UWM’s Student Parents: Balancing Classes & Parenthood

While being enrolled in full-time classes for the semesters, the amount of stress and workloads can be a bit overwhelming. Full-time students Matthew Cade and Cherelle Lowe take a lot of time and dedication with not just their classes but as parents.

Many would agree that being a full-time student is practically having a full-time job, without the hours of compensation, of course. With more than 25,000 students enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, according to the Discover UWM web page, many of these students do take on the role of having a never ending full-time job, and that’s called parenting.

For some students, the college life is all about branching away from home and finding themselves. College is a place for them to enjoy the dorm life, stay out pass curfew, and make those memories that they will soon question in the future.

However, other students they already have had the full branching off experience and they live life balancing full-time classes and full-time parenting.

Cade, who is a proud father of two and husband, has been attending UWM for three years now, and he explained how having a family and balancing class isn’t always such a breeze.

“Just today I had an interview opportunity come together for something I am working on, and the guy is a travelling musician. So, trying to be able to fit into his schedule and then to balance our crazy hectic lives, it is tough. But we make it work,” he said. “It is important just to keep in mind the girls come first, and everything will end up working itself out in the end.”

Cade also explains why he’s thankful for the university’s Children Learning Center located in the campus’s Northwest Quadrant and how he has no worries about his daughter’s whereabouts while he attends his classes.

“It is comforting to know that Joey is on campus. I enjoy knowing that she is right across the campus and that I can pop in and check up on her easily,” he said.

Primary caregiver at the Children’s Learning Center Sara Ortega is also a student at UWM, and since she deals with the babies of students at UWM, she gets first hand views of the parents who come in and out dropping their children off at the learning center. She says that she can sense the amount of hesitation that some parents go through when they first leave their child there, but they soon have a change of heart.

“I think at first parents are a little worried especially if they have never had kids in a daycare setting before, but what is so great about the center is that the lead teachers and staff who work here do their best to make parents comfortable, listen to concerns and to meet the needs of each child,” she said. “Plus, as time goes on the parents will form relationships with the student staff making it easier and more comfortable for them.”

Cherelle Lowe, UWM freshman, was one of those parents who wasn’t so easy on leaving her baby at the daycare at first, but later grew to love the idea due to the convenience.

“At first I didn’t know if I was comfortable enough to leave my baby at the campus daycare, but once I met everyone and seen how friendly the environment was I knew he would be okay,” she said. “I really loved the idea after I realized I wouldn’t have to travel far either cause when I finished classes, he was in the building right next to me.”

Although, there is no exact number or percentage on the total number of students who are parents at UWM, the campus provides other resources that are designed to help students balance parenting and their studies. The Life Impact Program, Educational Talent Search, and The Children’s Learning Center are just to name a few.