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Dual Role For Many Single Parents

Today in our society it has become compulsory to get a degree in order to geta job. We now see our uni- versity population growing by leaps and bounds and the statistics if that population changing. No more are the students roaming the grounds all under the tender age of 25 but more and more are they people of ‘‘ma-

ture’’ status and many of these have already started a family.

I speak of the many single parent students, both male and female, that bravely register on a beautiful fall day for the event of their lives. This is not the usual jitters of a new experience for the motivation for these students is far different. Whether you achieve your goal does not just determine your future but the future if your children. Without this degree (pres- ently that is becoming degrees) the chance of gainful employment is next to nil, the opportunity to climb

out of the poverty level, to get off the welfare roll, never happens.

For the next four, and sometimes more, years children and parent will sacrifice much. Time for each other and time for themselves is an issue that the little ones never understand. Many nights are spent reading Anthropology 101 aloud with a two year old on your lap. There is no time for sitting in a library to re- search a paper, instead all the books are carted home. After the French homework of your son, the math of your daughter, the bedtime stories and after the last one is tucked into bed, you read, research, do home-

work, and study. This, as you can imagine, is not before the hour of ten p.m.

The money issue if a big one. Government Student Loans have not kept up with inflation and taxes. Children wear a lot of hand-me-downs and mom shops at froggies a lot. We are lucky in Prince Edward Island as the Department of Health and Wel- fare allows, with permission and after one year on the System, a person to attend post-secondary institution.

UPEI X-PRESS

i Campus Women

November 7 199] oa

They pay for the basic minimum requirements of living and student loans pays the tuition and books. Without this, many women could never afford to gC school. In many provinces it is an either/or situatio Many women though are not on welfare, they live a home with their parents and their child and this elit nates student loans to a great degree. Others set uy their own household, working long hours to meet t difference that loans do not cover. The single pare working to put themselves through school cannot study those extra hours to achieve the high marks necessary to win a scholarship. They can’t meeta

class with others for class projects or just socializ after class.

A very big part of being successful at University i socializing. Whether you are with your classmates your friends, a professor in the lounge or getting involved in extra-curricular activities on campus, | student needs to know people on campus to pass. homework or notes you missed, the upcoming tes! study for, the idea exchange, all these and morea large part of getting through the maze. Speaking: missed work, the single parent is guaranteed tom classes throughout a semester. Children get sick, become involved in accidents at their schoolandl Christmas concerts, all of which need to be atten to by the one and only parent. 7

The life of a single parent takes in three shifts, t working one, the one forclasses, and the one for family. It was once stated to me by a professior that I could not expect to raise ‘* good Kids” sin was a single mom. WellI have proved them wr but I must say not with any great deal of help fr the system as it is setup. University is geared | single, young, and moneyed student. There are family events on campus, the day care isin sad e and there are few awards for those in real need ‘ moms, there isno woman’s centre forthe prob’ that arise needing another women to listen. Th®! very little campus housing for families, Idop’ MAPUS for the inroads they have made with fill events and a telephone for emergencies butmels