‘I’m impatient with my success’: Stephon Fitzpatrick on pursuing a Ph.D. and being a role model

At the age of 16, Stephon Fitzpatrick already had a pretty ambitious goal. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: I told my dad, “Dad, I’m gonna get my Ph.D. by the time I’m 32.”

Stephon loved high school. He was both a bookworm AND on the football team.

Stephon Fitzpatrick: You know, I always said I was the athletic nerd, right? And so we don’t use nerd as a negative space over here. And so we went through, got the bachelor’s, got the master’s.

Both degrees were a huge deal in his family. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: My dad didn’t go to college. Me and my mom, we ended up finishing our master’s at the same time because she went back to school, but she was inspired by me getting these degrees.  

Next up was acquiring a Ph.D. Another first for his family. He hoped that a doctorate would set up his life professionally and financially. And he had a focus: agriculture. He wanted to study where our food comes from.

Stephon started a Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, where he was living at the time. But then, an opportunity came up in 2021 — a mixed blessing. Stephon was offered a job in exactly his field, catered to exactly his interest. But taking it would make it harder for him to finish that degree he’d been dreaming of. 

That’s because the job required him to move to Pennsylvania. And that meant forfeiting some of the free education credits he got as an employee in Maryland. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: When I was with the University of Maryland, because I was a part of the Maryland system, they pay for up to eight credits a semester. 

Since moving to Philadelphia, Stephon has used student loans to pay for his college credits AND he’s racking up debt. He’s looking for another way to pay for school.

Stephon Fitzpatrick: When it comes to those student loans, it’s like that funding is there to support you. But at the same time, it’s just like, I’m going to have to pay for this later?

I’m Nichole Currie, and this is Thriving — an audio documentary about our economic future together. I’ve been following 10 Philadelphians for a year to learn what it takes to make it in America. After a pandemic and so much social upheaval: What are the obstacles and opportunities we all face to economically thrive in the United States? Each person we’re following tells us something different about our collective future.

In this episode: middle-class Black residents. We’re following Stephon Fitzpatrick. He’s 34 years old, living in University City, Philadelphia and pursuing a Ph.D. degree, not only to fulfill his passion but to also advance himself professionally and financially.  

One avenue to try and move up and stay? Higher education, that can ideally lead to better jobs. But as Stephon is finding, it’s not always a straight path.

Stephon’s interest in agriculture was piqued in middle school. He kept seeing this group of kids in navy blue corduroy jackets. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: They were always on a field trip every single week. 

He asked a teacher what those kids were up to.     

Stephon Fitzpatrick: And I was like, what are these blue jackets? I don’t know what it is, but I want to go on the field trip.

Because who didn’t love field trips?

His teacher told him that these kids were part of the National FFA Organization — an extracurricular activity for kids interested in agriculture. FFA stands for Future Farmers of America. Being in the FFA meant that Stephon would travel to places like farms or museums of natural sciences to learn more about agriculture. Stephon especially loved a competition the kids participated in called Envirothon.

Stephon Fitzpatrick: For those of you that like Harry Potter, just picture it as the Quidditch games, right? And so you have four different teams that are trying to battle it out for these different things based on their skill sets to win these games.

The four groups, like Hogwarts houses, focused on different aspects of agricultural study: forestry, water, animal science and natural resources. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: And so you’re competing against several teams across the state, and you know, you’re doing like, soil profiles, you have to calculate and identify tree identification, you have to identify how do you know which animal was here based on their scat or the bed or the food that’s in those areas and that was like the first time I was just like, “Oh, ag is not just farming. I think my first year I won second place and it was just like, “Oh. I can win trophies and stuff for this, sign, sign me up.” 

But in the midst of the trophies and medals, Stephon noticed he was often the only Black kid participating in these activities. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: I was a Black kid getting into agriculture. There were none of my friends, nobody was getting into this space.

This realization didn’t deter him away from agriculture. It later became the core of his Ph.D. program.  

Stephon Fitzpatrick: And the next thing you know, like here we are 18 years later, still advocating it. 

In 2019, Stephon started a Ph.D. in organizational leadership. He’s studying how predominantly white institutions can support Black students to stay in agricultural programs, in hopes of diversifying the professional field.

Stephon Fitzpatrick: And because I’ve been so successful and my network is so strong, one of my life goals is to continue to be an advocate for Black people in the ag space.

