Life as a student is tough and being a parent is also a challenge. When one is both a parent and a student, the reality of handling both responsibilities and demands is greater. How do students who are parents cope and balance these?
Students who are parents make up 26 percent or 4.8 million of undergraduates in America in 2014, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR). From this statistics, female students bear the most challenges as they are the primary carers of their children. Many of them are also single moms (43 percent).
Among the challenges students who are parents face include the lack of child care opportunities and facilities. It's either they cannot afford a good service on a student's budget or there are not enough accessible facilities in their schools.
Barbara Gault told The Atlantic only a few American universities acknowledge that this is the reality for many students, so there's a tendency to regard their situation as an extra rather than an essential. Some schools, however, do have offices that help students who are parents connect with child care services but that's how far they go.
Then there's the matter of doing the balancing act. A student mom with a baby struggle with choices every day. Should she feed or bathe her baby first? Should she finish a school project with a deadline hours away? Should she get more sleep when her last decent rest was 72 hours ago?
"I lost my sense of self and that created a false dichotomy where I'm bad and she's good," mom Nadia Rosales said, as per NT Daily. She knew the baby was a priority but somewhere along the way she forgot to take care of herself and her mental health suffered. She had postpartum depression.
Rosales struggled with money as a student parent as well but availed of financial aid. Her baby's father, whom she's no longer with, helped with finances as well.
Another student mom, Dellandra Adams, coped by taking online classes and it helped that she got free tuition as a foster care alumnus. Both students who are parents attest their experiences made them stronger people. They saw their struggles as personal growth so, despite the hardships, they do not have any regrets with how their lives turned out.
