, and I’m really glad to hear your story about how it has been being a student here in New Mexico. And also, being a New Mexico resident and coming from a smaller town to a bigger city like Albuquerque can be a struggle at times. But I’m very glad that you are here now and that you have the experiences of being a college student.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: Today, I am here with Noelia Borunda.
NOELIA BORUNDA: I am currently majoring in radiological sciences with my concentration in nuclear medicine.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: So, I talked to two different students. Both of them are higher up in education, such as one is a senior or their fourth year of college, and one is getting their PhD. And you are just starting out, you’re in your second year. So, can you explain to me, like, within just the two years that you’ve been here, what has been a constant struggle or what has been something that you have had challenges with, being a student here?
NOELIA BORUNDA: Coming to the university and just navigating college life by myself, I guess you could say. Trying to pick up on what I wanted to do with my life. And so, when I had first gotten here, I was a biology student. I wanted to be on the pre-med track, and so I just think, for myself, long-term, it just wasn’t sustainable for me.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: Being a student that might be in school for longer than four years, is that something that is causing you possible stress in the future?
NOELIA BORUNDA: After I had switched my major, I found out that my college date was gonna be pushed back and that I would be graduating in the summer. So, my degree would almost be taking six years. And so, when I found that out, that was definitely a financial struggle to hear because I already come from like the lower end of income.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: So, are you in any extracurriculars, any clubs, any sororities?
NOELIA BORUNDA: Yes, since I’ve joined, it’s been really good. I genuinely didn’t think that I would meet people that I would, like, find myself in or get, like, along with that well. But since joining, you definitely meet a few different types of personalities, but you also like find your people, definitely.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: Well, I truly appreciate you talking to me today and explaining all of the struggles and the good parts of your experience here at the University of New Mexico. And I’m also glad to just be able to talk to you today and learn about your story. So, I hope you have a great day, and it was amazing speaking with you. I hope to continue a conversation with you and learn a little bit more later in the future.
NOELIA BORUNDA: Yes, thank you for your time.
GABRIELA MIRABAL: Thank you so much to my three college students that joined with me today. I hope to speak to them again on our next episode. I might have some new college students talking about their struggles and the positives of being a student, not only in New Mexico, but also out of state, and I hope we continue to see people seeking higher education. And thank you so much for listening to my podcast, Educated Women, and I hope you guys will come back to listen to my next story. Thank you. Bye.