But finishing that Ph.D. is becoming harder than he hoped.

When I meet Stephon in the fall of 2022, he’s 34 — just a few years past the timeline he gave himself for graduation. In 2021, while still working on his doctorate, he moved from Maryland to Philadelphia because he was offered a position he couldn’t turn down: executive director for the PA Commission for Agriculture Education Excellence. He’s helping entities all over the state improve their agricultural programs, especially for kids of color. It’s his dream job.But there are tradeoffs. Two, to be exact.

First: Stephon has had to adjust to the big city. It’s more expensive in Philadelphia, compared to the suburb where he lived in Maryland. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: When I was in school. So, you know, my rent was roughly nine, ten, nine, nine hundred, a thousand dollars in Maryland, on the Eastern Shore.

His rent in Philadelphia is now about $1,700. Stephon says his salary is, of course, a big help, and he’s grateful. He grosses about $100,000 and sees $85,000 after taxes and benefits come out. But his expenses have also gone up.

Stephon Fitzpatrick: So while, you know, this job was a blessing. It was a pay increase, but I had to factor in the fact that the cost of living here in Pennsylvania was 700 more dollars than what I was paying in Maryland, right? And so those are the things that I had to account for. 

But to get to a place in life where he is set financially — to eventually have a family, buy a house, make investments for the future, pay off previous student loans … essentially, to thrive, he would like a little more. He hopes that’s what the Ph.D. will afford him. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: To get the lifestyle that I want to live. I just need a couple more, right, and we’re at that threshold where we’re knocking on the door. So it’s just the focus is finishing the, you know, cuz it’s one of those things now where it’s like it’s the time versus the money, right?

Which brings us to Stephon’s second trade off: Living in Philadelphia is making paying for school more difficult. 

Because his Ph.D. program is at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore — he forfeited the coverage of eight credits per semester that his previous school covered for him. Stephon has been using student loans to pay for school since the move to Philly. He also used student loans for his masters program. So he has a lot of debt — that he makes payments on today. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: I want to say it was roughly, I think I took out, I want to say, nine to 12 thousand dollars last year, um, in student loans. 

Stephon is very familiar with the student loan system, from the inside…and it  doesn’t make using this resource any easier. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: I actually used to work in the student loan industry and one of the things I used to tell, um, our clients and customers was that, you know, at the end of the day, you know, we applaud you for taking this initiative to help fund your career, but it does have its drawbacks. 

Relying on student loans is challenging. In 2022, a national survey found that 55% of federal student loan borrowers now feel like the education wasn’t worth the debt. Especially those in fields with low wages who say paying off those student loans will be a last priority, behind buying a home and saving for retirement. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: Which is kind of right right now, why today, everyone is waiting on the president to say “Hey, save us, Joe,” right?

But It’s a gamble — in the same survey, 44% of people said their debt was worth it — so assessing the risks and benefits is important.

Stephon has decided that for him … taking out more federal student loans won’t help.  

Stephon Fitzpatrick: And I think that’s been like a key driving force. 

Stephon has been looking for scholarships for months, but he could only find one that he was eligible for. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: Yes, so that’s the farm credit foundation, agricultural scholarship. They are giving away a hundred thousand dollars worth of scholarships.

The scholarship he’s going for awards the recipient $10,000 — which is more than enough to cover his last 13 credits, which will roughly cost $4,500. He received the same scholarship back in 2019, during the first year of his Ph.D. program. This scholarship is his only hope right now. Because Stephon is studying organizational leadership in agricultural education, his degree will technically be in social sciences. So he’s ineligible for many agricultural scholarships, ones that focus on more on the ground work. So, in the fall of 2022, it’s a waiting game. Stephon must continue his schoolwork as if he will figure out a way to pay for his next semester. 

In December, I check in with Stephon. The good news is …

Stephon Fitzpatrick: I’m done my comps exams and I’m getting ready to, for my proposal defense and then later start my research.

But the bad news is that he also learned he didn’t get the scholarship. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: Who doesn’t want to get a scholarship? But I think at the same time, it’s one of those things where it’s just like the worst things you can get is a yes or a no. And I’ve, I reached out. I identified if there were other opportunities. I got no responses. I’m an independent. I’m an adult, right? I can’t just call home and be like, hey, write me a check, right? 

