feature
The As and Bs of raising children while in college
By Megan Weltner mweltner@kansan.com
Two stories of students who balance a family, work and school
Trish Jackson helps her son, Eli, 2, help his nose. Trish is a 35-year-old mother of two and has been married for seven years to her husband, Robert Jackson came back to KU in 2005 to earn her undergraduate degree and is now earning her doctorate in physical geography.
Photo by Ryan Waggoner
When Trish Jackson dropped her 5-year-old daughter Maiya off at school that morning. she could see the excitement
she could see the excitement in her daughter's bluish-green eyes. As they pulled up to the school, she made sure Maiya had all of her pink Valentines to give away to her classmates. When Maiya got out of the car, Jackson told her daughter to have a fun day, and she was so sorry she couldn't go to the party. "That's OK, mommy. Don't feel bad." Maiya said. Jackson watched her daughter skip into the brick school building, her ash-blond hair blowing in the wind.
Jackson drove to class that day with thoughts of her daughter flooding her mind. She entered the dreary KU classroom. The industrial tile floors, bleak, white walls, and dry, green chalkboard in the Lindley Hall classroom only added to her desolate mood.As Jackson looked around, she thought of her daughter Maiya and the other mothers in her daughter's classroom helping with the Valentine's Day party, wishing so badly she could be one of them.Jackson allowed her mind to wander and imagined herself at the party helping pour soda for all of the kids, passing out candy to each of Maiya's friends, and watching her daughter flutter around the classroom in giddy excitement. This day, like many in Jackson's life, requires a delicate act of balancing family, school and work, and some days are easier than others.
"It chokes me up just thinking about that day," Jackson says. "I honestly think it's more of a big deal to me than to her. I just enjoy being involved in her life so much."
Jackson is one of a growing number of students raising children while attending the University of Kansas. Out of all of those students, undergraduates are considered nontraditional students. In Fall 2006, more than 2,500 nontraditional students were enrolled at the University and that number has grown steadily each year, according to the University's Office of Institutional Research and Planning. The University does not keep a record of the number of students with dependents, but its definition of a nontraditional student is an undergraduate student who commutes 10 or more miles to campus, is a parent of
dependent children, is married, is a veteran, or is three or more years older than classmates (e.g. a 21-year-old freshman).
Jackson, who grew up in Sterling, is a 35-year-old mother of two, Maiya, 5, and Eli, 2, and has been married to her husband, Robert, for seven years. Jackson says she dropped out of college in 1992 because she was not socially prepared for the college environment. However, in 2005, at the age of 32, Jackson decided to go back to school and earn her undergraduate degree and is now earning her doctorate in physical geography.
"I think it's normal for people to be socially
unprepared for college. It is so much freedom but also a lot of responsibility at a young age." Jackson says."I didn't appreciate my education like I do now."
As a graduate student, Jackson not only has the responsibilities of her family, she has her own classes and teaches a class each week, making it hard to attend all of her children's activities. Though many students may choose to sleep in or skip one of their 8 a.m. classes, Jackson has already been up for hours preparing breakfast and throwing clothes on her kids.
"Mornings are busy. If I'm lucky I will get a chance to shower, now that's if I'm lucky,"
Trish says.
She rushes Maiya to school while her husband, Robert, stays home with their son, Eli, and finally is off to her classes. First she has two hours of Spanish class. Then she teaches a geography class before heading off to her graduate education research training class.
At this point, it is already 3 in the afternoon. It is now when she tends to her duties as president of the Non-Traditional Students Foundation."I had to give back to a University that has given me so much," she says. As president, she is the representative for the more than 2,000 nontraditional students on
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April 2, 2009