{"id":74727,"date":"2025-05-05T08:01:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=74727"},"modified":"2025-05-05T08:01:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:01:29","slug":"jason-gifford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/jason-gifford\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Jason Gifford: A story of perseverance and triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Gifford<\/span><\/b> never imagined that getting a college education would take almost a third of his life.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Growing up in Prescott Valley with divorced parents, Gifford remembers when his father, a plumber, would take him and his brother to work sites when he was growing up. It was there that he learned to respect the trades and started dreaming about a different future for himself.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His dream was further cemented during the 2008 recession, when his family struggled financially to make ends meet. He recalls how hard the construction industry was hit by the housing crisis and that his father worked fewer hours a week. His mother, a retail clerk at a local grocery store, also struggled to support her sons with her wages.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Gifford finished high school, he started on his degree\u2014not knowing it would be more than 10 years before he earned it. He enrolled at a local community college, taking six credits a semester and working full-time at a carpet warehouse to pay his tuition. In his first year, he took general education classes and struggled to choose a course of study.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe possibilities are infinite because you can be anything,\u201d Gifford said. \u201cI am interested in so much and I love learning, so it was hard to pick a path. After talking to different people, I decided to get a business degree. I realized it was a useful skill and that it was broad-based because no matter what you do, everything is a business and that is how the world operates.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting an associate\u2019s degree in business was the tool Gifford thought he needed to get ahead, but after graduating in December 2019, he realized it was not enough.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dreaming bigger\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gifford moved to Flagstaff with his wife, Allison, and looked for a job in his field. It was hard for him not to come into contact with NAU.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI used to ride around here in my car and look around campus and think, \u2018this place is incredible, I would kill to be here,\u2019 but I was just looking at the financials and it was not working out for me,\u201d he said. \u201cThen I started looking at getting aid through FAFSA and scholarships, but a lot of them, like the Lumberjack, are only for freshman students.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because he was a first-generation college student and unfamiliar with the admissions and aid process, he missed some scholarship opportunities. However, this did not derail Gifford from going after what he thought would be a better future for his little family.\u00a0 For the next two years, he took any odd job that came his way, including pouring concrete for the city, working at a warehouse, doing landscaping at a golf course and glazing for a construction company. He saved as much money as he could to support his return to school to get his bachelor’s degree, enrolling at NAU in Fall 2021. It was all coming together, he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the day I started school; I was stoked. I was walking around and there was just a sea of kids,\u201d Gifford said. \u201cI have never seen anything like it before. I went to the top of the business building and looked out from the highest window that I could find and it just got to me; I was so happy, so excited to be there.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Gifford got some news.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A welcome surprise<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as he started his bachelor\u2019s program, Gifford learned his wife was pregnant. It was a welcome surprise; both he and his wife wanted children, but the timing was not what they had planned. After receiving the news, instead of quitting school, it gave him more focus.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Man<\/a>\u201cSometimes people have kids, and they give up their dreams,\u201d Gifford said. \u201cThey think they need to get serious, get a job and forget about their aspirations. That is what happened to my dad when he was young. He wanted to be a bull rider and when he started a family, he quit and went into plumbing. I always noticed a twinge of longing for that, the classic story. But I was not going to do that\u2014I was going to continue college even if it was hard. I was not going to let that be my story.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That first semester at NAU, Gifford worked hard to get straight As. However, when baby Jack was born, his plans were put on hold. The cost of living in Flagstaff and the lack of family in the area made it hard for the young couple to stay afloat. The three of them were sharing a bedroom in a house with Gifford\u2019s brother, who was working and could not help with the baby. Gifford decided to put his education on pause and move to the Valley, where his wife\u2019s family lived.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were already going on six years at this point, so we decided to take a break and get help with the baby,\u201d Gifford said. \u201cWe moved to Glendale and lived with Allison\u2019s dad, who let us stay with him until we got on our feet. The three of us were still living together in a bedroom, but we were saving so that I could go back to school.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gifford tried his hand at real estate, but the commission-based wages weren\u2019t stable enough to support his family. He sent out dozens of job applications in his field with no luck. Eventually, he had to take two jobs, one at UPS unloading packages from airplanes and another at a warehouse in Goodyear.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy day would go like this: I wake up at 3 a.m. and go to work at UPS until 9 a.m., have a one-hour break and then go to my warehouse job that could be an 8-to-10-hour day,\u201d Gifford said. \u201cI would leave work around 7 p.m. and go home. There, I would try to build my real estate skills and help with the baby. Those were hard times.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Spring 2023, the couple hit a low point. They realized Gifford\u2019s work schedule was not sustainable and decided to go back to Flagstaff, which they considered home.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting back on the path<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once back \u201chome,\u201d Gifford and his wife had a plan. Allison found a good position with her old employer. Gifford re-applied to NAU, with the idea of staying with their young son while his wife was working and going to school when she was off. Then NAU threw the young family a lifeline\u2014JJ Boggs from the Jacks on Track program emailed Gifford.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe started talking about how they help people who did not finish their degree and bring them back to NAU,\u201d Gifford said. \u201cThey offered their support and I was so happy. I was hunting for support anywhere I could find it, and JJ was so great. She is my hero! I think she was the reason why I was able to get the scholarships I received.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gifford was awarded the Lorraine Ethington Business Admin Scholarship, the West Family Scholarship and the Marley Scholars Endowment, which allowed him to be a full-time student while taking care of his son.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This weekend, he will graduate with a degree in business management and a 3.95 GPA.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s next\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jason<\/a>
Jason with his wife Allison and his son Jack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Remembering the hard times he faced while growing up, Gifford is determined to give his son a future where he can experience the opportunities his father missed and decide what will make him happy. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wake up every day and I am happy,\u201d he said. \u201cLife has down points and high points and if you stay positive, things work out. Everyone has their struggles; some are worse than mine, but what I learned is that success in my mind is not chasing money, it\u2019s being happy and doing something that is important.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gifford plans to work at a company that provides help for people who want to buy a home but can\u2019t afford it. His interest in real estate, his knowledge of finance and business and his willingness to make a difference will now be part of his life plan.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cResilience is the most important part and that is one of the hardest things because it is so clich\u00e9,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are times when you get punched in the stomach. The important part is to remember that life continues and if you keep trying to go down the right path, the stars will align.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jason Gifford never imagined that getting a college education would take almost a third of his life.\u00a0\u00a0 Growing up in Prescott Valley with divorced parents, Gifford remembers when his father, a plumber, would take him and his brother to work sites when he was growing up. It was there that he learned to respect the…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":74732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}