Meet Jill

Name: Jill Merryfield

Class of: 2027

Program: Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and English w/ a conc. in Fiction

"Support like yours helps those in need realize dreams and goals that may otherwise be unachievable."


What do you like most about SNHU?

The flexibility of the schedule is what allows me to earn my degree as a working adult. I also like the structure of writing papers, as an English major, it's far more motivating and encouraging to my success than test-taking.

How do the scholarships and financial aid you receive make it possible for you to attend SNHU? Specifically, how have scholarships made a difference?

I've applied for scholarships for higher education since 2008, never shying away from long essays or other requirements that many students prefer to skip. However, my difficulty in high school and poor grades (which were affected by a deeply negative relationship) caused me to miss out on any opportunities. Because of this and the high cost of on campus tuition, I was forced to defer.

In adulthood, now that I'm able to enjoy and prioritize my education and my grades are able to reflect that, my challenge was finding any scholarships that allow entries from online students. Another difficulty was finding scholarships that also accept from part-time students. As I'm not able to afford the financing options on student loans, I'm choosing to attend part-time so that I can afford to pay out of pocket what my financial aid doesn't cover, which is a struggle each month. I'd have more opportunities for financial aid if I attended full-time, but I simply cannot afford it.

Having applied for many scholarship opportunities since my teens, I was truly shocked and incredibly grateful to receive one. I finally felt seen and like the burden of handling my education costs to try to get ahead a little in a difficult world was finally lifted.

What would you say to those who donate to support student scholarships?

Support like yours helps those in need realize dreams and goals that may otherwise be unachievable.

Why did you choose Southern New Hampshire University?

I was looking for a school with a rich, inspiring history that also offered flexible class schedule options and affordable tuition.

What was your hope in receiving a college education? How has your experience been different than what you’d imagined?

My desire was to learn the most about the craft of writing fiction as I could, and hopefully network and meet like-minded peers. One difference was how much time it took to recognize that the best way to make friends and feel like a part of the community is less through mutual classes and more through clubs and workshops, which I didn't discover immediately. Online school can feel lonely in the beginning, so discovering these resources meant a lot as a new student.

What inspired you to choose your area of study? What is your dream job?

I've always wanted to earn a degree in English with a concentration in Fiction Writing. I decided I wanted to be a novelist in first grade when we were tasked with writing and binding our first books, and I both enjoyed it and received praise and positive feedback from my teachers and parents. As my late mother was always an avid reader of fiction novels, I decided that was what I wanted to do and stuck to it. Writing has been my joy and passion ever since.

Who at SNHU (professor, coach, advisor, etc.) has been the biggest influence on your college experience? What lessons did that person teach you?

Professor Rebecca McGee, who taught me Perspectives of Humanities-100 (HUM-100), was the most delightful, encouraging, enthusiastic and supportive instructor I've had during my time at SNHU. She was not only highly supportive when I shared about a personal event I was enduring during the term, she also helped me see the beauty and joy in the art we studied to take my focus off my struggles. The pure enthusiasm Professor McGee has for her subject became infectious and she turned what could've been the most difficult periods of my life into one of my favorite terms in SNHU. She helped me remember that there is beauty and joy where ever we choose to see it.

Additionally, my Academic Advisor Ashlee Robison, has been a tremendous help and a joy to work with throughout our time together. I always look forward to our calls and her check-ins, and her peppy attitude helps me stay encouraged. I also want to mention instructors Terissa Deprez (MAT-240), Cyndle Rials (ENG-226), and Douglas Weissman (ENG-329) for tremendous terms and for their helpful, encouraging attitudes during either very difficult or very important, emotionally charged courses of my degree. I wouldn't be having the same experiences without instructors like these.

In what ways have you been involved at SNHU (campus organizations, job, sports, etc.)?

I've joined the Book Club and posted occasionally in the Pulse forum, and attended several Creative Writing Critique group meetings. However, my favorite experiences have been the Word for Word webinars and the commentary with readers or guest speakers, as well as workshops hosted by program instructors such as the writing workshops. I've gained the most community experience with both of these and they've led to the most community engagement and conversation outside the events as well.

Lastly, when SNHU hosted an event that matched creative writing students with game art developments students to create a game concept to pitch to companies like Microsoft, I joined and worked on a team of seven and enjoyed collaborating on a unique project with like-minded individuals for the duration of a term. I hope SNHU hosts more collaboration projects like this in the future.

What do you find most challenging? How do you deal with this?

I find balancing my time to be the most challenging. For instance, some courses are set up with what, to a working adult, feels like a week's worth of information each module. We are then expected to read through (and some of us, like myself, like to take notes) everything in time to answer the weekly discussion questions by Thursday. While this is doable, it leaves little time for cooking healthy meals, getting proper exercise, or enjoying much time with family on the days prior to that due date, and adds a bit of extra stress to each week.

I deal with this by trying to save time where I can, such as having groceries delivered or minimizing other chores where I can so I can focus on the things that matter most to me — like maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle. From there, I try to employ motivation and goal-setting techniques we learned early on in the SNHU-107 course and other foundational classes, to keep on track and avoid wasted time, procrastination and frustration.

What are you proudest of?

I'm most proud of maintaining my 4.0 GPA — even through applied statistics, which was not an easy class for me. I felt that if I had to take a math elective, I would likely have more success in a class I could see reasonable applications for. I didn't see any reason to slog through calculus with my career goals of writing, but applied statistics has real business applications, and with writing, book sales are all about business and marketing. I was able to not only complete the class I (and many others) found difficult, but did well and found it enjoyable and applicable to my career goals.

In what ways do you want/hope to stay involved as an SNHU graduate?

I hope to continue my education by going into the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing program. I would also enjoy remaining involved in the communities and encouraging other students as many have done for me.

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