Nneka Isibor rises at 4:30 a.m., makes breakfast for her three children – two on the autism spectrum – and helps them get ready for school.
She goes to work as a paraprofessional at Lake Olympia Middle School in Sugar Land, Texas, helping sixth-graders with special needs, skips lunch break to pick up her middle child at school, returns to work for the afternoon, commutes home to make supper, gets her children ready for bed, and then studies for her college degree until 11:30 p.m.
The single mother is asked if that’s enough sleep.
“Hey, what can I do? I’m not going to give up,” said Isibor, studying for an undergraduate degree in educational studies online at Grand Canyon University.
“I talk to myself. ‘You are not going to be the first person that does this or the last. Nneka you have to do this.’
“I have to – for myself and for my children.”
One would be hard-pressed to find a more dedicated group of students than paraprofessionals working to earn college degrees online.
The College of Education’s National Center for Teacher Preparation scholarship and cohort model gives paraprofessionals the opportunity to get hands-on learning experiences in the school while learning online.
“They can continue to earn a living wage, while also completing the requirements of their degree program to help them upskill and move toward teacher licensure,” COE Dean Dr. Meredith Critchfield said.
Thousands of paraprofessionals, or teacher’s aides, are earning degrees from GCU. They are among the 1.2 million paraprofessionals in the U.S. who work full time (86%) with special education students (87%) and earn an average of $32,758 annually.
Most are women (80%), and many among them are moms, or single moms.
Isibor, who came to the U.S. from Nigeria after high school to live with her father, is determined.
“First of all, these days you need that that degree to get ahead. If you are passionate about something, those days are gone where you start somewhere and move up. You have to have a degree to start somewhere. Number two, I have to show my kids you don’t give up in life. You need that education to move forward.
“It is one of those things nobody can take away from you. That is why I had to do this. To help myself, or anybody else, and to help my children.”
She has plenty of opportunity to share those challenges with cohorts going through the same thing.
Last year, GCU News told the story of Brandy Moorehead, the Georgia daughter of high school dropouts and single mother of four. The former bus driver and paraprofessional recently reported that she has earned her GCU undergraduate degree, got a full-time job in a school working with children with special needs and is working toward a master’s degree at GCU.
Those teachers not only earn more money but go on to inspire their own students on how to meet life’s challenges.
Isibor didn’t know if being a paraprofessional was a fit at first.
She already spent a lot of her energy – 14 years as a stay-at-home mom before her 2024 divorce – caring for her children, a 17-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl on the autism spectrum who need varied levels of care, as well as a 12-year-old.
“But I ended up liking it. I love those kids,” she said. “I knew I liked to help people. I didn’t know how passionate I was about people who are vulnerable until I started working here.”
She said she tries to help those children not give up, no matter the diagnosis or trouble at home. No matter if they have behavior issues.
“If your behavior isn’t good, your education is nothing. But we can educate on how to take care of themselves,” she said. “You know some are not going further, but if they can take care of themselves in their home, their life will be better.”
She began her education at GCU in 2024.
In her classes, she was surprised to learn of a large network of agencies that advocate for children with special needs, and as a mother to them herself, has insight into ways the school can help parents, who also sometimes want to give up, she said.
Isibor hopes to finish in late 2026 and earn a teaching job at the school where she works, while social work is still an option. Most families have a child or relative on the autism spectrum, she says, so that’s where she wants to make a difference.
“I want to pray about it. But I know whatever I do, it will be in a place of help, to help other people and other parents who go through this,” she said.
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]
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