COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Eleven percent of all-American students in higher education almost two million students are single parents, and by some estimates, as many as 40 percent will give up their goals of earning a degree to raise their families.
Sara Sherman, speaker, author and coach, has a large following on her Ask Sara website her hottest topics?
“Behavior, going to college and all the moving parts, and just creating a kick-ass single mom life,” Sherman said.
Sherman would know. Thirty years ago, she had her first child while she was in college.
She told Ivanhoe, “People asked me are you going to drop out? I was making minimum wage at the time, which was $3.35.”
Instead, Sherman continued earned her master’s and built a six-figure career with a corner office all while raising her three kids alone.
“Your income is it. And you’ve got to support a family and you can’t do that on the amount of money you can get without a degree,” she said.
Camisha Prince was surprised when she learned she was expecting. Now she’s preparing to go to phlebotomy school to support little Castiel. Babies are expensive.
Prince told Ivanhoe, “For five formulas that I used up in a week, it’s fifty dollars. Just for that.”
Sherman volunteers with young, single moms like Camisha even writing a guidebook to getting a degree. First…
“A for-profit will charge an enormous amount for the same education you can get at a community college,” Sherman explained
Also, take it one semester at a time. List all your commitments and deadlines months in advance and believe that you can do it even though it’s not easy.
“In fact, if you are exhausted, you are probably doing it right,” she said.
But doing it for all the right reasons.
Sherman uses this example when she works with single moms: she says a two-year nursing program at an Ohio Community College near her home costs $10,000 in total, as compared with for-profit programs that cost twice as much. A new employee will make about thirty dollars an hour no matter where they earned their diploma.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Sara Sherman
614-432-2717
Sources: https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/C460_8.21.17_Single-Mothers-Briefing-Paper-FINAL-2.pdf
https://www.verywellfamily.com/single-parent-census-data-2997668
Contributor(s) to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Executive Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer and Roque Correa, Editor.
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