Empowering Student Parents

For single mother Nicole Talbert, the idea of going back to school as an adult student was daunting. She worried about money, and she worried about the time commitment. “I didn’t know how I would be able to take classes, and make a small income, and be available for my daughter when she needed me.”

Nicole discovered online classes at CCV, which have made it possible for her to fit college into a busy schedule. And by working closely with her CCV financial aid counselor, she unlocked the tuition support she needed, in the form of grants and scholarships. One of those is CCV’s Victoria Buffum Single Parent Scholarship. Now in its second year, the scholarship is helping a new cohort of student parents pursue their dream of earning a college degree.

“It’s been hugely helpful,” Nicole says. “Knowing that either my car payment is going to be made without the stress of me needing to pick up extra shifts, or groceries every week, which is a big deal—I have an eight-year-old who is going through lots of growth spurts. It’s an added stress-reliever knowing that there is this opportunity to alleviate some of that stress.” Nicole is enrolled full-time, with plans to continue for a bachelor’s degree and pursue sports psychology. “It’s kind of just taking the things that I’m really interested in, that I have a passion for—helping people physically and mentally—and figuring out how I can advance that for the rest of my life in my career.”

Likewise for single mother Bethany Kriger, the scholarship is enabling a courageous life change that wouldn’t be possible without significant support. Bethany is raising four teenagers on her own, and the scholarship is helping her to set a positive example for her kids. “The most important thing that you can ever teach anyone…is that it’s just never too late to do the thing that you wanted to do, and that the only thing that is standing in your way is yourself. So I wanted my kids to know that no matter what, you can always make a choice…you can always pick up the pieces of your dreams and move forward at any point.”

Bethany Kriger is planning to pursue a law degree to become an advocate for children and families. Courtesy Photo.

Bethany returned to school at 45, determined to finish the college degree she’d started years earlier. She has a very clear goal: “I know exactly where I’m going. I definitely want to end up back at law school. That’s what I wanted to do at the beginning, and I haven’t changed my mind.” Bethany wants to go into family law, so she can be an advocate for children.

The Victoria Buffum scholarship is the result of a $1M gift from the Courtney and Victoria Buffum Family Foundation, which established an endowed fund at the Vermont Community Foundation that generates the annual award. The late Vicki Buffum created the Foundation in her and her daughter’s names in 1997. Vicki was an entrepreneur and philanthropist with a deep desire to help others—particularly women and children at risk—and she was a single mother herself.

“It’s so expensive to have children, as everybody knows, and it’s expensive to live,” says Bethany Kriger. “Having the support from the school to empower parents to be able to continue their studies…aside from just the feelings of support that you get that the community recognizes that it’s a struggle for parents to go back to school, there’s also this really lovely built-in community of people who are able to succeed with the help of CCV scholarships. I don’t know how I would honestly be making this semester work at all if I didn’t have this scholarship. It’s a game-changer.”