Everyone has a right to education

Being a student and a parent

Everyone has a right to education

COMING TO university for the first time can be daunting as it often
means uprooting yourself from your home, friends and family for extended
periods. But for those with children, especially single parents, it can
be terrifying.

Justine Gallagher, Manchester University Parents’ Society and
Socialist Students

There is so much more to consider if you have children and so many
more potential obstacles to succeeding and actually enjoying university.
For example, appropriate accommodation must be found, which is a
challenge considering most universities only provide standard,
one-bedroom residences.

Childcare is a continual worry as school holidays never coincide with
university holidays. Students with children can find themselves in a
precarious financial situation as grants and loans get largely used up
during the year on rent, childcare, and general living costs.

This leaves nothing for the summer, when your income falls
dramatically and student parents are left wondering how they are going
to live and pay rent.

Isolation

Life is also tougher academically, as it is very difficult to
organise to spend sufficient time with your children whilst still
meeting deadlines and keeping up with the course. It can often feel as
if no one understands your situation and that your experiences are very
different to other students. This can leave you feeling isolated and
resentful.

Many universities like to advertise themselves as welcoming students
from diverse backgrounds. But I have found that whilst students with
children are accepted to university, once they get there, obstacles put
in their way make it almost impossible to continue. Universities are
geared to meeting the needs of young and free students. If you do not
fit the criteria of a ‘normal’ student you are made to feel as if you
don’t quite belong.

I am a 22 year old student with a six year-old child. My university
does not provide childcare for children over five so I have to take a
bus to pick up my daughter from the after-school childminder every day.
This takes about two hours. After a day of lectures and this journey, it
is difficult for me to find the energy to spend time with my daughter
and do my work.

The accommodation I have been provided with is in desperate need of
repair and refurbishment. I have to make constant complaints which are
often ignored, taking more time out of my day.

I have no idea how I am going to pay my rent over the summer, as the
university have given me no information about the financial help
available. And finally it is a constant struggle to maintain any kind of
social life for me or my daughter as there is no play area for the
children in my residence.

I often see young children playing in the car park! There is no
social room for parents, no information given to me about local parents’
groups or activities for families. There is generally no effort to put
me in touch with other students in my situation.

But I’m not just complaining. Universities could be making life much
easier for student parents. If a welcome pack was given to prospective
student parents about local schools, childcare, facilities etc, it would
help students feel that their situation is at least being recognised and
taken into account.

There is no reason why childcare should not be provided for the
over-fives when so many universities provide it for the under-fives. If
lectures go on after school hours, this lack of provision puts student
parents at a disadvantage and hampers our quality of life by forcing us
to travel for miles daily.

All universities should provide campus accommodation suitable for
students with children. Failure to do so is a form of discrimination,
especially when campus accommodation is guaranteed to first-year
students at most universities.

Accommodation

Where accommodation is provided, it should meet the same standards as
other accommodation and include a play area for children and a social
space for parents. It would also not be difficult to set up a voluntary
babysitting service in the evenings, considering the amount of students
that sign up to help with voluntary activities at universities.

Students with children could then occasionally enjoy the nights out
that most other students take for granted. Perhaps short courses could
be run to help with time management, specifically focusing on the
difficulty of dividing your attention between your studies, your friends
and your family.

People who have children at a young age are often from low income
backgrounds, as I was. Or at least having a child young can force you
into a difficult economic situation if you weren’t in one already. When
universities continue to put all these obstacles in the way of young
parents trying to continue with their education, they are actively
discriminating against the working class.

The prospect of so many economic, practical, and emotional
difficulties is likely to discourage many young parents from continuing
education. I have also met students who have dropped out of university
because of all the difficulties I have mentioned.

I believe that everyone has the right to an education if they want
it. But at the moment the best will in the world doesn’t seem enough
when we are battling against a system that is fundamentally biased
against diversity.

For those wondering where universities would get the money to fund
all the changes I have suggested, just look at how universities are
currently spending their money. The University of Manchester has just
spent millions on a merger with UMIST, another Manchester college. They
want to increase the prestige of the university and attract investment.

If universities diverted capital away from such grand projects and
started to focus on the well-being of its current students, there is no
reason why these changes could not be made. The problem is that with New
Labour’s neo-liberal agenda for education, universities are forced to
compete nationally and internationally. Money is channelled away from
the poorest students into prestige-building programmes. Under a
socialist system, funding would be directed to where it was most needed.
The needs of the poorest students would be fulfilled as a priority.

Organise

We recognise we are living in a system that breeds inequality so I
would urge all students with children to start to mobilise and challenge
the university bosses to improve conditions and facilities. I have
started to organise weekly meetings which provide both a social space
for student parents and the opportunity to get together and discuss
practical problems.

Childcare for the over-fives will be a priority campaigning issue.
But as time goes on it will become clearer what the main concerns of
other student parents are and we can start to get petitions signed,
raise awareness and protest.

When people come together to campaign they are much stronger than
individuals complaining about issues single-handedly. With some unified
action and perseverance the university officials will have to start
taking us seriously. Until we have made the transition to a socialist
society, we need to fight for the equality that is so suffocated under
capitalism.

We are fighting for:

  • Free, good-quality childcare for every student parent, including
    for the over-fives.
  • Suitable accommodation, with proper facilities for children and
    parents.
  • No loans or top-up fees, for a living grant for every student.