Did I really waste the last 3 years in school?

I graduated high school in 2008 with a 4.1 GPA and headed right into nursing school. I took a semester of general ed courses and then skipped a semester to save money while I was waiting for my nursing program start date. I completed two semesters of clinicals and started on my third before I decided nursing just isn’t for me. Once I made that decision, I had to take that semester off as well because it was too late in the semester to pick up new classes. This semester I am back to general education courses at the technical college I’ve been at since 2008 and I got accepted into a 4-year university starting in August to get my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Business Administration. My career goal is to work in Human Resources.

So, I spent three years at a technical school working toward a degree I no longer want. I’m happier now that I’m studying something I enjoy, but I can’t help but feel like a huge failure for wasting all of that time. I have over 30 transferable credits, but since I do not have any foreign languages (they weren’t required for nursing) and limited gen eds, there’s a good chance I’ll be in school for another 3½ to 4 years before I get my bachelors. That will make me 25 when I graduate and start my career.

I am engaged and don’t plan on having a child until after I graduate (and most likely at least a year after that). I know 25 is a fine age to have your first child, but as someone who should have graduated at 22, not 25, it bums me out that I won’t be really starting my life for that long. I am definitely going to do it, because I want that degree, but I feel like a bit of a failure seeing my former high school classmates getting ready for graduation and I feel like I’m just starting.

I keep telling myself that people go to college in their 40’s or older and succeed and I think that’s an amazing accomplishment, but I was always made out to be really going somewhere. My parents were disappointed when I switched my major and that doesn’t make things any better.

Another thing I’m really worried about is paying for school. I only have $4,000 in loans now and the rest was paid for with grants and other financial aid. Once I get past my 4 years, will they give me less money? Seven years in school to get a bachelor’s degree sounds ridiculous to me, so I’d imagine that the government may not want to pay for that much school. I don’t want to have an excessive amount of loans by the time I graduate.

Any words of wisdom would be great.