$2 Million in Scholarships Help Moms Through Tough Times

Motherhood comes with many tangible and intangible rewards; but often, challenges moms face and the rigors and demands of the job are often overlooked.  This year is no different and the job is getting tougher.  

With food prices expected to rise more than 5 percent this year and gas topping more than $4 per gallon in most cities, many families are barely making ends meet.  The inflationary prices are also making jobs harder to come by.  In May 2008, the unemployment rate rose from 5 percent to 5.5 percent, with nearly 4 million of those unemployed being women. Moms are seeking new ways to stay competitive in the workplace and, in many cases, turning to education to give them that leg up.  

Today, a college degree can be the key to securing a new job or advancing an existing career. According to the College Board, a woman age 25-to-34 with a bachelor's degree will earn 70 percent more than a woman with a high school diploma. A bachelor's degree can also add an extra $900,000 in lifetime earnings for working moms, which can better the lives of their families.  

Take, for example, Denise Browning of Cincinnati, Ohio. Since 1986, Browning has been promoted 6 times at her current job, but she has hit the glass ceiling without a college degree. Despite working for her employer for 22 years, she was recently overlooked and deemed "not qualified" for a promotion.
"Wow, that was devastating. Twenty-two years with a company, my accumulated years of knowledge, my excellent rapport with the reporting staff, my willingness to do the job, to be told 'you're not qualified, ouch," exclaims Browning.

Browning applied for a full-ride college scholarship to go back to school through a program called Project Working Mom, an online education advocacy campaign to help working moms afford the college degree they need to succeed for themselves and their children. In the campaign, eLearners.com and partner schools join forces to award more than $2 million in full-ride scholarships to help working moms overcome the obstacles of time, money and confidence. Browning was one of 42 women selected as a Project Working Mom scholarship recipient.  

In addition to the college scholarships, Project Working Mom includes a comprehensive website, www.ProjectWorkingMom.com, designed to empower women to enhance their career by going back to school. The site includes self-assessment quizzes to determine readiness for online education, an online community where people can talk with others in similar situations, a database with $15 billion in financial aid opportunities and numerous articles filled with advice and insight.  

Another Project Working Mom scholarship recipient, Vivian Bradley from Fort Wayne, Indiana, recently lost her home to foreclosure. She has worked 2 and sometimes 3 jobs at once to care for her children, without any support from family.

"I work double shifts most days and the rest of my time is spent with my children," says Bradley. "I try to instill in my children that without an education they will end up like me working their life away on some low-paying job. I cry every day because I am not able to provide for my children like I should be doing."

Browning and Bradley are only 2 of the more than 50,000 working moms who applied for scholarships through the first Project Working Mom campaign, which ended April 30.   The first Project Working Mom was a great success with over fifty thousand entries and the winners of the scholarships were announced on Lifetime TV's, "The Balancing Act". "Our goal for Project Working Mom 2 is to raise awareness of the fact that federal financial aid is not fulfilling its obligation to the adult working student, particularly the single working mom," says Thomas.  "It's a public policy issue that must be addressed."

"Project Working Mom is the long-awaited answer for many women struggling to make ends meet without a college degree," says Terrence Thomas, EVP of Marketing at EducationDynamics.  "The scholarships, resources and community that eLearners.com has pulled together will give women the extra boost they need to finally take greater control of their life."

Click here to apply for a Project Working Mom 2 scholarship and get advice and financial aid information on going back to school online. You May even be one of the lucky winners selected to appear on Fox TV's The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet!
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