welp, i didn't think it was going to be a mod issue because i don't have many mods that aren't just clothing items. but i made a quick throwaway sim on a vanilla game and it currently doesn't seem like there are any issues. i was even able to naturally get to the next level of the aspiration after the screenshot below as taken.
so, i suppose this wasn't something i needed to bring to the forums, and i apologize for that! but now i'm concerned about trying to find the mods that are causing this </3
UPDATE: WE HAVE FOUND THE CULPRIT!
i had a few twistedmexi mods in my game (AlwaysMOO, AlwaysTesting, AlwaysFullEditMode) and once i removed those, the aspiration updated as intended. sorry again for the confusion!!
