It’s little wonder that so much money is now being offered to any Mother who needs to start school, stay in school or return to school. It has been shown repeatedly that helping Mothers improve their own education and career potential has a spill-over effect for their family and for society as a whole. That was the case for the President’s own Mother who used grants and other financial aid offers to get two degrees. She earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree after her now famous son was born. Since she was getting up at 4 a.m. to study, she felt justified in expecting him to rise early and work hard. In fact, she demanded it. Later she went on to establish programs aimed at helping third-world countries and she focused on helping the women of those countries by granting them “micro-loans” to establish their own, tiny businesses. That method has worked far better than others as these women improve themselves, their families and their villages. The increases in Pell Grants, tax credits, and grants for retraining displaced workers will help today’s Moms who need assistance. Some states are allowing those workers on unemployment insurance to continue receiving benefits while they are enrolled in higher education. An unprecedented number of jobs will begin appearing in 2010 and on into the future and the demand for workers will be high. States will then begin to recoup their investments as these workers pay higher taxes from their higher incomes. It is important to remember that many of these high-paying jobs will be in fields that have not really existed – or have offered few jobs – in the past. The investment in alternative energy, improved health care systems and infrastructure are the biggest sources of these new jobs and they will require a lot of workers, well over 1 million by most estimates. Moms who can make the sacrifices required now will provide lasting benefits to themselves in the form of more pay, better benefits, greater job satisfaction. They will add value to their children’s lives by modeling a commitment to hard work and education. They will contribute to society as a whole through the work they do and the “give back” to the society that helped them. They are more confident, better informed and more likely to work as mentors and volunteers in the future. Good investment, great returns.