Pennsylvania will see more of what’s happening on this campus in 2020.
"It’s a challenge but it’s worth it and the end game is my beginning game," says student and mother, Stacy McCarter.
Stacy McCarter and Crystal Nazario are students at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania. While they pursue a degree, the school offers subsidized housing for single mothers like them so they can get an education and live with their children on-campus.
"I wanted to become a nurse, a registered nurse and I always had that in the back of my head so it was always something that I thought about because I wanted to kind of get out of the cycle that I was in because I saw my family struggle tremendously. And, I don’t want them to go through that," explains Nazario, "There were many concerns when I was thinking about going to college. I was just thinking am I smart enough? Or who would watch the children? Am I going to be able to pay for daycare? Will I be able to pick them up on time?" Nazario tells PBS39 News Tonight Reporter, K.C. Lopez, "I contacted the director of this program, Katherine Pohlidal. And I talked to her and she sent me an application and when I got the application in the mail, I actually just ripped it and I said this is not---I’m not going to get accepted. And then months passed and I called her again and she sent me the application again and before you know it, two weeks later I got accepted. And I kind of started believing kind of, I did my research and I was believing that this is kind of a great opportunity, let me go, let me take it."
Starting this year, two and a half million dollars will go toward helping colleges replicate Misericordia’s Bourger Women with Children Program. Here, three dorms house 16 families; with common spaces to share, a dining room, kitchen, playrooms for the kids and study spaces for moms. It’s a unique experience raising children at college. For Crystal’s 7 year old daughter Genesis, it’s sparked something inside her too...
"I really wish when I grow up to go to Disney, work there and just like make artwork from Disney characters" says Genesis, "and make movies from Disney characters."
Recent data shows that one in five undergraduate students are parents. With 70 percent of them being mothers and 1.7 million raising a child alone. Even more striking, these students have more than twice the student loan debt of students overall but hold higher GPAs than their peers who aren’t parents.
Outside of the classroom, Misericordia mothers and their children live together. Dorming can be especially difficult with unique circumstances and backgrounds. But moms and staff agree; this process is special...
"But then you see friendships develop with them. They help one another out in terms of taking time to watch a child, helping study," says one of the program's Founders, Sister Jean Messaros, "They learn to trust. By the time they graduate she has grown a great deal in terms of being a parent and we do a lot with that."
The women here get what they put in. They’re required to carry a full-time student class load and work a part-time job while caring for children. And on the road to graduation, there are resources to help them along the way.
"For the mom, we’re going to be doing everything from case management services, counselling services on campus or in the community, which we will help to even fund," explains the program's director, Katherine Pohlidal, "If they need eye care, if they need dental, if they need mental health evaluations or treatment or care, if they have some issues with learning disabilities or issues that might prohibit them from focusing in on their education, we’re going to help them access that too."
As one of only 8 schools with a program like this in the U.S., staff can testify to the growth students experience...
"Many have come out of living in their car, they come in with a bag sometimes with their belongings and they’re in a fairly low point and they want hope for themselves and for their child," Misericordia University President, Thomas Botzman, tells Lopez, " When they graduate, they are confident, they are wonderful, a lot of them after they graduate come back and tell me I just got engaged. And I think there’s a guy that’s pretty sharp because you’ve found a confident, grown up woman who is ready to go and take on the world. Who has seen things that are not so pleasant but battled through that and made it work."
They’re proud to know what’s started at Misericordia will blossom across Pennsylvania, ...but they’ve witnessed the challenges that students have adapting to life on a college campus.
"Helping them with the access to their needs; specifically mental health. I think a lot of untreated mental health can become pervasive enough that it can even threaten their ability to actually stay in school," says Pohlidal, "So, we don’t want to underestimate that and programatically, we really want to look at what can we provide to our families as they may be also be recovering from collateral issues because of their circumstances."
Women who have graduated from the university as part of the program have gone on to land full-time positions, pursue Masters degrees, even go onto Law school. Stacey, a mother of two boys ages 3 and 6 and a 9 year old girl, plans to be among them.
"When the opportunity came for this program, I was actually scared. I was nervous. I was like what. You know? And other people were like why would you leave? Why would you give up this good job you have? How are you going to support your children?" Stacy reveals, "It is, again, the beginning of my new day, of my children’s new day. A new legacy for my family. I’m setting the tone now."
And with important eyes watching...there’s no turning back.
Got a news tip? Email K.C. at KCLopez@WLVT.org!