"I'm the first in my family to complete a tertiary degree. My goals when I started were to study overseas and move to a city to join a graduate program, and I've achieved both.
In 2015 I studied finance for a trimester at Purdu, an American university in Indiana, which was unreal. It's renowned for its big space engineering programs and is the university Neil Armstrong attended.
I'm from a small town - Guyra, just north of Armidale -where a lot of people don't have a decent grasp of finance. When I told my grandmother I was moving to Sydney to work for Westpac, she thought I was becoming a bank teller and couldn't understand why I had to leave. It's still quite taboo to have a skilled Indigenous person working in investments.
My younger brother and sister are now well advanced in their business studies at UNE. Like me, they've had a lot of great teachers and mentors. Studying at a smaller regional university enables you to develop better connections and to tap into the professional expertise of staff. It also allowed me to save to study abroad.
There is a big income gap between the city and country, but also an education gap. I'd like to help improve financial literacy in the country. I'd also like to show the Indigenous youth that there are other pathways to success outside sport.
With my UNE Business degree I can go anywhere and do anything."
UNE was five stars for “Overall Student Experience” by the 2019 Good Universities Guide for the 13th year in a row.
Ty Archibald
Graduate of Bachelor of Business, UNE
Research Associate with Westpac's wealth management arm, BT
