Services offered by Ball State:
Infant and Toddler lab sponsored by the Department of Family and Consumer Science
WorkLife Programs webpage on bsu.edu
Services offered by Indiana University:
Campus Child Care Support for coordinating childcare services
Three day care services
Services offered by Purdue University
Three day care services
• Students with children say Ball State has lack of services and advertisement for them on campus.
• Ball State offers day care services for $200 weekly, without discount for students.
• Other Indiana universities offer several day cares and counseling services.
When Lena Neff found out she was pregnant as a freshman at Ball State, she decided her education was more important then the “looks” she would get.
“Dropping out wasn’t an option for me,” the sophomore public relations major said.
Instead, she and her boyfriend Torrin Tompkins, an Ivy Tech student, decided to make campus home for their 8-month-old son, Xaiden. Although, neither of them would necessarily consider it child-friendly.
A challenge for the couple is finding time for a full-course load while being parents. Neff said she had never heard of Ball State offering services to assist with child care.
Timothy Hess, a psychologist and group coordinator at the Counseling Center, said the center tried to start a support group for students with children about a year ago.
The group wasn’t able to find a time that worked for everyone’s schedule.
Instead, the center includes students with children in more generic counseling groups or provides them with individual therapy. Hess said the hardest challenge for students with children is juggling the roles of parenthood and education.
After having a baby during Winter Break, senior journalism graphics major Autumn Ricketts didn’t look for or receive any help from Ball State.
“I definitely think it’s kind of hush-hush,” she said. “If I was looking for an organization to join because I like crafts, I’m sure that’s very easy to find. I don’t think they publicize a lot of assistance programs for mother or fathers who are also students.”
Ball State’s Department of Family and Consumer Sciences sponsors the Child Study Center, the only day care service the university offers.
The center has an infant and toddler lab as well as a preschool lab open to anyone including faculty, students and community members and their children. It also provides Ball State students with a laboratory environment to study child development.
Jennifer Young, the infant and toddler education coordinator, said few Ball State students take their children there.
Full-time care costs about $200 per week and Ball State students don’t receive a discount.
On the university website, there is the WorkLife Programs page for information and a link to an online database to help search for childcare providers.
Lactation rooms also are in Bracken Library, Ball Communication Building and the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, for students or faculty.
Neither Neff nor Ricketts use any of these resources.
Other universities offer different services to their students, with more than 50 percent of colleges nationwide have childcare facilities on campus, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
Indiana University has an Office of Campus Child Care Support, specifically for coordinating childcare services. The university offers three day care services, giving priority to families affiliated with IU.
Similar to Ball State’s services, IU’s Campus View Care Center costs about $240.
Purdue also has three on-campus centers and a free childcare search on its website.
Though most universities don’t have specific residence halls for students with children, Ball State’s apartments — Scheidler and Anthony — are an option for students raising families.
Neff has lived in Scheidler Apartments since she finished her first year in LaFollette Complex. Though it is catered toward children, Neff said she would prefer to have housing for students who are parents.
She said students with children are far more common than most people think, especially on Ball State’s campus.
Nearly one quarter of American undergraduate students have children, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
“People don’t realize how many student mothers are actually out there,” she said. “Even when I was pregnant, [people thought] it was such a rarity.”
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