Women account for 57 percent of the students enrolled in college, and make up 60 percent of adults holding bachelors degrees. However, as women rise to the occasion of seeking higher education, colleges have done little to accommodate this change in gender demographic, which swayed in the way of women in 1979. Colleges’ main shortcoming in assisting these young female students comes from the absolute lack of assistance provided to young women who become pregnant, whether it be planned or unplanned, during their college years.
As a young woman who is happily engaged and planning a wedding that will take place during her junior year of college, I wondered what resources were out there for women like me who will be married during their college years and who may want to start a family young, or for women who have unplanned pregnancies which they choose to carry to term. What I found was that, although it is illegal to discriminate against a pregnant student, colleges are under no obligation to provide them with any additional resources to make their college experience possible with a baby and thus, few do. As a result, 61 percent of women who become pregnant during college drop out, causing college pregnancy to account for seven percent of all college drop outs, both male and female. The lack of resources is not unknown to college students, as eight out of every ten students believe that becoming pregnant during college would make it impossible to reach their goals. So, with students aware of the problem, then why aren’t colleges themselves doing anything to help provide the resources that a pregnant student might need to complete their education?
The lack of resources begins with a place to live. Since most students live on campus, pregnant students are left with no place to live, as most colleges lack on-campus housing for women with children, and many women are asked to leave during their second trimester of pregnancy due to liability concerns. Forcing women to live off campus adds the new financial burden of paying rent and transportation to get to school, and in some cases affects their ability to maintain their scholarships.
Additionally, most schools do not offer any sort of daycare services, preventing young mothers from being able to return to school if they do not have anyone in the area to care for their child during the times they would be in class. Additionally, student health centers are not properly equipped to give pregnant women the care they need, forcing them to go off campus to get the health services they require, costing them more time and money. Furthermore, college campuses lack changing tables in the bathrooms and lactation rooms for breastfeeding mothers. The clear lack of assistance for pregnant and parenting students makes it no surprise that most are forced to drop out of college due to the added challenges of becoming a young mother.
With only one in every ten students who have children able to complete their education within six years of college entry, colleges are sending the wrong message to young mothers— it’s your degree or your child, not both. Allowing young women to believe that having a child reduces their value as a student at your institution is not only wrong, but detrimentally damaging to the dreams of young mothers, who should not be forced to choose between their child and their education. Giving young women who choose to carry their pregnancies to term the resources they need to complete their education and to carryout the choice with their body that they felt was best for them is crucial to gender equality in the educational sphere. Giving young mothers the resources they need to complete their college eduction helps not only each individual woman to exercise her right to make the reproductive choice that is best for her, but also helps to reduce the shame and stereotypes associated with college pregnancy, helping society as a whole to see the value of motherhood and to reduce the belief that a young mother cannot also be an educated member of society.
