Single Mothers Returning to School

The New York Times, September 9, 1990

LEAD: ON some nights, Valerie Williams's house in Norwalk is the last place she can find quiet
enough to study. So she packs up her books and her 6-year-old son and heads back to her office
at Xerox in Stamford, where she has already worked an eight-hour day.
She is one of a growing number of single mothers returning to classrooms. College
administrators say single mothers represent one of the largest groups of their adult students.
Slow Season on Campus
''It's certainly a trend,'' said Gail Hall, associate director of Ideal, an accelerated-degree program
at the University of Bridgeport. ''As more single mothers return to school, more feel they have
permission to do it. For some, it's because they've suddenly become the breadwinner. For most,
the underlying reason is they want to chase something. This is a boost to their self-esteem.''
Although summer is traditionally slow on many campuses, it is a season when many single
mothers return. The classes are smaller, the competition is less fierce, and the shorter sessions are
convenient, said Dorothy L. Sayers, assistant to the dean of continuing education at Albertus
Magnus College in New Haven.
There are students like Kelly Osborn, of New Haven, who wanted a career and not a life
receiving welfare. At the age of 19, with a 5-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son, she is
midway through working on a nursing degree at Southern Connecticut State University. In the
past, while her daughter attended the university's child-care program, relatives and friends
watched the boy.
''A couple of times I had to take him with me to microbiology class when I just couldn't get a
sitter,'' she said. ''He'd just play next to me. It's not easy, but it's how I have to get where I'm
going. I'm going to be a nurse.''
Margo Sewall, of Gales Ferry, went back to school and later found her marriage crumbling, she
said. She decided that she needed a degree if she was going to support her daughter. Her
bachelor's degree from Connecticut College, which took eight years, did more than land her a job
as a clinic-operations assistant at Planned Parenthood in Norwich.
''It fed me in a way nothing has ever fed me before,'' she said. ''I got an A for my work. No one
ever gave me an A when the house looked good.

''When you go back to school, the house falls to pot. My daughter did her own laundry by the age
of 7. If we ate three square meals a week, I figured we were all doing all right. Any woman who
can do final exams and Christmas in the same 10-day period can do just about anything.''
Study at UConn
The dean of extended and continuing education at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Doe
Hentschel, said that UConn had recently studied students' grades to compare returnees with those
starting college just after high school.
The returnees, mostly in their 30's and two-thirds women, were more likely to receive A's and B's
than their counterparts, Dr. Hentschel said.
The director of continuing education at Connecticut College, Lee Kneerim, said: ''Single parents
have really thought it over, and they come to us highly motivated. They're aware of the kind of
sacrifices they'll have to make and behave like superwomen for a short period of their life. They
have an enormous energy and do exceptionally well.''
'There Is No Backup Staff'
''Single working mothers understand time management as few other people do,'' Ms. Hall said.
''There is no backup staff. You either make the most of every minute or it doesn't work.''
Colleges are responding by offering on-site child care, streamlined degree programs with night
and weekend courses and classes on surviving college.
At the University of Bridgeport, students with college credits can be admitted to the new Ideal
program, or they can take a three-credit course in five weeks.
Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport started a program to help laid-off workers. The
two-year-old program gives time, skills and money to the dislocated workers as they seek jobs.
Many students are single mothers. The State Labor Department provides some money, and while
in school, students can receive unemployment benefits.
Counseling and Support
Norwalk State Technical College recently hired an evening counselor to help working students.
''We have a growing number of single homemakers pursuing degrees in computer systems and
keyboarding,'' the president of the college, John Fisher, said. ''We felt we needed to provide
support for people like this. These students are saying it's helpful to have someone to talk with.''
The State Human Resources Department is running a pilot child-care program at South Central
Community College in New Haven. A day-care official in the department, Pat Diglio, said the
state paid for 15 day-care positions for needy women. The women have to class regularly.

''Many of these women have never needed assistance before, and suddenly they're out on their
own,'' Ms. Diglio said. ''It's a struggle for them running back and forth to school. But they want
to make something of themselves. And they are.''
'Have to Rely on People'
The Income Maintenance Department also pays some money for child care at colleges. ''Women
in this situation have to rely on people,'' said Maureen Hinckley, a mother of four who earned her
bachelor's degree at Fairfield University and is working on her master's. ''There are lots of people
who all become players in this, so much more so than if you are married.
''People are willing to do a lot for each other. If something is that important in your life, you can
get it.''
Ms. Hinckley's day begins at 4:30 A.M. and often continues beyond midnight, she said. She was
the wife of an executive in Fairfield when she was divorced after 15 years of marriage. Although
she was a business consultant, she took a job as a clerk at Fairfield University, so she could
participate in the employees' tuition-reimbursement program. She received her degree and was
promoted to financial analyst at the university.
Up Before the Children
Often Ms. Hinckley woke up before her children to start studying for an hour or two, she said.
Then she served breakfast and supervised preparing the lunches. Two or three nights a week, Ms.
Hinckley went to classes. The other nights, she helped her children with their homework and
drove them to appointments.
''Certainly there are days when I'm exhausted and feel there aren't enough hours in the day to get
done what I need to,'' she said. ''However, I think if we aren't challenged and stretched beyond
our limits, we'll never find out what we can be.''
''I think my son really respects me and what I'm trying to do,'' said Ms. Williams, who manages
information systems at Xerox. ''I look around me in the black community and see so many
people who don't have a dream. Young people seem so distraught, and their lack of motivation is
troubling to me. I want to be a role model for my son. I think he'll be stronger for this. I want him
to have a dream.''
CAPTION(S):
Photo; Maureen Hinckley, a single mother who has earned a bachelor's degree and is currently
working on her master's, with two of her four children at their home in Fairfield (Alan Zale for
The New York Times)
By JACKIE FITZPATRICK