Sixteen years after their oldest entered college, all three of Susan and Michael Childs’ children hold doctoral degrees — Michelle, 33, and Adam, 28, each have a Pharm.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill and Nicole, 31, graduated just two weeks ago with a Ph.D. in child and family development from the University of Georgia.

“It’s hard to describe,” Susan said. “It’s just a dream come true for us.”

The Cary News reported on Michelle and Nicole’s achievements in 1998 when the sisters graduated at the same time from UNC-Chapel Hill, Michelle with her Ph.D. and Nicole with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

“What 10 years has brought, my goodness,” Susan said.

Not going to college was never truly an option at the Childs house.

“It was ingrained in them early on that college was part of your education,” Michael said.

“High school was not the end,” added Susan.

Their children agreed.

“In a very positive way, there was no choice,” Michelle said.

Adam said those expectations helped them get better grades in high school.

“We could do well enough to get into a decent college,” he said.

“We always knew the option was there,” Nicole added. “There were no limitations, we had the support.” Both emotional and financial.

Susan, a retired assistant vice president of a bank, and Michael, an electrician for American Airlines, financed all three of their children’s educations. They even bought a home in Georgia for Nicole to live in while working on her Ph.D.

“They certainly made significant sacrifices in their lives,” Michelle said. “Things like brand new cars, vacations, things some parents think of as basic necessities.”

But Susan shrugged off their selflessness as just what parents do.

“We just thought the kids would be the best investment,” Susan said. “I never considered it a sacrifice. When we got married and decided to have children that was what we decided to do.”

Michelle, Nicole and Adam all agree they never would have made it through school without the support of their parents and siblings — from the laundry and the care packages to supportive cards in the mail and kind words over the phone.

“They’re always there to listen and understand,” Nicole said of her family. “I couldn’t have done it without them and I’ll say that until the day I die.”

Of course, this is not the end of the road for the three siblings.

Michelle, who lives in Wendell with her husband and their 18-month-old daughter, Megan, was on the faculty at Campbell University and now is a regional scientific manager for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals working with doctors across the state.

Nicole is teaching undergraduate classes at the University of Georgia but is looking for a university faculty position near the Triangle.

“So if you could put a plug in for that,” Michelle laughed.

Adam, who graduated in May, works for Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical research and development division in Titusville, N.J., as a senior pharmaco-kinetic/pharmacodynamic scientist.

“I work mostly with early phases of clinical drug development,” he said.

Susan, who still lives in Cary, is eager for her family to all live nearby again.

“That’s my dream, that would be it,” she said. “It’s always a holiday when we’re together.”