By Staff
Juggling a part-time job, 15 credits and extracurricular activities can stress any college student out, but imagine adding diaper changing, 3 a.m. feedings and the financial strains of having a kid while trying to earn a degree into your already hectic schedule.
This is a reality for some college students across the nation and many of them will drop out of school before they complete their necessary academic requirements. For those who do not give up, the road to graduation will have many obstacles and most likely many delays. Instead of worrying about graduating in four years like most of their peers, these students hope that they will have a diploma before they will have to start paying for their child’s tuition bills. What these students need is a support system, a friend within the college’s administration who recognizes their unique needs and can help them to grow into successful scholars and parents.
Last month, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives that would provide grants to institutions of higher education to encourage them to establish “pregnant and parenting student services offices” at their campuses. The act is titled the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Pregnant and Parenting Student Services Act of 2007. This is not the first time this legislation has appeared on the House floor. In 2005, Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Congresswoman Melissa Hart brought this act before Congress, only it was read over only twice and not touched since then. At the time, the bill called for $10 million for 200 grants that would create services for pregnant and parenting students at colleges throughout the United States. The current legislation sticks to the same demands.
Ten million may seem like a rather large sum of money, but this should be viewed as an investment in both the future of theses mothers and their babies. With a college degree, these parents will be less likely to rely on government welfare programs and with the help of support services like those described in the legislation, their children will be less likely to run into the problems associated with latchkey kids. Studies have also shown that parents with a college degree are more likely to have children with college degrees, because they want their children to have the same opportunities that they had and they have the salaries to enable this to be possible.
Not to be overlooked are the many lives that might be saved if these programs are implemented. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, women of college age are at highest risk of having an abortion. AGI found that “45 percent of women who have abortions are of college-age, 18-24 years old.” Among this women, “71 percent of 18-19 year olds and 58 percent of 20-24 year olds said having a child would interfere with their education or career.”
However, this should not have to be the case. Unlike in high school, where the social stigma of being 17 and pregnant is reason enough to keep a teen mother out of school, college is free of many of the social pressures that exist in the clique-invested hallways of high school. In college, the student body is more mature and diverse, the environment is more open and accepting, and class schedules are more flexible. With the proper support programs, a pink line on a pregnancy test should no longer put the brakes on a woman’s ambitions.
The University is lacking in its programs for student parents and mothers-to-be. The Saltzman Center does offer child care services and marriage and family counseling, only these programs do not cater to the specific needs of student parents and these programs are not always free.
If passed, the legislation would call for all colleges who receive the grants to hold a forum to assess the current resources on campus for pregnant, parenting or prospective parents, and what learn what is still needed. The grant money will then be used to include maternity coverage and health coverage for additional family members within student health care, provide family housing, child care and post-partum counseling. The bill also calls for the college to provide flexible, alternative academic scheduling, such as telecommuting programs, for those student parents who are unable to attend class, and education programs in parenting and marriage.
Even if the bipartisan legislation does not pass, there are efforts that individual colleges can take to aid their student parents and even attract prospective mothers and fathers who may want to pursue a degree but worry whether they will be able to handle the task while also raising children and working a job.
Hofstra should follow in the footsteps of Georgetown University, which held the first ever Pregnancy Resource Forum in 1997. After assessing the needs of its student parents, within two years Georgetown trustees had set aside nearby housing for parents, started Hoyas Kids childcare, established a 24-hour hotline, and cross-trained counselors to address pregnancy resources as well as sexual assault and domestic violence. The college has since made the Pregnancy Resource Forum an annual event to continue to improve and expand the services it offers its student mothers and fathers.
The majority of American households today depend on two incomes, so for many women staying at home to raise their children is not an option. Therefore, the days of choosing either motherhood or a career are long gone. If these mothers are single, the financial burden of raising a child is even greater, so it is even more important that these women are able to increase their earning potential by attaining a college degree than it is for the average 21 year old, who merely has to worry about rent, car insurance and one mouth to feed.
This legislation should pass with overwhelming support. With all the millions of dollars that have been spent on fighting wars overseas, this is one of the best financial investments that Congress has seen as of late. Whether you are a student with a child, or not, you should write your local Congressman, urging them to support this bill, and speak up to the administration, encouraging them to expand their programs on campus, for all the struggling mothers and pregnant scholars who have seen their dreams deflated when they passed the one test that most young women would be more than happy to fail.
by Andres Soto