A young woman from Suffolk won $25,000 on The Ellen DeGeneres Show by answering one simple question.

“How many years does it take to get your bachelor’s degree?” was the question posed by the talk show host to Morgan Lowers, a Nansemond River High School graduate who is a freshman at Winthrop University in South Carolina.

Lowers correctly answered “Four,” and then breathed a sigh of relief. The correct answer kept her from dropping into the pit of a contraption built especially for the show’s “Know or Go” segment.

Lowers is majoring in mass communications and broadcasting and hopes to be a talk show host — just like DeGeneres is.

“I’ve just sent her emails ever since I was 11, and I was randomly chosen to come,” Lowers said on Tuesday, after the show aired. She taped the segment in Burbank, Calif., on Monday and then flew back to Winthrop in time for classes on Tuesday.

“I was blessed with that opportunity,” she added.

Lowers said she admires DeGeneres because “her kindness and happiness that she brings to people just amazes me,” she said. “It’s just amazing how much impact she can have on one person.”

Lowers, 18, and two other college women named Abby and Mariah competed in the “Know or Go” game. Contestants who answer incorrectly are dropped from the platform, although Lowers said she’s not allowed to say what’s under the platform.

“I had watched on the show people falling,” she said. “Once you get up there, it is so scary. It’s definitely fun though.”

Lowers said her only thought while on the platform was, “I need to get this question right so I don’t fall.”

After Lowers answered her question correctly, Abby and Mariah blanked on their questions: what DeGeneres dressed as for Halloween and how many quarters are in a roll.

DeGeneres then told Lowers she would need to answer the next three questions correctly to win, but it turned out she was joking.

Once Lowers was presented with her check, DeGeneres revealed that the other two women also would receive $25,000.

“That made me so happy that they got it, too,” Lowers said.

She said it’s “very relieving” to know that part of her tuition is paid for. She also plays softball for Winthrop, as she did at Nansemond River, and is on a partial scholarship for that and for academics.

“I’m obviously going to put it toward my tuition and my student loans,” she said. “I’m very thankful for this experience, and I’m beyond blessed.”

She thanked her family and friends for supporting her and encouraging her. Her mother made the trip to California with her but wasn’t able to attend the taping.

This was not Lowers’ first trip to the other coast. She played in a 2013 softball tournament in California with the Virginia Legends 18U Gold team.

A video clip of Lowers’ segment is available here.