Bryce Bojorquez

Comp 1

December 15, 2022

Advocacy Essay

Raising children can be as difficult as pulling your own teeth. Many parents, even if they

have their lives together and are expecting a baby, they still struggle. Kids are not easy to take

care of and raise especially if the parent/parents aren’t in the most ideal situation. When you have

to juggle raising a kid and attempting to graduate from college, it can be extremely

overwhelming. This is a problem several college students face, and I think we should do

something about it. When you’re struggling to take care of your kid, any little thing to help can

feel monumental. That’s why I believe NOC should provide free daycare to students who have

children while they attend class.

Not everyone is prepared to be a parent. There are several circumstances where someone

has a child but they aren’t ready to. Especially with the new laws in Oklahoma, if someone is

unaware they are pregnant, it could be too late when they figure it out. It could also be due to

religious beliefs or personal beliefs that someone chooses to carry out a pregnancy unprepared.

In situations such as these, a person could be struggling immensely with attending college and

taking care of their child. Even for parents that are prepared and have a kid while attending

college, it's still no easy feat. Finding somewhere for your kid to stay can be very difficult and

sometimes nowhere is available. Why should these parents have to possibly miss class or disturb

other students by bringing their kids with them?

To most people, this may not seem like that big of an issue, but in reality, it is. It has been

found that “more than one-fifth of all college students are student parents.” (Williams). That’s a
lot of college students, nearly four million. If there's such a large group of individuals who have

children, why shouldn’t NOC do its best to support them? Having a daycare wouldn’t be very

costly and would greatly improve the student experience at NOC. The average parent spends

$10,000 per year for one child on child care, while infant care is even more, at $16,000 per year.

That’s a hefty amount to have to pay for anyone, let alone someone already paying for college.

With free daycare a huge weight can be lifted off parents' shoulders, not only will they have

somewhere to keep their kid but also at no cost. Many people would benefit from this and it

could be the difference between whether or not a student graduates.

Many people who went to, attend, or want to go to college wish they could have an

opportunity like this. One of these people is my very own mother, Kay Bojorquez. She went to

college in 2002. She got pregnant with me in her senior year and had me in 2005. When I asked

her if she would have benefited from having a free daycare available to her when I was a baby,

she responded “That would have been an amazing help, I struggled a lot trying to get everything

done and attend all my classes while taking care of you, not to mention financially as well.”

(Kay). Having me during college made her life way more difficult, but it’s a choice she says she

does not regret. Although my mom didn’t get to have free daycare, she wishes with all her heart

that more colleges would adopt this tradition so women who have to experience what she did

have it a little easier. Another example just so happens to be my only sibling, Lizz Bojorquez.

She has not attended college but wishes to; but, because she had her child this year, she feels she

can’t manage both. When I asked her if she thinks going to a college with a free daycare would

tempt her to attend she responded, “I think I would really consider going to college when my son

gets a little older if they provided a free daycare, money is a big issue along with finding
somewhere for Beckham to stay (her newborn son)” (Lizz). Even if she doesn’t attend college

while Beckham is at the age where he needs to be watched, my sister hopes that colleges grow to

support parents as much as they deserve. My entire family has dealt with this experience and it’s

safe to say we’re not the only family.

NOC implementing this program would have several benefits for not only the students

but also the college. Children are very exhausting, parents never get a break when it comes to

taking care of them. So much so that things such as trips to the grocery store or attending class

could be a much-needed break. If a parent has nowhere to leave their child and has to bring them

to class, it can get very hectic. Not only will the parent be losing an escape from parenting they

could be getting because they have to stress trying to manage their kid while focusing, but they

could also be distracting others. Children aren’t the most compliant and we all know they can be

very rowdy at times. It’s not fair to ask the parent to leave class because they had nowhere else to

take their kid, but it’s also not fair to the other students trying to learn that there's a constant

distraction. This huge mess of problems could be solved very simply by having a daycare for

students. Financial issues while attending college are no joke, and even if it doesn’t seem like it,

every penny counts. Students could barely have enough money if at all, to eat when paying for

everything they have to. Providing daycare for free to all students would greatly help them save

money to be used for necessary things. While solving all these problems, a free daycare would

also be boosting NOC’s reputation. Parents would be more likely to go to NOC if they saw it had

a program like this offered to students. The passing rate for classes would also increase, making

NOC look like a better school, in turn also drawing in more students. There would also be a lot
more positive feedback because who's going to complain about free daycare? All of these

benefits, and I can’t think of a single drawback for NOC to implement this service.

Creating this service would be extremely simple for NOC. When people think of daycare,

they think of a room with tons of toys, playsets, and toddlers running wild. While having a

designated room filled with fun stuff to entertain the children would be nice, it’s not necessary.

When starting this program, NOC could simply use a classroom not in use or any empty room

for the location of the daycare. It doesn’t need to be filled with exciting toys for the kids to play

with; instead, the daycare workers could have inexpensive activities for the kids to do, such as

coloring or playing games with the kids. As the daycare grows in popularity, NOC could do a

fundraiser or something else to raise money in order to build or repurpose an old room into an

actual daycare-like area for the kids. Over time things could also be bought to improve the room

and make it more enjoyable for the kids. The point is, NOC doesn’t need to immediately put a

large sum of money into creating a daycare center. It can be done gradually, starting with very

little money at all, and that would still be enough to help so many students.

Not having somewhere for their children to stay while attending class and being able to

afford it are both big issues for college students who are also parents. In order to help with this,

NOC should provide free daycare to students attending classes who have children. I believe that

this would not only be easy for NOC to do, but it would also have numerous benefits for the

college. Many things need change and it’s not always easy, but with advocacy, we can make it

happen. Consider what needs changing at your college and who knows, maybe you’ll be the one
to start that change. I know that I want to be the one to make a change at NOC, so I’ll give it my

all.

Works Cited

Bojorquez, Kay. Personal interview. 10 Dec 2022.

Bojorquez, Lizz. Personal interview. 10 Dec 2022.

Silcox, Kenadi. “Why It's so Hard for College Students Who Are Parents to Actually Earn Their

Degrees.” Money, 13 May 2022,

https://money.com/college-students-with-kids-struggle-to-graduate/.

Williams, Brittani. “Many Determined College Students Are Also Dedicated Parents: A Preview

of the Student Parent Affordability Report.” The Education Trust, 22 Sept. 2022,

https://edtrust.org/resource/many-determined-college-students-are-also-dedicated-parents

-a

preview-of-the-student-parent-affordability-report/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20more%20

an%20one,million%20college%20students%20with%20children.