College students have enough to worry about with work, bills, assignments, and maintaining a social life and self-care just to balance out the madness. However, some students have the weight of another life to top off their young adult responsibilities.
Bailee Bateman, a college student and a young mother, was shocked to discover she was pregnant with little time to prepare for her child in the middle of her sophomore year at ETSU.
“It was very stressful to say the least,” Bateman said. “I had to pick up another job to make sure that I had enough money for the both of us. And then going to school and trying to continue my education on top of that, and then make enough time to be able to see my daughter and spend time with her. It was really hard to balance out.
“There were times I would get really down and out and think that it was just going to be it for me. That I had no future anymore. But even my advisor would have talks with me like ‘Look, we see mothers in here all the time. And even if you have to stop now and come back in 4 or 5 years, there is a way.’ Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization focused on reproductive health, 45% of pregnancies annually in the U.S. are accidental. In 2011, women ages 18-24 reported the highest rate of unintended pregnancies per 1,000 women when all women were included.
“A lot had to change,” Bateman said. “I had to take into consideration that I had a little human depending on me. I can’t be gone all the time. I can’t go spend 10 hours in the library anymore. Currently I’m taking a semester off from school just because I need to work a little more and save up a little more money for us before I go back and do the whole two jobs and school thing again.”
During her experience as a mother and student, Bateman didn’t come across many opportunities on campus for women in her position and struggled with how difficult it was to meet the payment for ETSU’s day care program, Little Buccaneers or “Little Bucs.”
According to the Little Buccaneers website, tuition is calculated at the beginning of the semester. Per hour, the program costs $7 per hour for children 3 to 24 months old, and $6 for children 3 to 5 years old. Supply fees are $20 for infants and $30 for toddlers and preschool-ages. Parents have the option to pay in installations.
“I know you have to pay extra out of pocket, and its never free; and it’s the same rate as a normal daycare,” Bateman said. “For a single mother, that’s really hard. I know some moms have to ask their professors if they can take their kids with them to class.”