So close to being done … Stephon entertained the idea once again of taking out more student loans, but he learned that it just didn’t make sense because of his existing debt.

Stephon Fitzpatrick: Yeah, so when it comes to federal aid, like let’s say for instance, if you take out loans for your bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D., you’re, you’re capped at a limit. So the amount of loans that you can receive is low. And so when I looked at the risk, it was, it was just beneficial to take out, I mean, to pay for it myself, um, versus taking out suit loans and dealing with that interest and stuff like that.

Stephon will have to pay out of pocket for his last semester. 

Sameer Rao: Everyone makes the best choices that they can for them within the context of the policies that they have to deal with, right? 

This is Sameer Rao. He’s an editor for Technical.ly who oversees coverage in Baltimore and Washington DC. His journalism focuses on economic growth there, and how Black professionals experience that … comes up a lot.

Sameer Rao: What is crucial to understand is these are not folks that are living in necessarily abject poverty, but they’re also not, uh, at the levels of income, particularly like, six-figure income, even like mid- to high-five-figure income that we might expect when we think of quote unquote middle class.

Across the hundreds of interviews from the Thriving project, it’s clear the idea of the American Dream lives on for many. But the middle class experience is different for Black and Hispanic Americans compared to their white and Asian counterparts.

Once a Black or Hispanic American gets a middle class income, they’re far more likely to lose it, according to Pew Research. Their kids are less likely to someday outearn them than the children of white and Asian Americans. 

Education can often look like a path to stability, like for Stephon, who hopes that a doctoral degree will help him gain respect and increase his pay. But the promise of a big reward — better jobs, higher salaries — also comes with risk, especially for already marginalized people.

Sameer Rao: It’s not a fail-safe method to being able to have the life that you want. If that includes living in a city like Philadelphia, that has gotten more expensive through the pandemic, but it is an avenue, right? So education just remains extremely important for moving through various aspects of class structures that exist in this country.

Like education, cities really do remain engines for prosperity. But both are getting harder to access — chiefly because of affordability. Want to create wealthier communities? That takes more housing and more training to make a workforce more competitive. In a city like Philadelphia, with a large population of Black and Hispanic residents, those efforts can also increase middle class diversity. But cities by and large haven’t been quick to implement these changes. 

Sameer Rao: So there are a lot of reasons why this happens, but in my mind, all of a lot of them have historic roots in the legacy of anti-Black racism in our cities and our policies. These racist policies just kind of continue to persist and that does push people out to where things are a bit cheaper.

In winter 2023, Stephon’s job is going full tilt. Sometimes it requires him to travel to different states and schools to teach people about agriculture… like this school he’s at right now in Northeast Philadelphia.

Stephon Fitzpatrick: Right? And so I’m, this is the first time I’ve come to an elementary school. And the students know where a plant comes from and what needs to happen to take care of it. Is too much sun bad for plants? Yes. Too much sun is bad for humans, right? Yes. Right? 

The class is filled with Black and brown children. And the kids are asking Stephon all kinds of questions.

Stephon Fitzpatrick: The question was, why did I choose this career from all the other ones? Now you all, when I first started, you said I don’t look like I farm or that I work outside. So with that, when you look at Mr. Fitzpatrick, what do you think he does for a living, if you didn’t know I do ag? Business. A manager. A CEO. I’m loving the affirmations. A lawyer. A lawyer. A gardener. Helping people. You think I look like I help people? I do. I want to do more. Usually when they see me, I’m 6’4 I’m a big guy. They think I play sports. People are like, “Oh, you agriculture is not for people that look like you. And it’s like why not? I need to eat.” 

Conversations like this are reminders of why Stephon started his Ph.D. program.  

 And so I think at an early age, I realized that someone like me could contribute to this space. And the fact that you said I look like I help people, that’s really the nature of what Mr. Fitz does. He travels to governments, to communities. I’ve traveled across the world. I’ve been to Australia. I’ve been to Italy. I’ve been to Spain. I’ve been to Turkey. All because of agriculture to help people learn how they can create sustainable practices in their communities.

Stephon loves his job, but it has gotten in the way of his schoolwork. Because of that, he’s had to extend his last semester. 

