“I decided to go to school so that I can set myself and my family up for a more secure future. I want to be a reliable provider for them. It was a little tricky to choose my major, but I’ve always been interested in being the best advocate I can be for my kids and I love learning about relationships and how to improve them. Because of that, I am majored in psychology and minored in human development and family studies.

My desire to be an advocate for my kids has led me to want to make a career out of being an advocate for other families. There are situations where I wish my kids had had a voice, and that is what I want to do for other families.

As a student parent, I’ve been surprised at the resources available to me. The Women’s Resource Center supported me financially, provided me with mental health resources, and gave me opportunities to build community with other parents. The university also had a mentorship program where I was paired with another student parent who gave me advice about effective study habits and told me more about the resources that they used on campus.

I finished my undergraduate degree in December of 2023 and now I hope to complete the dual Master of Social Work and Juris Doctor degree at the U. Ideally, I would like to be a guardian ad litem and be able to be a voice for kids in the justice system. I have been a client at a women’s center and it was their legal aid that really made the difference in my situation. Having knowledge of the law is very powerful. I think the MSW would pair well with my psychology degree and really prepare me to be a better asset for families.

Being a student leader has been one of my favorite experiences at the U. As a parent, I was worried about how to pay for school, but since I received scholarships, I had room to try out other things. The leadership positions provided me with many cool opportunities. For example, I coordinated with foster care agencies to bring foster kids to campus to give them early exposure to what higher education is.

If you are a parent wondering whether to go to school, my advice to you is to build up your support system. This could be family members, people in the community or mentors at your school. Having a support system to cheer me on really helped me a lot.”

—Brittny Lolohea, December 2023 University of Utah graduate