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| Equal Opportunity to Education
for Mothers and Students Who Are Parents |
 Many colleges, for example, stipulate that all
students must live on campus, but there is no housing for a woman
who has children. When I called these colleges, most said they
had never had a single mom or parenting student but if they did
they would allow the parent to live off campus.
But off-campus housing can be impossible to find, as in the case
of Rebecca Trotsky-Sirr, a student at Stanford, who could find
nothing in the expensive Silicone Valley area. She banded together
with other single moms and faced down the Stanford Administration,
which finally capitulated and allowed extra aid for the moms
to pay for housing, "It's about redefining who can attend
ivy-league universities," she said. Indeed. Most single
moms face herculean obstacles when trying to secure an equal
opportunity to education.
| The Discrimination Begins in High School |
Teen moms, for example, are
often, even today, coerced into leaving high school. Interns
at New York Civil Liberties Union posed as teen moms and called
29 high schools in New York City. Only six said they could enroll
without any reservations. The others tried to divert the teens
to other schools or suggested a GED(high school equivalency tests).
Some high schools do have day care, but not in the numbers needed.
In New York City there are 12,000 new teen moms every year and
only 1,000 slots in the day care programs. What happens to the
other 11,000?
| Housing for Families on College Campuses |
On college campuses, just the lack
of structures for families makes the parenting students feel
that colleges are not accessible. Most of the family housing
that does exist was built after WWII to house veterans and few
colleges have added more, even though now international, graduate
student and undergraduate student families compete for space.
Most colleges have changed "Married Student Housing"
into "Family Housing," but many still call it "Graduate
Housing," thereby sending the message to undergraduate families
that they are not eligible. |
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When I called Harvard graduate
housing, for example, I was told that undergraduates cannot room
in graduate student housing. When I asked what would an undergraduate
parenting student do, I was told to contact undergraduate housing,
which told me no children would be allowed in undergraduate housing.
I was referred back to Graduate Housing. Finally I spoke to someone
who said that they had had a single mom years ago and that they
would find out what they did and get back to me. I was never
able to find an answer. Real
Life Testimonial : Housing
Problems at Harvard |
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Check out The College Mom Magazine: Paying Tribute to College
Moms! |
| Child Care on College Campuses |
 The bright side on day care is the "Child
Care Access Means Parents in Schools Program " begun in
2001 which has appropriated 15 million for schools which have
awarded over $350,000 in Pell Grant funds. The grants allow the
schools to offer low cost or no cost day care to Pell Grant recipients.
Therefore many of the large state universities have been able
to expand day care facilities. For
More information go to"Child
Care Access Means Parents in Schools Program,"Unfortunately, the current legislature has decreased
the funding from 25 million to 16 million in the last few years.
Activist moms please stay active. Write to your representative
and senator today! Stage a protest on your college campus! Go to Activist Mom page.
| Title 9 Means Equal Access to Education Is the
Law |
Title IX, the federal law which
is know for the legal battles over equal access to sports facilities
on college campuses has never been applied to housing for parenting
students. Title IX , section 1681 states, "No person in
the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from
participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected
to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving
federal financial assistance..." Since one of the most salient
gender differences is pregnancy and child-rearing, I wonder if
Title IX could not mean that parenting students have a right
to equal housing (cheap dorm rooms!), meal plans and other amenities.
Therefore, my work on this book is to determine which colleges
offer housing, day care and other services to parenting students,
and to encourage parenting students to fight for their rights
to education. For the complete
text of Title IX click here.----------------Katherine Arnoldi
Go to parenting students' stories
in U.S. Colleges
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to Advice for Students Who Are Parents /
Go to Map Search of Colleges |
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Check out: Financial
aid information: fafsa.ed.gov
Scholarship information: raisethenation.org
For information about
The Katherine Arnoldi Scholarship
Fund for Teenage Mothers click here Cool
mom sights: hipmama.com. / girl-mom.com / mothersmovement.org |
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home / guide to colleges / site
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copyright by
Katherine Arnoldi
Contact us to submit stories about your experiences at
college as a mom and to share information about the accessibility
of your school contact: equalrightsformoms@yahoo |
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Illustration by Katherine
Arnoldi
author, The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom
about her own struggle to attend college as a teen mom |
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Check
out The
College Mom Magazine: Paying Tribute to College Moms! |
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