Ellington

Student-parents at the UW have many faces. One might be a low-income single mom who is achieving a world-class education while desperately trying to provide for her family. Another might be a highly competitive graduate student attracted to the university because of the top-rated medical school.

And they have one thing in common: the need for extra support to achieve the dream of higher education.

Contrary to columnist Peter Sessum’s assertion that “Child care is not the UW’s responsibility,” we believe that their dreams should not be out of reach. The UW will never be truly fulfilling its mission as a world-class and accessible institution unless it adequately meets the needs of this marginalized population.

Student-parent support does not just benefit students and their children. Take the case of that low-income single mom. There are some out there who face the choice between social services and an education. Give a parent a fish, and she will feed her child for a day. Teach a parent to fish, and she will not only eat for a lifetime, she will teach her children, as well.

Student-parents are not asking for a handout. They are merely asking that it be just a little bit easier to acquire some fishing line.

Strengthen our position as a world-class university

Today, access to affordable resources for parents is an essential tool in attracting the best and brightest students, faculty and staff. You need only speak to some of our faculty members with a family or a law student-parent to understand the critical importance of access to child care and other resources.

In The Seattle Times’ coverage of Students with Children Awareness Day, the School of Law’s remote-learning room — which allows students to watch videos of law-school lectures while their children play in the room — was praised. The remote-learning room and other accommodations for student-parents attract top law students because these services allow them to pursue their legal studies and raise a family.

While the law school is exemplary, throughout the rest of campus, student-parents are left with few resources and must struggle to survive as students and parents. These are students who are a baby’s sneeze away from having to miss an important exam, and must face the cold, hard reality that they aren’t spending the kind of time with their children that they so greatly desire.

A student-parent who participated in the Students With Children Census — a needs assessment and survey sent out to the student body — said, “Most days when I am alone, I am crying from the stress. I consider quitting every few days. I have tons of guilt for not spending enough time with my kids, and for always being cranky and tired from studying all night. I feel like I am swimming upstream without an arm or leg.”

This is not the voice of a student-parent who is adequately supported in a world-class university. The UW can and should be a leader in facilitating learning in a child-friendly campus that attracts the top student-parents from Washington and throughout the country.

A diverse, accessible campus

The UW has an admirable commitment to diversity and invests considerable resources in ensuring that our undergraduate and graduate student body is not only globally competitive, but also diverse. While the university celebrates and provides resources to promote cultural, ethnic and gender diversity, student-parents have been marginalized and feel a lack of community. This manifests with a lack of events, counseling and support groups for student-parents, and few campus-wide policies to accommodate students.

Sessum’s criticism of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate’s (GPSS) advocacy rings as both cynical and patently untrue.

While Sessum can flippantly dismiss a play-date or support group of student-parents, these are exactly the types of services that student-parents have identified as lacking, and that can be the difference between dropping out of school and timely degree completion. When students are called “bad parents” for having the courage, for one simple day, to come to campus with their little ones in tow to proudly declare to the university community that, “Yes, I am a mother, I am a father, and I am not ashamed to say it,” we know that the UW has a ways to go before it is truly accessible to student-parents.

The UW should invest in degree completion

For GPSS, which has advocated for student-parents for many years and was instrumental in creating the child-care program coordinator position, the Students with Children Awareness Day on May 9 and the Students With Children Census were important steps in raising awareness and defining the problem.

Child care is currently the third-greatest barrier to degree completion, according to the state’s Workforce Board. For most student-parents, parenthood significantly delays their graduation and impacts their academic performance. A preliminary analysis of the census finds that 71 percent of all survey participants say parenthood will delay their graduation. Meanwhile, 63 percent say parenthood has a “moderate” or “significant” impact on their academic performance.

Don’t just take our word for it. Despite a historic budget crisis, the state Legislature has just restored the Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Child Care Matching Grant program to previous funding levels — $75,000 per year. The Legislature’s restoration of funding is an affirmation that our policymakers believe that providing access to child care for low-income students is their responsibility. We urge the UW to follow the Legislature’s lead and support services to improve the graduation rate for student-parents.

Without key investments in student-parent resources, the UW will never become a leader in facilitating learning in a child-friendly environment or be truly accessible to many student-parents.

Sarah Reyneveld is president of the GPSS, and Zach Folwick is president of UW’s Student Parent Organization.

Reach guest editorial writers Sarah Reyneveld and Zack Folwick at opinion@dailyuw.com. GPSS Vice President Ben Henry and GPSS President-elect Aaron Naumann also contributed to this guest column.