dear Redditors, posting this because I’m honestly really confused and tired of carrying this in my head. And want to seek your wisdom.

I enrolled in ESOFT years ago when I was much younger. At the time I really thought I was doing the right thing for my future. I wanted a qualification alongside work and could manage as I was freelancing remotely.

Over the years my life changed a lot. My career took off faster than I expected doing a full-time physical role, and now I’m in a fairly senior role with long hours and pressure. Studies started falling behind. And this is where I also take responsibility. I should have made a clear decision back then. Either fully commit or stop. Instead I kept dragging it, staying behind, and still making payments thinking “ok this payment will push me, I’ll catch up, I’ll fix it.” Obviously that’s on me.

But there were also admin issues along the way. My registration expired at one point without me really understanding what that would mean long term. Even after that I was encouraged by lecturers/staff to continue payments, so I did, thinking I was still moving forward in some way. With each failure the lecturers convinced me to pursue some other option (paying extra of course) and the student counsellors and front office team are so conniving and cunning. I'm sure from the front office to the lecturers they make commissions off referrals so their intentions though they try to seem genuine ARE NOT. Feeling betrayed and stupid honestly cuz of that.

The worst part is I’m still paying loans I took just to make these payments. So this thing is still with me every month. It’s not just stress about studies, it’s debt, regret, and a constant feeling that I messed up some major life decision.

Now I’m at a point where I honestly don’t know what’s smarter.

Part of me says I should stop, accept the loss, and try to get some sort of refund or closure and move on. Another part of me keeps thinking maybe I’m just being weak and I should somehow pull through and finish what I started. I'll be wasting a lot and I'm just not sure. I know people outsource assignments but I don't feel like doing that. I'm honestly stuck and without this I wouldn't have any academic qualification either. Professionally though, I am in demand through skills I've developed in the commerical (sales, marketing, revenue etc) space.

So I really want to ask: • Has anyone here been in a similar mess (behind on studies, working full time, still paying, totally burnt out) and actually managed to pull through and complete it? How did you do it? • Do you regret pushing through or are you glad you did? • And honestly… if you were in my place, would you walk away or force yourself to finish?

Not here to bash anyone. I know I made mistakes too. I just want real experiences before I make another decision I’ll regret.

Thanks a lot if you read this 🙏🏽❤️.