For me, my “normal” junior year of college consisted of homework, meeting new people and long lectures. The only difference was that I was pregnant and due during finals week. With Title IX, school was manageable, even when I was induced nearly a month early.
As a senior with a 3-month-old at home, school was the same but with less resources available, especially when it came to child care, which is a nationwide issue for working parents due to its inflexibility and high cost. Many child care businesses are closing also making them inaccessible. This forces many parents to stay at home and leave the workforce, costing Wisconsin $1.1 billion a year, $122 billion nationally. With tuition as an additional stressor, being a student parent is difficult to manage.
While the daycare dilemma is large and complex, colleges have a unique role. Student parents (and faculty and staff) can be supported with resources by the university. Tuition paid by students should cover the costs of child care, if provided on campus.
High child care costs force parents to leave workforce
According to an analysis by the American Council on Education, nearly one in every five undergraduate college students, about 18%, are parents, typically to preschool-aged or younger. In Wisconsin alone, 22% of all undergrads are single moms.
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And while student parents statistically have higher GPAs, they struggle in other areas. They often borrow more money for tuition since they have other expenses to prioritize (family expenses, child care, etc.). In 2016, their debt was more than double the debt of students without children. Since then, the child care crisis has only grown and prices have increased.
A large amount of work to cover the costs of school and child care is required. Student parents must juggle full-time hours of work along with finding time for class, homework and the laborious job of parenting.
Tuition should cover the costs of child care if provided on campus. Marquette University, where I recently earned an undergraduate degree, offers child care services to students, faculty and staff. With tuition and fees being around $67,000 before financial assistance, to ask for more for child care is unreasonable. In the perspective of faculty and staff, requiring a portion of their check back for child care is exploitative.
Universities failing to be inclusive of student parents
At the very least, Marquette offers discounted child care services. Often times, this is not the case. Over 90% of private, nonprofit colleges do not provide any on-campus child care. Universities are failing to be inclusive of a large minority group: student parents.
If free child care is out of reach at the moment, colleges should provide students with other resources to alleviate other financial stress.
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The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee offers a Student Parent Success Program which supports students with children by individually assessing their needs and providing resources. UWM also offers lactation rooms for nursing mothers, a food center and pantry where baby necessities are supplied, and a children’s learning center.
In addition to discounted child care costs, UWM also allows requests to be made by student parents for cost of attendance adjustments. These adjustments can lead to student parents receiving more financial aid.
Because of personal matters and financial assistance, Marquette was the best choice for me. UWM has taken a step in the right direction, but more work is required by all universities. With so many universities in the area, more needs to be done. If colleges are genuinely concerned about the success of their students, then they must support their students, faculty and staff.
Colleges should invest in their students, future workforce
Everyone benefits when someone succeeds. Student parents are taking steps into success by earning degrees. Do we want these parents and their children to succeed long-term? It just requires some additional support right now. Colleges need to invest in all their students to fully set them up for success (and ultimately set future generations up for success too).
As a former student parent, I understand the stress of balancing life expenses, child care, school work and costs. As a mom, it is easy for our parental needs to be overlooked. It is unreasonable to expect a student to pay their own tuition and child care costs while they work to pay off these expenses, study, attend their classes and fulfill their parental duties.
What got me to graduation was my support system: my husband and family (who also alleviated child care expenses by babysitting). Every student parent needs support, including from their university, to succeed.
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Child care is a significant issue in America, but it deeply affects student parents. Besides the fact that this nationwide crisis is causing the country to lose money, parents are also losing by not being fully supported on their path to success. While steps need to be made to combat the issue, universities can do their part to help their students succeed. For this reason, at the very least, tuition should cover on-campus child care expenses for student parents.
Michelle Murphy is a recent journalism graduate from Marquette University, originally from Chicago. While aiming for a future career in sports and considering grad school, she plans to spend this summer being a stay-at-home mom (without any homework!).
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Nearly quarter of WI college students are single moms. They need child care help. | Opinion
Reporting by Michelle Murphy / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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