RICHMOND, Ky. (LEX 18) — Statistics from the Education Data Initiative indicate that 39% of first-time students seeking a bachelor’s degree do not complete their program within eight years. A college degree isn’t for everyone, but many who drop out still have a desire to return to higher education.
According to the Some College, No Credential report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, more than one million adults made that choice to resume their pursuit of a degree in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Amber Dennis, currently a student at Eastern Kentucky University, is one of those adults who is back in class chasing a degree. In 2008, Amber started at BCTC as an early childhood development major. However, her husband’s parents passed away, and the family took custody of her husband’s brothers.
“I went from two kids to four and I was a teen mom anyway, so I had to end up dropping out just to focus on being a mom and working,” she said.
Fast forward to 2023 and Amber’s daughter, Kaili Dennis, began looking into her own education. That included going to an orientation back at BCTC.
“Me and my mom have been best friends since I was little,” Kaili said. “During that orientation, she looked at me and she was like, ‘I wish I could go to college.’ I was like, ‘you can go to college. What do you mean?’”
“I decided at that point I was going to go,” Amber added. “She said, ‘Mom, you, you can do it.’”
Amber is now a social work major, while Kaili is majoring in psychology. The two graduated from BCTC earlier this year and have since transferred to EKU.
“The biggest challenge was just realizing that you know EKU is is for anyone,” Amber said, “and that I'm not too old to be here and I've actually have made lots of friends.”
Amber and Kaili are now in their first semester here at EKU. They're both juniors and they're both honor students. They shared a little bit more about how their competitive drive pushes them to do better in their academics.
“We compete with our GPAs,” started Amber.
“Every semester,” Kaili interjected.
“Then that person will get the bragging rights for that semester,” said Amber.
“We're like, ‘oh, I did better than you,’” Kailli added. “It kind of just makes us want to do better.”
Both students are tied with a 4.0 GPA right now. While Amber and Kaili both push each other, they also inspire each other.
“I think it's amazing that she can go back after being a teen mom,” Kaili shared. “She didn't really get that chance when she had me, and I'm so grateful that she does have that chance because I want the best for her.”
“I grew up with Kaili,” added Amber. “I was 17 when I had her and I put my life on hold to be a mom. Being able to do this with her, I wouldn't change anything about it.”
