Chester dad drove his daughters to and from college classes all four years, saving them a boatload of debt

On school days, Shellman Washington III would get into his spiffy white 2003 Chevrolet Impala and drive his twin daughters to school, then make the 30-minute round trip again at the end of the day to pick them up.

And so it went four or five days a week, with some help from his mother, the twins’ grandmother, along the way.

His daughters were not in elementary school or even high school. They were college students at Neumann University in Aston. They lived at the family’s home in Chester — staying on campus could have tripled their debt — and did not have the means to drive themselves.

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“I wanted them to have a better life than I did,” said Washington, 66, who was born and raised in Chester. “I had a rough life.”

Some of that, he said, was of his own making, but that all changed when his daughters came along.

“They saved my life,” he said. “That was God’s way of getting me out of where I was. And he didn’t just give me one, he gave me two.”

So his daughters’ educational journey became his journey, one of about 8,400 miles over four years — that’s according to a rough calculation by Neumann spokesperson Steve Bell, who calculated the mileage the family traveled from their home to campus and back.

Davay and Da’Veigh Washington, the 22-year-old twins, both business administration majors who graduated in May, said they were very grateful for their father’s support.

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“Compared to my other friends and their parents, I feel very lucky because a lot of people don’t have, like, my dad,” Davay said.

The twins really didn’t see college in their future, they said. They wanted to go right to work and earn money.

Washington wasn’t sold on a four-year college at first, either. Decades ago, he tried college for a few months, but then quit and went to work in his father’s auto-body shop.

He said he wanted the twins to go to community college and get into the workforce faster.

But during the pandemic, Da’Veigh watched a virtual open house by Neumann, and that changed her mind. Then she changed her sister’s mind.

“I was like, I’ll just go and check it out, and it really impressed me,” said Da’Veigh, who, along with her sister, graduated from Chester Charter Scholars Academy. “It was a small school. I came from a small school, so that’s perfect.”

And it was close enough for viable commuting for their father, a self-employed car mechanic whose schedule was flexible.

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Washington said his mother, who lives with him and his daughters, drove the girls a lot the first two years, but he handled the job on his own the last two. First, they drove the twins in a 2001 pickup truck, then a 2003 Pontiac Grand Prix, and finally the Impala, which he said was the last car his late father rebuilt.

“When he bought it, it didn’t have a motor in it,” Washington said. Now, the car looks like it had just been driven off the showroom floor.

Mostly, the trips went smoothly, even in bad weather. The twins said the Grand Prix sometimes stalled out, which made for a late arrival.

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Washington did not want the twins driving themselves. “Murphy’s Law,” he said, referring to the adage: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

“I’m really stuck on that,” said Washington, who lives four or five miles from campus.

And the twins said they had anxiety about driving anyway and didn’t have their licenses, though that’s changing now that they are hunting for their first jobs.

Washington said he is happy his daughters are on their way to earning salaries that could bring each of them $1.2 million more in income over their lifetimes — that’s the median difference in earnings between having a college degree and not.

In the rides to school, Washington usually dropped the twins off and left, except when he needed to talk to Marty Krupiak, a financial aid counselor at Neumann.

“We have to mention Marty,” he said. “Any questions I had to make sure all their financial stuff was in order, that’s my buddy.”

Krupiak, too, quickly became fond of the Washingtons. She said Washington’s big concern was making sure that his daughters would get enough aid so that they would not face financial hardship after graduation.

Because they planned to live at home, Krupiak told him, that would not be a problem. The cost of room and board is about $15,000 annually, which would have tripled their out-of-pocket expenses, she said.

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The twins received Pell Grants for students from lower-income families — now under threat of being cut back by the federal government — state grants, and institutional aid from the school. As a result, the twins said, they each graduated with about $20,000 in debt, much less than the $36,672 average in Pennsylvania.

Neumann president Chris Domes said more than half of Neumann’s 1,800 undergraduates are commuters, and while some live near campus, a third to a half are commuting from around the Philadelphia area.

“Transportation is an issue for a lot of students,” he said.

Neumann helped a freshman from South Philadelphia, who was commuting 2½ hours round trip each day on public transportation, move on campus, he said.

The school does not charge for parking, he said.

About 60% of Neumann students are the first in their families to attend college, Domes said.

“We really work hard to try to make this work for our families,” he said.

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The twins said that in addition to Krupiak, their dean, Eric Wellington, and their professors also helped them troubleshoot. Da’Veigh considered quitting her senior year when she hit a snag with her internship, but the dean encouraged her to stay. She got a new internship at the college.

The twins said a professor gave both of them independent study when they needed a little extra support.

“You always have somebody to go to that understands what you’re going through and can fix your problem,“ Davay said.

On graduation day, the twins said, they felt relief.

“We’re the first in our family to graduate, so I guess we set an example for my nieces and nephews,” Davay said.

The twins said they planned to spend Father’s Day with their dad. Doing what, they weren’t sure.

Da’Veigh said she might cook him pork chops, his favorite.

“He never lets us give him anything,” she said.

“I’m not a big fan of celebrating,” Washington said. “I just thank God I’m here.”