Advertisement She is well on her way down that road, entering her last semester on the way to an associate degree in nursing at Western Technical College.
She has used Wisconsin Higher Education Grants each year to be able to afford to pay for day care while she goes to school and work.
“If I didn’t have them (the grants), I don’t know if I would still be in school,” she said.
Woodhouse applied early enough this year to get a grant — before the state Higher Education Aids Board stopped giving them to students in the Wisconsin Technical College System on Aug. 21.
However, when she heard the news of the grants running out for WTCS students, she said the news hit home. Suspending the grants affects her classmates, many of whom she said are in similar situations — single parents returning to school and raising children.
Woodhouse is one of 873 Western Technical College students who are single parents, said Julie Lemon, Western Technical College public relations specialist.
“If people know the money is not going to be there, what will happen?” Woodhouse asked. “I don’t think they will come back to school ... the challenge becomes too big.”
Woodhouse knows what it is like to depend on that money.
She knows what it is like to always be thinking about which bills she can pay this week and which ones she can put off until the next. She knows what it is like to wonder how she’ll pay for Christmas or birthday presents for her kids. She knows what it is like to feel that student loans and federal grants will cover tuition and books but not all of her living expenses.
“It is not just me — I have kids to look after,” she said.“It doesn’t cover everything like what some take for granted — school pictures and tennis shoes so my kids can be in sports like other children.”
Woodhouse’s long-term goal is to get out of her low-income situation. She wants to transfer to Viterbo University and get a bachelor’s degree in nursing and a master’s degree in science in nursing.
She’s excited for the day when she can be a nurse and earn enough to become economically independent. She wants to earn enough money to support her children and their dreams to go to college.
“We are setting an example for our kids — especially as first-generation (in college) parents,” she said.
And Woodhouse’s example is a good one to support.
She is taking assistance for a few years to achieve her educational goals and get a good-paying job.
The alternative is taking assistance from the government while in low-paying job for 15 years until all of her children are grown, she said.
