Mikeie Reiland is a staff writer for Education at Forbes Advisor. Before coming to Forbes Advisor, he wrote magazine journalism for publications like the Oxford American, Bitter Southerner, and Gravy.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — As a police officer’s son, Ted Lawrence grew up thinking he would follow in his father’s footsteps. But as one of Lawrence’s mentors put it, “Sometimes you don’t find a job — a ...