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A Guide to Colleges for Students Who Are Parents

by Katherine Arnoldi

WHY A GUIDE FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE PARENTS:

I set out to survey colleges across the country to find out which ones were good for students with children. The results were dismal. 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. 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? Check out: Financial aid information: fafsa.ed.gov 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. Scholarship information: raisethenation.org 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 The bright side on day care is "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. 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. ---Katherine Arnoldi Go to parenting students' stories in U.S. Colleges   Cool mom sights: hipmama.com. / girl-mom.com / mothersmovement.org

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Check out: Financial aid information: fafsa.ed.gov Scholarship information: raisethenation.org Cool mom sights: hipmama.com. / girl-mom.com / mothersmovement.org

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