Students with children carry on with studies
Each student’s situation and experience is different, whether living with roommates, parents or a spouse. And then there are those going to school who also have kids at home.
“We just take what we can get,” said Pamela June, president of the Nontraditional Student Association board. “It’s just the life of a nontraditional student. You have a lot of obligations.”
These students’ experiences are different from that of traditional students both on and off campus, whether they have younger children or teenagers at home.
June, a nontraditional student majoring in health education and promotion, was initially hesitant to get involved with the NTSA board due to her already full schedule. June has six children, with two of her daughters currently attending USU.
Though nontraditional students are often extra busy, she advises others in the same situation to become involved and find support on campus.
NTSA holds social activities for students to bring their families and meet other nontraditional students, June said. There are also Facebook groups, a Canvas group and emails sent out to reach out to as many nontraditional students as possible.
“That makes it easier to get tips, pointers, how other people make things work and balance,” June said.
One resource Rachel and Tyson Field use on campus as parents has been the free babysitting service they can receive through the Early Childcare program Mondays through Thursdays at 5-8 p.m.
“We use campus babysitting every so often if I have evening class and she has something, when we’re both busy,” Tyson said. “That’s been really cool here at USU.”
The average annual cost for full-time care of an infant at a regulated child care center in Cache Valley is $5,428, according to the 2010 Child Care Fact Sheet.
It also states that 12 percent of an two-parent family’s median income is, on average, used for infant care with 10 percent used for preschool age children.
“As students, we don’t have much money for babysitters, so we have to balance her schedule and mine,” Tyson said.
Tyson is majoring in health science and will be graduating in May. His wife graduated in December 2013 from USU, a few months before their baby girl was born.
“It’s a little hard for scheduling, but it’s doable,” Tyson said. “With school projects, students only have certain times they can meet, and then I can’t meet when others need to, but we’ve worked it out. … If we want to go on a date, that’s kind of tough.”
When the baby was born, communication with professors about the situation was important, and they worked well with his situation, Tyson said.
Another help with babysitting is trading off with other student-parents, since they are surrounded by other students in the same situation living in Aggie Village, Tyson said.
Though professors were understanding as she finished school, school life isn’t very accommodating in general for pregnancy, Rachel said.
“It was hard to schedule doctor appointments and things around school,” Rachel said. “I had enough time after school ended to prepare for her to come, but if I had been really sick, I might have had to postpone things.”
More information and tips for students with children can be found through the Care About Childcare program at USU at careaboutchildcare.usu.edu. Information about NTSA can be found at usu.edu/accesscenter/nontraditional/ntsa.cfm.
— mandy.m.morgan@aggiemail.usu.edu