Child-Friendly College Programs for Parents

Having a child during high school or college can make earning a bachelor's degree difficult, but the barriers don't have to be insurmountable. With the help of school programs across the country, from residential support systems to campus lactation rooms, there are options available to women and their children. Here are some of the ways child-friendly college and university programs are helping mothers earn bachelor's degrees: 

1. Comprehensive women and children programs: For single mothers who want to earn a bachelor's degree, a handful of schools across the country offer residential, social, and academic programs for women and their children. Though age requirements, campus privileges, and childcare options vary by school, each offers a uniquely comprehensive residential support system for women juggling their children and schoolwork. 

"Our primary purpose is to empower women, to educate women—not to cut off a portion of the population simply because they have a child," says Katie Kough, director of the Women with Children Program at Wilson College. 

At Wilson, a women's college in Chambersburg, Pa., more than 20 women and their children occupy two-bedroom suites in residence halls on campus. At Endicott College in Beverly, Mass., students' children can eat in on-campus dining halls and are occasionally allowed to sit in on a class. Moms enrolled at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa., get a weekly break to study, grocery shop, or simply find time to take a shower, as other students on campus volunteer to babysit their children. 

The school programs are small in size and, administrators say, increasingly popular; a common issue is too many applicants for spots available. "We need probably 10 times the number [currently available]...so that this very at-risk population of people is not left behind in the scramble to get post-secondary education," says Julie Candela, director of Single Parents Reaching Out for Unassisted Tomorrows at Ohio's Baldwin-Wallace College. 

[Read 3 steps adults returning to college must take.] 

2. Family housing: Though only a few colleges offer programs designed for single mothers and their children, family housing options for undergraduates exist elsewhere. At Mills College in Oakland, Calif., for example, undergraduates with children are given priority for spots in some university-owned apartments. At St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn., student parents enrolled in either day or weekend degree programs can live in family housing. 

3. Daycare and facilities: "Child care is probably the most critical piece that a student parent needs to be successful," says Sherrill Mosee, author of Professor, May I Bring My Baby to Class? About 5 percent of colleges and universities, such as the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, offer on-site daycare to students, she says. 

For schools that do not have the resources to start a campus daycare, which she says often hinders schools' attempts to beef up women's initiatives, Mosee recommends finding community organizations that are already providing child care. Her own organization, Family Care Solutions, Inc., finances off-site daycare for the children of mothers attending school in Philadelphia, Pa. 

Some schools, such as the University of Iowa, provide easy access to lactation rooms, another important feature for moms in school, she says. "With more women enrolled in college, there are more family issues that colleges and universities need to take notice of and provide the students the support they need to pursue college and graduate," Mosee says.