"Have babies in graduate school," a female professor suggested to me at a department seminar reception during my time in graduate school. She advised that graduate school is the best time for students pursuing an academic career to have their babies. A survey conducted by Harvard University shows more than one-in-twenty graduate students are also parents. Some are single parents, some are married to other Ph.D. students, and others have one, two, three, or more children.

We were prepared to face the challenges of balancing work and family, but challenges like this always turn out to be much more difficult than predicted. Add on to that the current pandemic situation, and being a graduate student parent is definitely challenging.

[Image Description: Ron Swanson, from Parks and Recreation, sits on the floor in front of his desk. The deck is covered with arts and crafts materials. Ron's hair is a mess, his face is covered in stickers, and his shoes, when the view zooms out, are being painted red by his two daughters.]

Pictured: A visual representation of what it feels like to be a graduate student parent.

The top 2 biggest challenges graduate students face are issues of finance and time management. Graduate student parents face financial problems ranging from healthcare to childcare costs. Healthcare and childcare costs have risen at unsustainable rates, while our stipend does not.

When we encounter these types of challenges, there are some unions and departments you can look to for help. For healthcare, children can be added as a dependent but a graduate student's healthcare fee will drastically be increased too. Under this circumstance, graduate students can apply for healthcare funding via their university and community as a low-income family. This funding can be used for both healthcare and childcare.

[Image Description: A baby, from the original Little Rascals, throws a stack of dollar bills out the window.]

Pictured: You, trying to save some money

For living expenses, graduate students have to rent or buy a relatively larger apartment or house to have more private space for babies adn children. Living expenses will exponentially increase (especially depending on what state a graduate student lives in) to meet this new space requirement. When facing problems around renting, our university will be the best place to look for help. Almost every university has some family housing. In addition, many universities have housing that is specifically intended for graduate students, staff, and faculty. This housing is often located within campus or close to campus. Apartments rented through this system are relatively cheaper when compared to other property rental companies. The priority usage of those houses will often be for faculty or staff. However, if graduate students who want to apply for those houses can submit documentation, such as a birth certificate, to demonstrate their urgent need, graduate students will sometimes be placed on the waitlist or even given priority for this type of housing.

It seems like there aren’t enough hours in a day for graduate students to accomplish everything they need to, especially when it comes to balancing their schoolwork and family. No one can hold a harmonious family together on their own. You should discuss and determine the daily assignment and time framework with your spouse. Try to schedule schoolwork and childcare separately, so both of you can do your own assignments and still leave some time to take care of children. Additionally, having children do their own thing and entertain themselves for a little while can help build in buffer time to get things done. Try to assign easy daily chores for children and schedule these tasks during the take of the day when you need to get work done. This way, children will have their own tasks to finish each day and will be less likely to interrupt you while you're busy. For example, my son learned when he was 2 years old to dress himself independently. He will also spend some time cleaning his room and his toy space. With tasks like this to occupy a child, parents can have some extra time to focus on their school work.

[Image Description: A baby playing with their hair.]

Pictured: Your child, doing their hair like a pro. Not pictured, you on your fourth zoom call of the day