From Teen Mom to Doctoral Candidate: A Journey the Statistics Never Predicted
“Not going to college is not an option!” The words my mother spoke to me still echo in my mind with the same clarity they carried over 25 years ago. I was 17 years old, a high school senior, and a brand-new mother living in a small rural community, trying to figure out what came next. Growing up in a family shaped by generations of living in poverty, teenage parenthood, and limited access to higher education, I did not always believe that breaking these generational cycles seemed possible. Statistically, my chances of graduating high school were slim and obtaining a college degree was even less likely1. However, I had a mother who believed deeply in me and made sure I understood that I was certainly not going to give up on my goal of going to college and obtaining a college degree. She reminded me that even with a baby, I could still achieve my dreams.
Immediately, 17-year-old me became determined to figure out how I could go away to college and raise my baby. I had no idea how this task would be accomplished. One thing I knew for certain was that I wanted a life for my daughter that did not include struggle or poverty2. I knew that I wanted to build a stable life for my daughter and desired to raise her myself while earning a college degree. I wanted stability and opportunity to experience life outside my small town3. I also wanted to raise my daughter myself while earning a college degree. Research may report that teenage parents are more likely to experience limited family support, poorer academic outcomes, and a greater risk of repeating the cycle of teen parenting4, but there are always exceptions to the statistics. Guess what? I graduated high school on time with honors, despite giving birth during my senior year.
Life experience has taught me that often, what may seem like the hardest moment of your life can turn out to be your greatest blessing. For me, becoming a teen mom was exactly that. My daughter became my motivation and my reason to push forward to do what at times felt like conquering the world.
Using my daughter as my motivation, I became laser focused, and the search for the perfect college began. I researched colleges that offered resources for student parents or young parents. I came up with a plan and was determined to see the plan through, and I did not care who did not believe it was possible. My mother thought I could do it and for me, that was enough. My baby’s life depended on me doing it, so there was no other option for me. Even as a young parent, I somehow knew that obtaining a college degree was needed to change the trajectory of our lives. So, I went from a high school student parent to beginning my journey as a college student parent.
As I began my college search, I found universities that were family friendly and offered on-campus resources for families. I continued researching colleges that offered housing resources for student parents. The perfect place became clear when I found a university in close proximity to my immediate family that offered family housing and an on‑campus child care center. Accessing university housing meant that I could have safe, affordable, on-campus living where I could raise my daughter and pursue my education at the same time. On-campus family housing allowed me to be surrounded by other student parents and created a sense of belonging.
Four years later, I finished with a bachelor’s degree. Not only was I now a college graduate as a former teen parent, but I was also a first-generation college graduate. Generational cycles were broken and a new legacy began! The journey did not stop there. With my daughter along for the ride, we continued the educational journey by pursuing a master’s degree.
And while I would love to say the journey was all smiles and pleasantries, it wasn’t. There were some tears shed, some sleepless nights, and self-doubt. It required faith, determination, grit, and resilience. My baby and I made it through! She was no longer the daughter of a teen mom but the daughter of an educated young woman with a master’s degree.
As I reflect on what made this all possible for me, I think about the village that I found while away from family and seeking to do what seemed at times to be impossible. As I became more involved in campus activities, I found community and support in the amazing friendships that were built, the connections with other student parents, the sisterhood organization that I joined, and the church family that embraced me and my daughter with love. If I needed child care urgently, quiet time to focus or study, encouragement or support, when I had to bring my young daughter to evening classes or wanted to feel included in social settings, the village was there. At times being away from my immediate family was difficult, but I found belonging through many relationships that I built. I wasn’t alone, and that made all the difference.
My mother’s words were correct. College wasn’t optional, because breaking generational cycles was necessary. And now, two generations later, we are living proof of what determination, faith, community, and resilience can create. To go from feeling like my life was ruined when I found out that I was pregnant as a teenager to watching the same little girl I raised while earning my degrees also become a college graduate, I can say with certainty that being a student parent was worth it—most certainly one of my proudest moments and an indescribable feeling. To think, statistically, we were not supposed to make it.
Here I exist as living proof that it is possible to become a teen parent, go to college, raise your child, and still earn a degree. When the right structures, resources, and community surround student parents, success is not the exception, it becomes reality. That’s not all! The journey continues. After 17 years of working in my career, I began searching for my purpose for the next chapter of my life. This led me to once again pursue a college degree. Now as a mom of two daughters, ages 25 and 8, I continue doing what I do best as a student parent and defeat the odds. Imagine that? Teen parent turned doctoral candidate. Soon my daughters will have the honor of calling me Dr. Mom. Never would I have imagined this would be part of the legacy that I would leave for my children. Now, how about those statistics? The ones where generational cycles were broken and a new legacy began. Who knew?
Notes:
- Studies have found that only 50 percent of teen mothers graduate high school and 14 percent receive a bachelor’s degree or higher; see “Teen Birth Rates and Educational Outcomes,” Annie E. Casey Foundation blog, February 8, 2026, https://www.aecf.org/blog/teen-birth-rates-and-educational-outcomes.
- The 2025 Congressional Research Service study Teen Births in the United States: Overview and Recent Trends indicates that teen parents are more likely to live in poverty, miss opportunities to develop employment skills, and receive reduced earning potential as an adult.
- Statistics have shown that individuals living in rural areas were less likely to attain education higher than a high school diploma when compared to individuals living in urban areas, and rural students are more likely to drop out when they do go to college; see Institute of Education Sciences, Educational Attainment in Rural Areas (National Center for Education Statistics, October 2022), https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/lbc; see also Byun, S. Y., Meece, J. L., & Irvin, M. J. (2012),Rural-Nonrural Disparities in Postsecondary Educational Attainment Revisited, American Educational Research Journal, 49(3). https://doi.org/10.3102/000283121141344.
- See “Understanding Teen Birth Rate Trends,”Annie E. Casey Foundation blog, February 8, 2026, https://www.aecf.org/blog/teen-birth-rates-and-educational-outcomes.