Back to school at any age: Welfare. Divorce. Eleven kids to support. Nothing stood in the way of these sisters who dreamed of earning a degree

Author: Essence

If only I had the money. Or the time. Or the confidence. If only my children were older, or I were young and single. If only I'd stayed in school. That's the way many Black women talk themselves out of pursuing their education goals. But earning a college degree doesn't have to be a pipe dream.

A few decades ago the typical college student was single, young, White and male. Today almost three quarters of America's 13.6 million undergraduates are what the U.S. Department of Education calls nontraditional--for instance, they didn't enroll directly after high school or don't depend upon their parents for support. Women make up the majority. Many work full-time. More than one quarter have children (13.3 percent are single parents). And 39 percent are age 25 and above.

Like community colleges, universities are catching up with the real-life demands of older students, offering support groups, mentors, financial-aid advisers and other programs designed to ensure academic success. And more Black women are taking advantage. We spoke with four sisters who gave it the old college try and, against all odds, earned their degrees. If they could do it, so can you!

ingrid hitchens, 35

FROM TECHNOPHOBE TO ON-LINE ACHIEVER

bY THE TIME SHE REACHED TENTH GRADE, Ingrid Hitchens had had two babies, "hated school" and often cut classes. Eventually the Baltimore native dropped out altogether.

Ingrid's home situation didn't help matters. Her mother suffered from manic-depressive disorder. One sister, Rene, was a drug user who couldn't care for her children. Another sister, Tangier, also had a drug problem, while a brother, Virgil, got caught in gang crossfire and ended up in a wheelchair at age 14.

Though disenchanted with school, Ingrid still thirsted for knowledge. So she enrolled in an alternative-high-school program that let teen parents rotate between working and attending school every two weeks. The schedule suited her, so she stuck with it, and less than a year later, Ingrid earned her GED. Life went smoothly for a while. Ingrid even moved to Los Angeles, where she found a job and a great place to live with a big backyard and slides and swings for her now five kids. But the carefree days didn't last. Her sister Rene, infected with HIV and in poor health, followed her to California with her five kids and another on the way. Her mother, brother and Tangier, also HIV-infected, came, too. Overwhelmed, all Ingrid could think was, I have to go back to Baltimore.

Ingrid returned in September 1994, living in a condemned building (pictured on previous page) before finding a place that could accommodate 11 children (who now range in age from 10 to 20)--one with HIV--and her sister Rene. (Rene later passed away in February 1995.) Ingrid might have remained on public assistance, but new welfare-to-work restrictions spurred her to find a work-study program.

Ingrid landed in a job-skills course at Goodwill Industries, where she struggled to master basic computer skills. "In my inner-city school, we had never seen a computer," she recalls. "I had no idea what 'boot up' meant, and when 'fatal error' flashed on the screen, I thought the computer might blow up."

Ingrid caught on after a few sessions, though, and soon was teaching her classmates. She found temp employment in 1997 at the Community Law Center, where she started as a receptionist and is now a senior paralegal. She quickly became the office's technology maven. Around that time Goodwill was pioneering a partnership with the University of Maryland called Better Opportunities Through Online Education. It offers Iow-income workers a way to get a college education. Ingrid applied and was accepted to the first class.

On-line courses meant Ingrid could pop into class whenever she had time during the week. "I can do schoolwork at one in the morning," says Ingrid, who logs on about two hours a day, doing term papers and other assignments on weekends--when she isn't cleaning offices at night, attending community meetings or attending to the children. "With as many kids as I have, and my work schedule, I could never do this at a regular school," she says. Ingrid intends to pursue a bachelor's degree after she completes her certificate in computer applications this month. Although she has earned a rest, she says she has no plans to kick back: "The learning never stops."

cecelia blanks, 40

FROM WELFARE MOM TO COLLEGE PROFESSOR

aS A SCHOOLGIRL IN GALVESTON, TEXAS, Cecelia Blanks dreamed of college. But her teachers steered her into vocational training. "You know you have to take the SATs and you couldn't do that," she recalls one school counselor saying.

By age 21, Cecelia was married and a mother of two. She and her husband decided to move to Oceanside, California, where he had relatives. But within months the marriage ended and she was on her own.

She turned to public assistance, did housework and retail jobs to pay the rent, and enrolled in every job-raining program she could. But child care gobbled up every dollar she earned. And no matter how many letters or calls to employers Cecelia made, no higher-paying job ever materialized. Frustrated, Cecelia realized she needed more training. "I thought better skills would net me better jobs," she says. Community college offered a way to build a network and her skills.

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