Mother, Daughter Graduate Together

Most college students sell their books back to the school, but not Seletha Pherribo. Pherribo treasures her books because they represent eight years of struggling toward a college degree.

"Probably if I thought it was going to take eight years, I would have been a little more hesitant," Pherribo says.

She did it while raising her daughter, Kiana, and working full time. "Every week the timing had to be planned down to the last hour," she says.

At 39 years old, Pherribo was often the oldest student in the classroom. "I seem to get along really well with younger students, and they started opening up to me," she says.

Pherribo was in study groups with younger students, and also studied with Kiana, who will graduate from high school in June.

"I'm proud of her. I think she's doing a good job," Kiana says of her mother's accomplishment.

Kiana is planning to go straight to college, but her mother has learned that college is not just for young people. "It's never too late to get your education," she says.

Pherribo has already been accepted toNorth Carolina Central Universitywhere she will get her graduate degree in sociology. She hopes one day to be a counselor for women.