Winner of Hero Behind the Hero Scholarship Inspired by Military Parents

Rachel Eboch knows a thing or two about being in a military family. Her parents are both veterans, as is her husband, Corporal Patrick Eboch of the Marine Corps.

Eboch also know a thing or two about what it means to be a CSU Knight; she is the recipient of the Hero Behind the Hero scholarship, encouraged to pursue her master’s after witnessing her mother proudly accomplish her degree with Columbia Southern University.

“I was influenced by my mother to apply. Having graduated with her bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2013, she constantly raved about the flexibility and affordability of CSU. When she retired from the Marines after 23 years of service, nearly half of her degree was already completed solely from credits that transferred over from the military.”

Eboch said that at first, she didn’t imagine herself achieving a degree beyond her bachelor’s but is now excited to begin her Master’s of Business Administration.

“It was hard to pass up the opportunity to improve myself with seemingly unlimited flexibility. Thanks to CSU, I will be the first person in my family to graduate with my master’s degree. My mother was the first person in our family to graduate from college,” she said.

Eboch said that a few seemingly small encounters with her parents when she was a child set up her path for a career in finance.

“My mother, a financial analyst for the Defense Logistics Agency and former Marine, taught me the importance of frugality early on. At the age of five, I saw this stuffed animal at the MCX that I knew I had to have. I asked my mother if she would buy it for me and she asked me if I wanted it or needed it. She said that if I needed it, she would buy it for me but if I just wanted it, she wouldn’t,” Eboch said.

“I remember walking out of the MCX so proud of myself because I was able to save money by asking myself one simple question.”

Eboch’s father, though he didn’t work directly in finance, also played a part in her discovery of this passion.

“Through story-telling, quizzing me on math problems in the car, and leading by example, I’d felt as though my dad was my own personal financial advisor. Some of the earliest memories I have with him is when he’d let me play with his calculator and sum up numbers he had on a budget spreadsheet. He used to tell me, ‘the only things in life you should ever have to finance are college and a house.’”

We are proud to have heroes behind the hero like Eboch as part of the CSU family.