As soon as Antoinette Pruitt opened her acceptance letter from Samford University’s Cumberland Law School, she started planning her move to Birmingham.
The 29-year-old Panama City Beach native applied for a student loan that would cover tuition and modest living expenses for her and her 4-year-old son, Axtyn. She found a reasonable apartment not too far from campus. She was ready to earn a degree that she hopes will propel her toward a higher-earning career.
In Florida, Axtyn would have automatically received a voucher for the state’s free pre-K program, which serves about 80 percent of Florida 4-year-olds. But not in Alabama, where the state’s pre-K program only has slots for a third of its 4-year-olds. And by the time Pruitt received her acceptance letter to Cumberland, she’d missed the window to apply for pre-K.
Instead, after 40 calls to Birmingham-area daycares and half a dozen trips to the Alabama’s childcare assistance office, Pruitt realized how mistaken she’d been.