DeVry University professor Joel Bunkowske just got an A in parenting.
According to WKRN, a local news station in Nashville, Tennessee, Bunkowske didn’t stop his lecture when a 2-year-old son of a student came up to him and asked to be held. Instead, Bunkowske held the child and continued his lesson.
The boy was son to Amanda Osbon, a student of Bunkowske’s and a single mother who has no other option than to bring her child to class, according to WKRN.
"Most of us in the class are parents, so everyone was very understanding that he was there," Osbon told WKRN.
And back in May, Jerusalem professor Sydney Engelberg held one student’s “fussy baby while continuing to teach his class,” according to CNN.
The 67-year-old teacher’s lecture went viral after a student snapped a photo of him holding the baby. But he wasn’t all that surprised, since his class at Hebrew University includes many mothers. In fact, Engelberg has picked up a restless baby of one of his students and continued to lecture the class at least once before.
"I would say there is one or more babies in one or more classes every single week," he told CNN.
Engelberg, who often teaches about leadership, said his decision to allow children in his class allows him to teach his students lessons about single parenting and child care availability.
"You can't simply talk about them, you also have to act on them, and one of the ways that I'm able to act on them at least in the academic setting is by relating to the mothers — relating to those students who are unable to find alternative childcare arrangements in a way which enables them to remain engaged, which shows respect for their situation,” he told CNN.
Single mothers make up a bulk of college students with children in the United States. According to the Institute For Women’s Policy Research, there are more than 2 million single mothers attending college (which is almost four times the amount of single fathers who attend school).
For most, college is a method for single mothers to try to lift themselves out of poverty and potentially find career success, according to a research paper from Women Employed, an organization that seeks to improve the economic status of women. In fact, a bachelor’s degree can raise a single mother’s income level by 78 percent, the paper said.
That means single moms can see a salary increase from about $22,000 a year (the average yearly income of a single mother high school graduate, according to Women Employed) to almost $40,000.
To make college most affordable, single mothers will mostly attend community colleges.
“Because of community colleges’ relative accessibility, low cost, and wide array of courses, they are popular with single parents, who make up 13.9 percent of community college students,” the paper said. “Though single mothers comprise a significant segment of community college populations, schools often struggle to find — and fund — the right supports to serve them.”
But between raising a child and paying for college, even community college can be a costly experience (the average tuition cost of community college is about $2,700, according to College Board). But there are some scholarships and education programs looking to help single mothers pay their way through college.
“At a time when a college degree is more important than ever before, and with the steep rise in the cost of college, few could afford the price tag on a post-secondary education,” according to the Single Mom Guide, “let alone single mothers who are struggling to 'make ends meet' on a shoestring budget. For these moms, higher education may seem like a far-fetched idea. Fortunately, there are plenty of options that make returning to school a reality — from grants and scholarships (free money), work-study (earned money) to federal loans (borrowed money).”
For example, the TRIO program, which includes both the Student Support Services and Education Opportunity Center programs, and the Carl D. Perkins Act, both offer federal funds to colleges so they can support single mothers through counseling, tutoring and advising, according to Women Employed.
There are also a number of scholarships available to single mothers.
And some events, like Helping Hands for Single Moms, act to raise funds for single college families.
There are also some schools that are best for single mothers. Click through our slideshow below to see which schools offer the best programs and prices for single parents.
For more on single mothers:
Why moms make less money than dads
The rough road of single motherhood — and one mom who defied the odds
Single-parent households a growing share of American family life
Herb Scribner is a writer for Deseret News National. Send him an email at hscribner@deseretdigital.com or follow him on Twitter @herbscribner.