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When 19-year-old Jill Mills found out she was pregnant, she decided not to give up on her college dreams.
“I didn’t want to be a statistic, a single mom without a degree,” the Sherwood native said. “Thankfully, I found the Single Parent Scholarship Fund. I was so happy because I didn’t know how to make it work.”
Her scholarship check went toward paying for a car to drive to campus. The program’s workshops taught her financial literacy skills, which she passed on to her son, Riley. As a teenager, he started his own shoe shine and vending machine business.
Meanwhile, Jill earned her bachelor’s degree and married Riley’s father, Tony, who owns a hair salon. She worked for many years as a family services manager in public schools. Currently, she is a stay-at-home mom and loves volunteering in her community.
“I don’t know what I would have done without ASPSF,” Jill said. “It helped me finish school and set me on the right path to the wonderful life I have today.”
Riley arrived when Jill was a sophomore in college. Thanks to ASPSF’s flexible scholarship, she was able to cope with the financial burden as a single-parent student.
Today we have Riley and Jill (both on the left)! Jill and her husband have another son, Reese, and the family gives back to ASPSF and other organizations.