family friendly universities

[becschasebaby]

hi crew,

i am doing a research proposal at uni can you all tell me what uni's you go to, if there is support for you as parents e.g. creche, parenting rooms, if you are allowed to bring your kids when you need to etc and also what things uni could have done to make study easier on you as a parent eg facilties, etc.

ta

bec xx

[Shanaynay]

Hi,
I go to Newcastle Uni. I wouldn't really call it child friendly.

There are 3 childcare centres on campus, but they are open to the public, which means the waiting lists are 1 year +. Students of the Uni get NO preference. No discount either (full fee is over $60 a day!! Which students could afford that?!)

There is no parents room, no microwave or kettle available anywhere for bottles, no cosy room for breastfeeding, nowhere you can get a pram in to change a nappy.
Nowhere inside to sit with bubs if it is cold and rainy apart from a coffee lounge which is all packed out anyway.

I have taken my babies to lectures before because I've had no other care for them. I've never been asked by the lecturer or anyone to leave, but I always leave the lecture as soon as they make a noise. That being said, I've always felt uncomfortable taking them in, and never felt like they were welcome.

In my 4 years of Uni, I've only had 1 class with the option of a night class. Everything else has been daytime which is really hard with kids.

Also I've found the system for applying for extensions etc... to be pretty crappy when you just aren't coping with the workload due to kids, they always want a medical certificate which is ridiculous.

Also my Uni is full of stairs, it's REALLY hard to get around with a baby or pram.

To make it easy I would love to see a parenting room that I could use, with lounges etc... and a more flexible class timetable.

[mum23girls]

I go to Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Kelvin Grove campus.

creche - no
parenting rooms - yes in the form of a fold down change table in the disabled toilets

if you are allowed to bring your kids when you need to - I have taken DD (8 years old) to a lecture on her student free days. I did email the lecture to check and she said that was fine.

What things uni could have done to make study easier on you as a parent eg facilties, etc. our actual university is fully accessable with lifts. The tutors and lecturers are all nice most of them (mine anyway!) have families of their own and do post grad studies, so if you need extra time or help they are more than accommodating. They all understand.

I think more universities are offering external study these days and that is good for the SAHMorD. I just hated being a SAHM so decided to do internal study - it suited me.

with what pavlovpup :wave: said:

Also I've found the system for applying for extensions etc... to be pretty crappy when you just aren't coping with the workload due to kids, they always want a medical certificate which is ridiculous.
with my uni the extention process is just to email your tutor...I did this the first time this week, vowed never to to it again as I felt bad, but my assignment was not getting anywhere and hubby was away for four days. I just asked for another week because of this and was granted the extra time.




and a more flexible class timetable.
also with my uni, this was not really an issue as there are 500 students doing nursing so there were heaps of different tutorials at many different times/days that we allocate ourselves to. But I must say that there are no night classes here either (not that I would allocate to night classes, I am dead by 6pm most nights!)