To go from a doctoral student to a doctoral candidate, Stephon has to conduct independent research that must be approved by a committee. But by the time he pulled these committee members together … they said:

Stephon Fitzpatrick: Hey, Stephon, like the spring might not be realistic. Let’s shoot for the summer, maybe December. And so because of that, that stretches out being in school for the year versus finishing the summer. So instead of finishing spring 2023, the goal now is to get out summer or December 2023. 

To give him a bit more time, he designed the work to be completed in three semesters instead of one: spring, summer and fall of 2023. It will roughly cost the same, but over a longer period, so he’ll get a break financially. Before, he planned to pay for 13 credits out of pocket over one semester. NOW, he’ll pay for the same 13 credits over the course of a year. At first Stephon was frustrated with delaying the process, but he’s reminding himself that no matter when he finishes the program, it will pay off. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: While I’m impatient with my success, it’s OK to keep chipping away. And if you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, there are people that are watching, right? And because I started to see those interactions and I’m in those rooms and I’m having those conversations, you know, they’re saying, “Hey, Stephon, we don’t know if we’re going to be able to afford you because you are truly becoming a leader in this industry.” I wanted to be a Black male in this ag industry. And that was always the goal.

By the summer, Stephon made the decision to extend his credits out even further. He’s saving his last two credits for the spring semester of 2024. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: I did that because I’m paying out of pocket and I need to make sure I spaced out my expenses to make sure nothing gets off track.

But when Stephon went to enroll in courses for the fall, so that he could finally start his research, he realized he couldn’t. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: Well, I can’t register for the fall if I have this full balance. And  I was like hey I have to take this full course load for a Ph.D. student in the fall. I’m not going to have the funding to pay for this right, you know, outright. 

So to keep his plans strong, Stephon reached out to a university employee he had talked to a few times in the past. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: And I was like, hey, I’ve read, you know, you know, they always tell a student every semester to every year to make sure you apply for your FAFSA. Um, so I applied for that just to see what aid I’m eligible for. Um, and, you know, I got that notification that said, Hey, you’ve reached your aggregate limit. And so she was like, “Well, let me check you’ve been super proactive with everything if we have the funds. We’ll make sure that we get them to you.”

This person looked into the university’s budget and found extra money to award Stephon $1,200 to help pay for his fall semester. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: So I went from having to pay 2,700 to roughly only having to pay 1,300, 1,400 for this fall semester. 

Just one year ago, Stephon was trying to figure out how to pay for the last semester of his doctorate program. With no scholarships and no room for federal student loans, he’s been on a journey — constantly changing his plans. But Stephon’s determination, his willingness to make changes, and the importance of building and utilizing relationships have gotten him to the finish line for his degree. He says it’s wonderful to see it all pay off. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: I think that goes back to just my experience in the beginning where I was always the first, right? When you’re a minority in agriculture and you look like me — like I’m 6’4”, I’m 315. I’m, you know, I’m dark skinned. I have tattoos when you see me, like there’s a perception thing. And so when you’re in an industry that hasn’t catered to minorities, there’s a level of confidence that you have to have. And that you learn, and it’s not just something you learn, but it becomes a skill. And I think over the, over, you know, over the past 20 years of being in this industry up till now, um, I’ve learned that the key to my specific industry is relationship building.

Stephon is on track to graduate in the spring of 2024 and just the thought of it feels surreal to him. 

Stephon Fitzpatrick: And the beautiful thing about it is, people are starting to see my work. Like people have always known that I’m, I’m going to be a premier person in this industry. But it’s, it’s getting to a point now where it’s like my, my brand as Stephon Fitzpatrick is gaining natural, national recognition. It feels amazing. Um, I’m very present in this moment, right. And kind of going through this journey. Um, and I’m just, I’m just looking forward to life as Dr. Fitz.

For Thriving, I’m Nichole Currie. 

Thriving is brought to you by Technical.ly and Rowhome Productions with support from the William Penn Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts and the Knight Foundation. 

Learn more about Thriving at Technical.ly.

Thriving’s executive producer is Technical.ly CEO Christopher Wink.

The series is reported, produced, and hosted by me, Nichole Currie. 

Our story editor is Jen Kinney. Managing producer is Alex Lewis. Mix and sound design by John Myers. 

Special thanks to Technical.ly editors Sameer Rao and Julie Zeglen. 

This episode features music from Blue Dot Sessions and Philippe Bronchtein. 

Our theme music is by Flat Mary Road. 

Thanks for listening.