Program Helps Single-parent Students Get College Education

"Breaking the chain of poverty one family at a time" is the goal of the Family Scholar House program in Louisville. Its mission is to end the cycle of poverty by giving single parent students the support they need to obtain a four-year college degree.

The program offers a wide variety of services, including residential housing and rental assistance, financial assistance for childcare and transportation, academic advising and career support, food assistance through donations, and referrals to community support organizations.

Just this year, 50 participants in the Louisville program graduated from college, and one student is heading for law school.

The Louisville program recently opened an office at Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, and Benedictine Sister Barbara C. Schmitz, director of mission advancement, is heading up that office.

Cathe Dykstra, CEO and president who calls herself the "chief possibility officer,” said, “We chose to collaborate with the Sisters of St. Benedict because of their commitment to community, hospitality and service. We believe the location of the monastery in Ferdinand will serve as a good home base as we provide educational information and assistance to the area.

“We look forward to having the sisters involved as tutors, mentors, encouragers and supporters of those seeking to improve their lives through education. To educate a mother is to bless her child. The sisters will be involved in laying a strong educational foundation that promotes prosperity for families now and for generations to come.”  

The program’s first phase in southern Indiana will be assessing what services are available through Tri-Cap in Jasper, Crisis Connection in Jasper and Lincoln Hills Development Corporation in Tell City.

Sister Barbara C. said the program is in the "baby stages," and she is in the process of interviewing single parents who are students at the Jasper campus of Vincennes University. "One lady said, 'Will you pay for my school?' I said, 'No, we will help you find the resources.'"

She believes the program will be a "wonderful" fit for the Benedictine Sisters "because we've always been educators."

“The sisters have been teachers since arriving in Ferdinand in 1867. We feel education is absolutely crucial for the family unit. Many children are in need of the resources they need to succeed in life. This is particularly difficult when a single mom or dad has little support for advanced education. We want to help the parent so the children are helped, too.

“We have met with Vincennes University Jasper Center and area school superintendents, and they are all excited about the program coming here. We see this as a wonderful fit to help single parents become healthy citizens and contributing members of the area.”

Eligibility requirements for the program include the following:

• Single or legally divorced;

• Custody of at least one child or pregnant;

• High school diploma or GED;

• Desire to pursue a college degree.

Once in the program, participants meet regularly with an academic counselor to report how they are doing in their classes and they also meet with social workers.

"It's not a handout," Sister Barbara C. says. "It's helping them raise themselves up." And is there a need? "Oh, my gosh," she answers. "Every place you turn."

At this early stage in developing the program, she said there are no plans for offering the residential part of the program in Ferdinand.