Vickie Russell is a Senior Anthropology- Sociology Major with a 5-month old child. A daily obstacle for her is ensuring that her son is in safe hands while she is on campus for classes. She made the decision to research the affects of having small children while embarking on a college career.
A case study that Vickie referenced from the University of Texas stated that 72% of college drop-outs left due to family responsibility. 36% left for financial reasons. She says that there is a need for childcare services. This could lower drop out rates, allowing students to focus more in classes. Limitations of past research conducted by the University of Texas were that small colleges not covered. Neither were non-traditional students.
Vickie conducted 2 Student interviews, 3 faculty/staff members, and a survey. The following are basic summaries of what each group said:
students: There was not a lot of time to spend with children. Daycares out of the way, making commutes much longer
faculty/staff: There is a lack in both funds and space.
The survey was open to students and faculty of Agnes Scott College, resulting in an 89% response. 50% of respondents had children under 5. Almost ¾ of participants said they would utilize school child care if provided by Agnes Scott College.
Limitations to Vickie’s study were that only Agnes Scott was reviewed. Also she didn’t visit schools that provided child care services to students and faculty.
Agnes Scott is the world for women. Women have children. The fact that this should be taken into consideration was the basis of her presentation. Vickie’s future plans are to draft a proposal for campus childcare and look into providing vouchers for students that could be used towards child care services.
One member of the audience made the proposal that this could be presented as a work study opportunity for those interested in working with children in the future.