Little kids in college? How's that? Well, in a town called Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, single parents have a chance in getting an education and raising a child all at once.
Wilson College is a liberal arts school with over a thousand students. They understand the everyday struggle of single parents and they are helping them secure their future by getting a degree and making everything else easier for them by providing shelter - apartments which used to serve as students' dorm rooms according to NPR.
The program was the brainchild of then-president Gwendolyn Jensen. Her inspiration? A building closed off because of low enrollment. She found herself musing and admiring the empty structure and thought of having kids and moms in there.
Gwendolyn took her car and idea to Pittsburg straight to the Eden Hall Foundation where Sylvia Fields, who is now the foundation's executive director, got on board without blinking an eye. At first, she had fears, then more ideas and then $400,000 which they used mostly for rebuilding.
Now the structure boasts of two-room apartments, private bathrooms, a common kitchen, and the bottom floor dedicated to the little kids who enjoy the many windows, the daycare, and outdoor playground.
Students still have to pay for their full tuition, room, and board but most of them also apply for and get scholarships and funding and even loans. But the biggest deal for single parents is the child care program, which takes off a huge load off their backs.
Just recently, a 20th reunion for kids who have attended the program was held. Britina Ricks, hailed as an "alumni superstar", started the program in 2008 and graduated four years later. She has come back with her 10-year-old son who easily recalled the halls and rooms where he himself grew up and learned in.
Wilson College is one of the many educational institutions who now cater to single parents and their children. Though attendees of the program are mostly women, single dads are also welcome to enroll.
The rest of society may think single parents may never get to college, however, Wilson College proves it is never easy but it can be done. In the last 8 years of the program, at least 38 students have made it out with a degree.
