Juggling school and family

As a junior at Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga., Jessica Rowland GS found out that she was pregnant.

“It was very nerve-wracking,” said the single mother, who is now a second-year graduate student in the molecular biology department. “I actually initially thought about dropping out of school.”

When her daughter Laila was born during the summer after her junior year, Rowland said, she was uncertain about her future but was able to continue her education with her parents’ help and encouragement.

Now, raising her daughter more than 700 miles away from her parents, Rowland said that life as a graduate student and parent brings a set of challenges most of her peers don’t face.

“Unlike everyone else, I don’t have all day to work in lab; I have to pick up Laila by six,” Rowland said. “The professors don’t cut me any slack for being a single mom.”

Rowland and other graduate students raising children said that the key to balancing their dual responsibilities was time management. Though the University offers some financial support for childcare and healthcare, raising a family and attending school at the same time is often overwhelming. Despite the challenges, students said that having families while in school enriches their graduate student experience.

Balancing academics with family life

Jake Rugh GS, a student in the Wilson School and father of three, said that being a student is actually one of the best occupations to have when starting a family.

“You’re more flexible, you’re your own boss, you work on your own schedule,” he explained. “I think it’s great.”

Spencer Jones GS, a student in the chemistry department, added that his life as a graduate student would be more difficult without the support of his family.

“Life can be overwhelming whether you’re single, married, kids, no kids, in school or working,” Jones said in an e-mail. “A lot of hard work is required in being a grad student, but my wife and sons are what make it bearable.”

Whether they are newcomers or seasoned veterans to the realm of parenthood, graduate students said that planning ahead and sticking to a schedule was the secret to balancing their roles as active caretakers and full-time students.

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Nicholas Carnes GS, a student in the politics department, said that maintaining a routine helps him become more efficient in his schoolwork and gives him more time to spend with his family.

“I work hard to manage my time as carefully as I can,” he said. “I probably devote fewer hours to my work each week, but I think I get more done.”

“For me, it is all about scheduling,” said Steven Snell GS, who has been a father for three months. “I arrive earlier and leave earlier than most of my classmates. I go home, and I don’t work at night.”

For Jones, too, keeping his home life and academic life separate is crucial.

“It’s important to us that when I’m home, I am focused on us as a family,” explained Jones. “I leave chemistry in the lab, so when I’m at home I’m a husband and dad, not a full-time chemist.”

University programs

For graduate students who are balancing schoolwork and families, the University offers aid in the form of financial support, access to low-cost healthcare plans and cost-saving programs.

The Student Child Care Assistance Program (SCCAP) offers an annual grant of up to $5,000 per child with a maximum of $10,000 per family. To be eligible, a student must be unmarried or have a spouse who is also a full-time student, employed or actively seeking employment.

Rugh said a scholarship from the nearby University League Nursery School allowed him to send his oldest daughter there. That school operates out of the same building on Broadmead Street as another nursery, U-NOW Day Nursery, which Rowland sends her daughter to.

Rugh said he and his wife wanted their children to attend daycare not because they lacked the time to take care of them but because they want to prepare them for school.

“We wanted our kids to go into a daytime routine by their preschool age,” Rugh said. “The most important thing is socialization.”

But though the SCCAP initiative is helpful, it cannot meet all the needs of graduate student parents. Rowland said that though $5,000 may be enough for families with two sources of income, it is inadequate for a single mother who also has to pay for housing and tuition, among other expenses.

Associate Dean for Student Life F. Joy Montero did not respond to requests for comment.

In addition to SCCAP, the University also offers health-insurance coverage for dependents of graduate students enrolled in the Student Health Plan. It costs $635 to enroll one child, $1,270 to enroll two children and $1,905 to enroll three children as dependents.

Carnes said this initiative was the single most helpful program offered by the University.

“The plan is fantastic, and the dependent buy-in rates are really affordable,” Carnes said. “It’s a really important but probably often-overlooked way that the University helps graduate students and their families.”

The University also offers work-life counseling through the Carebridge Work/Life Program, where students can find referrals for childcare, eldercare and personal financial management.

Through Lotsa Helping Hands, a web-based tool, graduate students can coordinate responsibilities and activities with their friends and neighbors. The Work Options Backup Care initiative allows graduate student parents to pay a discounted rate for temporary homecare or center-based care for up to 100 hours per year.

Carnes said that the family-focused initiatives offered by the University have been helpful. “I think Princeton takes great care of its graduate students and even better care of its graduate student parents,” he said.

For Rowland, parenthood has given her a different perspective on her academic life.

“It makes me appreciate just the fact that I am here [at the University],” she said. “A lot of people, like my parents, never get the opportunity.”

This is the fourth in a five-part series on the lives of graduate students.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Jake Rugh GS received funding from SCCAP to send his oldest daughter to daycare when, in fact, he said he receives scholarship money from the University League Nursery School.