Diapers for Diplomas program at Columbia State Community College helps ease financial burdens for students with young children

Columbia State Community College first established its Diapers for Diplomas program in 2021 in order to assist student parents financially, by providing them with diapers each month in order to ease the financial burden of attending school. The program comes through a partnership with the Nashville Diaper Connection. The program is entering its fourth year at Columbia State Community College and has assisted more than 60 students to date.

According to an article on Columbia State Community College’s website, Bretta Kent, who is a nursing student who has taken advantage of the Diapers for Diplomas program, shared her experience, saying, “Being a mom and in school is a struggle in and of itself; add all the financial need on top of that, and you’ve got a lot of stress. The Diapers for Diplomas program has helped ease that stress so much by providing diapers for my daughter. It’s one less thing on my already overflowing plate and I am so grateful. I have thrived in school this last semester and finished all my courses with high grades. I think it’s so important what this organization is doing for student parents at Columbia State. It’s an added plus that the diapers are of amazing quality and exceptionally gentle on my daughter’s sensitive skin. We think the world of D4D!”

The Diapers for Diplomas scholarship program gives student parents 200 diapers each month. The idea of the program is that if the students are given a sufficient number of diapers, they will be able to contribute more money to their education because they won’t have to worry about spending money on diapers.

The program is available to students at Columbia State Community College thanks to a partnership with the Nashville Diaper Connection, which, according to its website, aims to eliminate the “diaper gap”, stating that the organization “provide[s] diapers to an average of 4,500 babies in need every month, which only meets 8.2% of diaper need for babies living in poverty.”

Doug Adair, the president of the organization Nashville Diaper Connection, said, “Columbia State is an anchor college for Nashville Diaper Connection’s Diapers for Diplomas program supporting parenting students. This program helps ease the burden for students with very young children by providing all the diapers they need for a full academic year. To date, 66 Columbia State students have received this scholarship, including parents from all five campuses. We are beyond grateful for the partnership we have built with Joni Allison, her team, and the entire Columbia State community.”

Joni Allison is the coordinator of Adult Student Services at Columbia State Community College. She said, “The Diapers for Diplomas program has provided a much-needed resource for the student parents at Columbia State. Many would not think about this kind of service but it has made such a difference for the students who have participated. We are so appreciative of the program and the partnership with Nashville Diaper Connection.”

The scholarship requirements are laid out on the Nashville Diaper Connection website. The scholarship is not a typical scholarship, as students who receive the scholarship are receiving a product (diapers) and not money toward their education, though receiving diapers should help offset a student parent’s spending during the academic year. In order to be eligible to receive the scholarship, students must be at least 24 years old, have at least one child who wears diapers (not pullups), have been a Tennessee resident for at least one year, must not already have a college degree, and must demonstrate financial need by being eligible to receive a Pell Grant or the Tennessee Reconnect State Financial Aid Program award.

The Diapers to Diploma scholarship is available to students at Columbia State College, Fortis Institute Nashville, Motlow State College, Nashville State Community College, TCAT NAshville, TCAT Shelbyville, and Volunteer State Community College.

For more information about Columbia State Community College, visit the school’s website.