How College Students Balance In College Courses

A college student has many things to balance throughout their college career. College courses are more difficult than the courses previously taken throughout high school. College is typically the first time that students are living on their own. A student must be concerned with living arrangements and how to pay for them. They are often working at the same time as attending college. Adults as college students have even more life issues to factor in. Many adult college students are juggling school, work and a family. Oftentimes with such hectic family lives, many adults choose to complete their college education online. An even larger challenge on top of everything else is to be pregnant while going to school. This proposal is intended to help those students that are attending colleges that are pregnant. Students are being penalized on assignments while being in the hospital having their baby. Students should not be penalized for turning in assignments late due to the fact they are in the hospital having delivered their child. Not all hospitals have wireless Internet or other way to get online. In May of this year,
I was due to have my daughter. I emailed the professor of the class that I was taking when I turned thirty-six weeks to inform her of my situation. I was able to finish that class without having my daughter. When my next class began, I did the same thing as previous, emailed the professor to alert him to the situation. The response I received was “Thank you for the information, if you need any clarity on the schedule of the class, please reference the syllabus.” On the first week of the class, I had completed my Thursday postings and began to make dinner when my water broke and I went to the hospital.
I had a cesarean section and was in the hospital until Sunday evening. On Monday, I completed the quiz that was due two days earlier, on Saturday. I emailed the professor and informed him that I had been in the hospital since Thursday and that I would complete the assignments as soon as I could. The assignment that was due that week along with the responses to other’s postings, I completed Tuesday. Once all my assignments were complete, I emailed my professor to inform him that I had completed all of the assignments. Again, the response I received from the professor was “Thank you for the information, if you need any clarity on the schedule of the class, please reference the
syllabus.” Later in the week when I checked my Gradebook I found that I had received no points for my introduction and points were deducted for all my postings, quiz and assignments for being late. I began the first week of the class with an E. I felt that I had done everything that I could to inform my professor of the situation, yet I was still docked for something that was beyond my control. I had to work ten times harder the rest of the four weeks of class to bring my grade up and I finished with a B when I easily could have completed the class with an A. I feel that I am not the only college student that has ever been put in this situation. I feel that professors should not have the ability to dock someone because they are put into a situation that is out of the student’s control. Had I had a way to complete my assignments in the hospital, I would have done what I could to do so; especially knowing that I would be docked for having submitted assignments late. Adults continuing their education are doing so to better themselves and to make themselves better people for their family. There are many struggles they have to overcome to be successful in school and maintain a successful family life as well. Under the federal law, Title IX, the professor does not have the right to penalize students for work missed or absences due to pregnancy (National Women’s Law Center, 2011). I feel that the university should better inform their staff of the policies and laws pertaining to pregnancy and a student’s grade. It is hard on a student when she is docked for having a baby. Having the baby is a stressful situation in and of itself and to make the situation worse by docking her points on assignments only brings the morale of the student down. The university should have a policy in place that addresses pregnancy and assignments and it needs to coincide with Title IX. There should be some type of timeline in which the student can make up their assignments without penalty. My assignments were turned in only two days late, some of them only one day late. Not only was I docked and received a lower grade on some assignments than I would have received had they been on time, my introduction I received zero points for, yet I completed the assignment. Adults continuing their education are hardworking individuals who usually have a drive to better themselves. There typically is not someone behind them forcing them to go to school, like there is when you are a child and have no choice. The time and money that is spent on education is tremendous and universities should accommodate those that need help and face situations that are out of their control.