Before Amandeep Sidhu started her courses as a Business major this semester, she reached out to her professors and told them she is a mom of three and in case she had an emergency at home, she may need an extension. So far she hasn’t asked for one.
“I realized that my opportunities are going to be limited if I don’t have an education and so for the longest time I was just waiting to come back to continue with my education,” Sidhu says.
Sidhu says that the transition has not been that hard because she is more than determined to complete her degree this time around.
“I was really motivated.” Sidhu explains, “I did go to college previously but I dropped out because I kind of lost hope. I didn’t do too well and I gave up too quickly. I am not really finding it hard now because I am just so motivated.”
Heather Gray, a Nursing and Health major and mother of four, says the key is support.
“Luckily I have an excellent support system. My husband is wonderful. My mom is wonderful. My brother and my sister-in-law, they all help me out,” Gray says.
English Professor Edward Carmien, who has had several student moms in his classes every year says, “I do find new parents, especially mothers, have constraints on their time and are often tired. Taking college classes while parenting is hard!”
Before the pandemic lockdown, another Mercer mom, Aronya Downing, told The VOICE the problem for her was daycare.
“The problem with [some daycares] is that your income can disqualify you, and most of the places they offer do not have late evening babysitting, so it’s a trouble with evening classes for me,” Downing said.
Now, instead of worrying about daycare student moms have to worry about helping their own children navigate Zoom classes while taking classes themselves, and they may not have anyone to look after their kids while they are trying to focus on class.
Sidhu says sometimes she has to attend lectures with her two-year-old who may make noise during lectures.
“There’s not much I can do but I am glad I am on mute. And if there’s an emergency, she’s crying, I will just turn off my video for a little while.” Sidhu says.
With all the juggling things are still working at home and at school Sidhu is part of the Honors Program and her 15-year-old son says, “[Mom’s] handling it fine because she is still doing stuff around the house like before, cooking and helping us with homework.”
So other than love of their families and lots of coffee what is keeping the Mercer moms going?
Moms with a college degree have higher incomes and more job stability than their non-degreed counterparts according to a study published by the Population Research and Policy Review, and the ability to move up in the world financially is a key motivator for many.
Gray says, “Having two incomes is always better than one and that was a definite factor for me. Also, I want to have a degree to know I finished something.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Amandeep Sidhu is taking Honors classes. She is part of the Honors program but not currently taking any Honors classes.
