Across the country, more than one in five college students face the challenge of balancing parenthood with academic responsibilities as student parents, and more than half of them drop out of college before earning their degrees.
Student Family Resources in the University’s Division of Student Life provides financial and other support to help student parents achieve their academic goals. Students who are parents at WVU are encouraged to take advantage of the following services.
Funded by a federal grant, Student Child Care Financial Assistance helps offset the cost of licensed day care facilities for full-time, income-eligible students with children up to 12 years old. In addition, a student’s spouse or partner must be working more than 20 hours per week or enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited college or university.
Financial support is available for full-time day care services, before and after school programs, drop-in coverage for holidays and school breaks, and summer programs.
“The opportunity to place my 4-month-old son, Zeppelin, in day care is allowing me to complete my studies and internship requirements,” said Alexandria Broadus, a senior social work major minoring in addiction studies and psychology from Hagerstown, Maryland. “Prior to receiving support from the program, I was extremely stressed over the growing cost of day care. I highly recommend all student parents take advantage of this amazing program.”
Adekunle Ajiboye, a doctoral student in animal and nutritional sciences from Nigeria, is also benefiting from the program. “Managing school while taking care of 10-month-old twins during the day would have been too overwhelming,” Ajiboye said. “But thanks to the financial support from the Student Family Resources, we were able to ease the burden by placing Brian and Briana in a quality day care.”
Student Family Resources also offers educational outreach and referral services to help students find quality child care, summer camps and programs, babysitting services, affordable health care options, supplemental nutrition assistance programs, mental health and well-being resources, and more.
Students can also seek support through the Women’s Resource Center and Campus Recreation.
The Women’s Resource Center oversees the WVU Lactation Network, supporting faculty, staff and students who choose to breastfeed their child after returning to work or school. Lactation Rooms are available across campus offering nursing parents private, safe and accessible space to breastfeed and bond with their babies.
Campus Rec offers the Mountaineer KidZone, a flex-care center for children, located in the Student Rec Center, that provides safe and developmentally appropriate activities for children ages 6 weeks through 8 years.
For questions, contact Cindy Teets, program coordinator for Student Family Resources, at Cindy.Teets@mail.wvu.edu.