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"An ideal
situation would have been to have our baby
girl in child care that was close to the university so that I
would be able to be with her during my commute as well as continue
to breast feed.
USC has very
highly rated day care centers, but they are more than twice as
expensive as the most expensive childcare I came across in the
South Bay area where we live. " |
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-----Kelly
Kent |
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Ch ild Care
and College Mom
Kelly Kent
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Graduate
Student in Neuroscience |
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at
The University of Southern California |
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Climb Every Mountain:
The Search for
Affordable Child Care for College Mom Kelly Kent |
My husband and
I planned our pregnancy, which
in itself was an unconventional decision for a family whose female
head is a biological science graduate student. In fact, I soon discovered that I was the first
woman in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University
of Southern California to give birth while still a student.
I was incredibly fortunate to get pregnant just as a brand new
policy was coming into effect at USC aimed at preventing women
from leaving science when they start families.
More
and more universities are adopting policies
such as this one, which provides stipend replacement for an entire
semester for any student, male or female, who gives birth to
or adopts a child.
This program has the added benefit of relieving some of
the financial burden that may fall on a laboratory that temporarily
loses a researcher, perhaps fostering a smoother relationship
between student and mentor during this already tumultuous time.
While my being able
to stay home with my new baby during her first 5 months of life was immeasurably important for my family, our
obstacles were by no means few. We then had to seek out
affordable childcare so that I will be able to complete my degree.
An ideal situation would have been to have our baby girl in child
care that was close to the university so that I would be able
to be with her during my commute as well as continue to breast
feed. USC has very highly rated day care centers, but they
are more than twice as expensive as the most expensive childcare
I came across in the South Bay area where we live.
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Subsidies for students
do exist, but there is a cap on
the funds available, such that even if we were offered a spot
in the day care we were not guaranteed a subsidy. Unfortunately,
all the available subsidies are being used for at least another
two years, and we were not able to use the resources at USC for
child care at all and do not expect that to change while I am
still at the university.
After exhaustive
searching it also became obvious
that there are neither grants from the government nor child care
assistance programs at a more local level for married women with
household income that is considered above that of the lowest
economic strata. We did find a wonderful in home day care
that is about 40% less expensive than the subsidized price at
USC's child care center. During this time, my decision
to stay in school was in jeapordy as it wasn't clear that we
were going to be able to afford any of the choices we had.
I hold out hope that
some changes are made nationwide in the near future that allow more women to be
able to navigate both family and careers in science throughout
the course of both.
---------------------------------------Kelly Kent
| Kelly Kent is a 30 year old graduate student in neuroscience
at the University of Southern California who became pregnant
in her second year. Kent took her written qualification
exams during her ninth month of pregnancy and expects to take
oral qualification exam the summer of 2008. She plans to
graduate in 2010 with a PhD. |
Winter
2008:
Volume II Issue 1 copyright by College
Mom Magazine and Katherine Arnoldi.
All illustrations on this site are by Katherine Arnoldi. |
Contact Us : info@collegemom
magazine.com |
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