Think a higher degree is out of reach? Too busy for a training program, never mind a master's? Here's how five moms squeezed higher education into their overloaded schedules—and graduated to a better life.

You just know you'd get ahead faster at work if only you had a degree, a higher degree or special training. You think about the academics you sidelined to concentrate on carpooling and career. But it's a notion that gets set aside when you consider juggling a job, kids and college. Housework and homework? Sheesh! Well, with help from smart companies that believe in further education for employees, you can find a way to go back to school. Here's how working moms figured it out. Be warned: Their stories might inspire you to sneak another look at that syllabus.

Gina Santiago
Info Systems Specialist, MassMutual Financial Group
 Gina Santiago has three school-age daughters, a baby on the way and a full-time job as an information systems specialist at MassMutual in Springfield, MA. Not too long ago she thought cramming in ballet classes two evenings a week was a stretch. That is, until she dropped dance to go for a master's degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in hopes of advancing to a management position.

Now that her schedule is truly in overdrive, Gina has some help making it all work. Antonio, her supportive spouse, is as capable of braiding the girls' hair as he is of shoveling a snowy driveway. And her daughters have started doing extra cooking and cleaning while Mom gets her degree. But even with her family's support, it's a hard road. And the RPI satellite campus in Hartford, CT, is 40 minutes away.

But Gina found a shortcut. Her secret? She's the beneficiary of an innovative program offered by her employer, one that makes higher education vastly more feasible by bringing universities straight to the workplace—meaning no commute! In MassMutual's Evening University program, professors from RPI and the University of Massachusetts Amherst teach bachelor's and master's degree programs to employees right on the company's campus. Two nights a week, MassMutual students can walk straight from their desks to a conference room for a four-hour class. This work perk made it possible for Gina to realize her ambition: She expects to get her MS degree in August 2007. "I knew I needed a degree to advance to a management position. But I don't think I could have done it without this program," she says.

Class goes from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. twice a week, and Gina does homework late at night, after the kids are in bed. Her tight schedule means she has to miss some things like the girls' softball games and chorus recitals, which her husband attends instead. "But my family is understanding. The only one who makes me feel guilty is me," she says. On days when it all just seems too much, Gina focuses on the next two-week break, which occurs after each ten-week course. "I look toward those breaks like they're the finish line. Hot baths help, too," she adds. And when she finally gets her degree? "I'll go back to dancing. After two years, I'll need the exercise."

Nadine O'Campo
Manager, Investor Relations, Genentech

Nearly seven years ago, Nadine O'Campo's boss pulled her aside and told her straight out that her career would flatline if she didn't get serious about her education. "He said, 'What are you doing? You're wasting your time.' It was very hard to hear, but it was also a turning point," says Nadine, who's now manager for investor relations at Genentech, a South San Francisco