Cisneros 1

Kathryn Cisneros

Professor Holly Batty

English 101 #20228

March 2019

One Individual, Three Fulltime Jobs, and A Better Future

Imagine working fulltime, then, going to school part-time, and when you get home all

you want to do is rest and take it easy. It’s been a long day, just as you're about to sit on your

couch to rest, your child comes into the room and tells you to play with them. It sounds like a lot,

but on top of all of that, you are also a single parent. Sounds crazy, right? However, 1 in 5

women are single parent college students and only 31% of those women graduate with a degree.

Between the years 1999–2012, “the numbers in single mothers in college more than doubled […]

to nearly 2.1 million students.” (Womens Policy Research). So far, researchers don’t know how

or what to do about this problem. There are however, key things colleges can do to help single

parents like, offer child care with later hours for parents that work 9-5 jobs and can only take

evening classes. Colleges can also offer resources like financial support, or counseling because

these students carry more stress than the average student.

Now single parent college students are less likely to enroll in a 4-year college. Due to the

fact that they carry other responsibilities, the overwhelming pressure they are in doesn’t allow

for them to take on the duties a 4-year college requires of them. Therefore, most single parents

enroll in a 2-year community college, as part-time college student. Whom, will most likely take

night classes. Most single parent's college students either work a fulltime job or a part-time job.

Considering their circumstances, most single parents struggle financially, and more than likely
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cannot afford a babysitter. At Los Angeles Valley College, there is a family resource center that

offers help through daycare services. Unfortunately, the center is only open Monday – Friday

from 7:45 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., which the time itself is great, if the college students worked at night,

but the majority don’t. The Child Development Center, not only takes in students' children but

also staff’s children. For the staff's children it’s very ideal, because their parents work while

they’re in daycare, unlike the students who work all day to go to school at night. The center is

open from Monday – Thursday from 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. As an after-school program. The

evening classes commence from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m., since the daycare closes two hours

before the students get out of class, some students have to worry about finding a babysitter or

leaving mid-class to get their children from the daycare. Which only adds another stress on

single parent college students.

At LAVC the Child Development Center, is the only center, in LA County amongst

colleges that stays open until 8 p.m. Which, that fact, seemed so alarming, because that means

thousands of single parents aren’t receiving the help, they so badly need. More colleges should

extend their hours for their daycare centers. This way parents don’t worry about how they’re

going to get through the next week. Trying to find a babysitter, or worry if they’ll be missing any

important announcements in class, or have to worry about making enough money to pay for a

babysitter, so they get an education and one day overcome this difficult time in their life.

I understand most staff wouldn’t want to stay longer hours. It can be difficult to find

people to are willing to stay until 10 pm until classes are over. However, Valley College has an

entire Child Development Department with hundreds of child development majors who need

experience. If Valley College offered students the chance to work with the kids for experience

and volunteer hours, not only would it benefit the school because it wouldn’t cost them any
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money, since it’s all voluntary, but they’d also help that Child Development major with hours

that’ll benefit them when they start looking for jobs, because they’ll have experience. Which in

turn helps the single parent college student; they will also take away some of their anxieties. The

American Health Association conducted research among regular college students and single

parent college students, they concluded, “Finances, family, and relationship difficulties

disproportionally affected single parents, who reported nearly twice as many suicide attempts as

their counterparts. Single-parenting students face a higher prevalence of mental health stressors

than other community college students.” (Journal of American College Health Vol. 64 Issue 2,

p152-156). Not only do single parents think about just dropping out of school. Some cannot deal

with the stress their lives bring, so they end up taking their own life. Which, in the end, they

leave a child behind. That child then becomes an orphan.

A lot of colleges offer students help regarding counseling, daycares, scholarships, but like

every other regular student, the majority of people don’t know where to find these resources.

Colleges expect for the students to know or figure it out for themselves. Which yes, I understand

college students are adults, they should be able to do these tasks on their own. Yet, many don’t.

It’s not because they’re lazy or they don’t care, the majority of the time college students are scared

or they are too embarrassed to ask for help. Some are ashamed to ask for help, thinking they’ll be

looked down upon. Colleges should have some type of representative. A student that familiarizes

themselves with the campus’s resources. Then the representative goes to classes to discuss some

of those resource's, that way, single parent's college students would feel more inclined to look into

their possibilities. Thus, granting students with the help they need.

Single Parent college students are just as important. Therefore, it would make sense to not

only help them with childcare, but also offer counseling just in case they need someone to talk to.
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This way the suicide rates of single parents would decrease. Colleges should offer them resources

that offers financial help. It could be in a scholarship, grant, or even a loan with a low APR. This

way, students wouldn’t feel more inclined to drop out of school. Maybe even some single parents,

wouldn’t feel so intimidated to possibly apply to a four-year college. When these single parents

get the help they deserve, the school will not only uplift a human being, but also make them feel

that the sacrifices they’re making, are worth it. And that one day the student will look back at their

college career and feel that their community not only for them, as an individual, but their family

as well.
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Work Cited

Reports, APM. “Nearly 1 in 5 Female College Students Are Single Moms.” APM Reports,

www.apmreports.org/story/2018/01/15/single-mothers-college-graduation.

Shenoy, Divya P., et al. “The Mental Health Status of Single-Parent Community College

Students in California.” Journal of American College Health, vol. 64, no. 2, Feb. 2016,

pp. 152–156. EBSCOhost,