4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY DECEMBER 1,2006
PARENTS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Shuttling him to cub scouts and music lessons. Ruggles is a soccer mom without the sport. After Ethan finally settles in for the night, Ruggles has a few hours to study again before
starting the same routine the following day.
"I try not to do my homework in front of him, because he likes to have my full attention after spending all day at school," Rugles said. "He'll help me fix dinner or set the table, or I'll sit there while he's
unmore, attended the University of Evansville in Indiana last year before discovering she was pregnant. Nervous about having to raise the child alone, she returned to her
"It seems like you're always having to juggle feeling like you are a parent to the child and putting a higher percent into your school work."
REBEKAH RUGGLES
Senior
doing his piano lessons usually."
As a full time student, Ruggles is forced to walk a fine line balancing her academic responsibilities and her obligations to the person literally tugging at her sleeve.
Nichole Reiske, Lawrence soph
hometown of Lawrence to raise now four-month-old Loren. She's gracious for her parents' extra sets of hands to help her own parental responsibilities, but said she's had to look elsewhere for financial
support.
Because Reiske's parents still have the responsibility of providing for her younger brothers, she has had to find the means to pay for a regular baby sitter herself. Reiske has recently received state-funded loans
Sarah Leonard/KANSAN
that allow her to continue her education here at KU1; and in addition to the money earned at her part-time job, the money her parents originally planned to use for her own schooling is now helping pay for Loren's davecare.
"A lot of what I'll do at home is on the computer, so he'll sit there and randomly press a key once in a while." Reiske said. "I just have to kind of fix whatever he's pressed and keep going."
Reiske's weekdays begin with 9 a.m. classes, but she's typically at one of the vocal studios in Murphy Hall by 7 a.m. where she studies for her music degree. She leaves campus at 5 p.m. each night after completing the majority of her schoolwork on campus, and returns home to her awaiting son.
Nichole Reiske, Lawrence sophomore, often attempts to work done on the computer, but her 5-month-old son, Loren, thinks it would be more fun if he played with the keyboard.
With Loren already teething, Reiske said anything within his four-month-old-reach was fair game for tasting.
Rebeekah Rugges, Fresno, Calif. senior, helps her son Ethan while he practices his piano lessons. When Rugges is with Ethan he is her main focus—homework warts just to be asleep.
Only four months after holding Loren for the first time, Reiske already has had to begin planning the next several years of his life. On his exact three-month birthday, Reiske placed Loren on the waitlist for the Hilltop Child Development Center. Hilltop provides early childcare and education for children of KU students, faculty, or employees of the University. Hilltop is considered a non-profit University affiliated corporation.
"The keyboard can get slobbery," Reiske said. "But that's okay because he chews on everything these days."
Pat Pisani, executive director of the Hilltop Child Development Center, said the facility specifically aimed at helping the University's student parents.
"We'll take care of their kids from
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10.
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7:15 in the morning until 5:45 in the afternoon in a very safe learning environment, which frees student families to be able to go to class, study, work, and do the things they need to do." Pisani said.
About 55 percent of Hilltop's 212 children come from student families. Since the Hilltop center moved into its new facility, 1605 Irving Hill Rd., in August 2000, all full-time KU students are assessed $4 for the childcare and facility construction fee. In addition, the University contributes more than
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"We'll take care of their kids from 7:15 in the morning until 5:45 in the afternoon in a very safe learning environment."
$30,000 a year to the childcare center. While the facility is considerably cheaper than other childcare facilities in Lawrence, Hilltop's users still pay more than $81,000 in fees each year. Pisani said.
The center helps student families who need childcare with what Pisani calls "a three-level, sliding fee scale" so that lower-income student and faculty families can afford the facility as well. The center also awards scholarships to some lower-income student families, which can help pay for 40 to 50 percent of their childcare fees.
In addition, Hilltop receives more than $37.00 of educational opportunity funds from Student Senate. This money is used to help reduce the childcare costs of student families.
took 212 children at a time. Hilltop also has three campus sites at Lawrence elementary schools where they provide child-care.
Pisani said that applicants were both allowed and encouraged to apply as soon as their child was three months old, because there was
"The senate has supported us in that way for many, many years," Pisami said. "And it makes a big difference for student families, because with some of them the fees are still higher than they could afford without that help."
Gina Byrd-Stadler, program director of Hillary, said that the center
PAT PISANI Executive director
a waitlist of 325 children waiting to get accepted to the program at any given time. Reisek just recently found out that Loren was accepted by Hilltop, and that he will be able to attend the childcare
facility after his first birthday this coming summer.
Many of Hilltops children come from its neighboring Stouffer Place Apartments, 1603 West 15th St. The complex is reserved exclusively for students living with their children or for married couples, and has 283 apartments in 25 two-story brick buildings. For many KU families, Stouffer Place is both an affordable and friendly community option for living on campus.
Kathleen Thornton, Topeka
senior, lives at Stouffer Place with
her son, Conner,
and husband,
Blake. While she
works toward her
biology degree
at the University,
Conner attends
Hilltop.
"The fact that I can just drop him off up the street and walk to class is convenient," Thornton said. "The location is great
is often as simple as going next door. Don Claus, Stouffer Place neighborhood association president, said that he and his wife, Andrea, were especially called upon to watch neighborhood children during mid-term and finals weeks.
Even though Claus has no children himself, his interaction with many of the neighborhood kids left him impressed with the learning environment the Stouffer Place community provides for children. The apartments house student families of various nationalities from all over the globe and often times the children's original language is not English when they arrive in Lawrence.
"All the kids that I've known here have learned to speak perfect English," Claus said. "You'll meet some new kid, and the next year it's perfect."
"I think it's a unique place with diversity, kids from all over the world," Mateo said. "It's interesting to see how students help each other, but especially with kids of different languages who don't speak English."
Pedro Matteo, graduate student of Guatemala, is raising his two children at the Stouffer Place apartments with his wife, Anna, while studying linguistics at the University.
While Ruggle has chosen to raise her son of campus rather than through University childcare programs or student housing, she continues to balance her roles of student, working woman, chauffeur, and simply "mom" as do other non-traditional students while living at the Stouffer Place
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785-843-SUBS (7827)
"I think it's a unique place with diversity, kids from all over the world. It's interesting to see how students help each other."
With the Stouffer Place complex being filled with so many other student families, finding a willing baby sitter for unforeseen circumstances
Thornton — like Ruggles — has been forced to take advantage of her afternoons to study for classes before picking Conner up from Hilltop later in the evening. Because Blake is the main source of income for the family and can rarely work days, Thornton is forced to miss class or work a handful of times each year if Conner becomes sick. She said she often spent much of her weekends and holiday breaks playing catch-up on schoolwork.
PEDRO MATEO Graduate student
"I think it is worth the sacrifice, because I'll hopefully be getting a higher paying job after I graduate," Ruggles said. "But I'm having to make that sacrifice now."
Kansan staff writer Matt Elder can be contacted at melder@kansan. com.
apartments.
Ruggles is quick to remind herself that she'll be graduating this May — although her break from class will be short-lived — she plans to return to medical school after taking two years off to work.
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