UWM student and mother Chanel Edwards walks alongside her son
When she graduated from UWM in 2013, Chanel Edwards had a school-aged son and five job offers.
The Life Impact Program at UW-Milwaukee had one more success story in its archive Originally established in partnership with the Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation, Life Impact is a unique wrap-around program that aims to lift families out of poverty by helping UWM students navigate both parenthood and college.
“Because we know that children who have parents that go to college are more likely to go to college themselves, we can have a huge impact on a family by helping student parents,” says Life Impact Program Manager Natalie Reinbold.
“Student parents have amazing strengths, such as the ability to juggle multiple responsibilities and a high level of motivation to graduate.
Giving this group of students some support is a sure way to see success.”
Life Impact scholars must apply to the program and for financial aid.
If selected, they must maintain a 2.5 GPA, meet twice a semester for one-on-one sessions with program staff and attend a workshop.
When students visit the Life Impact office, even just to grab a cup of coffee, staff members are trained to check how they’re doing on a personal and academic level.
“Any time we have an interaction with a student,” Reinbold says, “we’re really assessing to determine if there’s something we can provide in terms of support.”
Encouraging young parents to see that that a college degree is attainable and affordable for them, especially if they’re not already pursuing a degree, can be a challenge.
In addition to a $5,000 Life Impact scholarship that covers almost half of annual UWM tuition and fees, the program puts student parents in regular touch with a life coach, access to emergency funds and staff who can help them apply for essential Food Share and childcare benefits.
Given its success, UWM administrators want to get the word out to the community to attract more disadvantaged parents who have untapped university potential.
“Sometime, we have to find them and encourage them,” Reinbold says. “Many prospective students don’t even know that they could get into UWM, let alone get a scholarship.”
How do the university and the program’s funders know it’s working? Well, look at the numbers.
As of February 2015, the program has served a total of 172 student parents, with a graduation and retention rate of 86.2 percent.
By supporting their parents, the program has served a total of 237 children since its launch.
When compared with the general student-parent population at UWM, “Life Impact scholars far-outperform those students,” Reinbold says. More proof is in the personal stories.
Current Life Impact scholar Dezirae Taylor, a social work major and mom to a two-year-old daughter, says Reinbold and her staff are a top reason she’s managed to stay in school full-time.
She hopes to graduate ahead of schedule.
“Because I am a mom I feel a little more pressure to be successful,” she says.
When her daughter enters school herself, Taylor says she wants her to look up and know “my mom has her degree.”
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