When some UK students finish with classes for the day, their jobs as parents are just beginning. The One Parent Scholar House, until recently called the Virginia Place, provides housing to single parents who are also full-time students attending either UK or another area secondary school.
One Parent Scholar House director, Beverly Henderson, describes the House as offering, “support for single parents that are pursuing their degrees.”
The House offers on-site childcare and support services, and most residents do not pay rent. Henderson said the House, which used to be located on Virginia Avenue before moving to its current location near the Red Mile, has “a historic connection with UK of helping single parents get their education and become self-sufficient.”
The One Parent Scholar House is a complex with 80 apartments and a highly rated childcare facility. In order to become a resident, applicants must be at least 18, have their G.E.D., be full time students, have at least one child and be eligible for a Section 8 housing Certificate.
Residents must also have full custody of their children. Nearly all student residents are female. “We stay full,” Henderson said. “The need is there.”
The One Parent Scholar House changed everything for Meagan Bellamy. She said she struggled with feeling isolated while trying to attend school before moving into the House.
“Being a single mom you feel alone,” Bellamy said. “All the people around me were 18 or 19 and free as a bird. I didn’t even know single moms went to school very often. People told me to just quit school and get a job.”
But Bellamy was determined to earn more than minimum wage for herself and her son. She said she wanted to “have a good quality of life rather than just struggling at the bottom.”
Read the full story at the Kentucky Kernel.
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.