You are in college or want to go, but now you are pregnant. You might think you don’t have options. You think that you will have to choose between having a baby and college, because of the expense.
Did you know that thanks to private and public scholarships many women are choosing to do both?
Retirees, older parents, and single parents are joining those who just graduated college for higher education. As the face of higher education is changing so are the barriers to entry.
Make sure you look into all programs available to you. If you need assistance call us and we can help you with your search. Look at government, school and private scholarships. Also contact your local colleges and universities and ask about any mom-specific scholarships, and do some Internet searching to find scholarship offers for student parents. Also, go to your local library and ask your librarian for help. You do not have to do the searching alone
GOVERNMENT GRANTS
Academic Competitiveness Grant: Academic Competitiveness Grant:The federal government offers students the opportunity to obtain college funds through the Academic Competitiveness Grant. This grant may be used in conjunction with Pell Grants. This grant is based on your academic performance.
Federal Pell Grant: Pell Grants are available to ALL college students who show financial need, including single mothers and pregnant mothers. You might qualify for as much as $5000 a semester. Applications can be conducted online by completing the Free Application for Financial Student Aid at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Students should research application deadlines to ensure that funds are received for the upcoming semester as needed.
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG): This is another grant offered by the federal government. It is a need-based grant like Pell Grants, and it is designed to be used as a supplemental financing option in conjunction with Pell Grants.
FINANCIAL AID AT YOUR UNIVERSITY
Do you attend college? Your pregnancy and the birth of your child will change how you need to file for financial aid. If you filed for Free Application or Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) before you knew you were pregnant, go to the Financial Aid Office and let them know about your pregnancy immediately. Also ask the financial aid officer what other programs are available, they might be able to help you with child care, medical costs as well.
Visit your local Medi-Caid/Medi-Cal office and ask if they can offer advice and assistance.
Also know that pregnant students are protected from any sort of discrimination at the level of higher education. That includes giving pregnant women access to all grants and scholarships offered to other students. This is due to Title IX, a law regarding gender and other types of discrimination.
To make things a little easier, when the baby is born, the mother will most likely qualify for child care subsidies as long as she enrolls half-time at a college or university.
Scholarship Offers for Women Who Are Pregnant
This is just a short list of some of your scholarship options:
The Sister Thea Bowman Foundation provides funds for single African-American mothers to attend the College of St. Mary. That college, located in Omaha, Nebraska, works closely with the Sister Thea Bowman Foundation to hand out plenty of scholarships to young black single moms who want to better themselves. You can find similar organizations at colleges all over the country.
The Association for Women in Science scholarship may not at first sound like aid aimed at pregnant women or single mothers, and technically it isn’t. But we show this scholarship as an example of the sort of award that pregnant women or single moms should go for, even though the award isn’t tailored specifically for pregnant women. This award is good for up to $1,000 a year for any woman majoring in the field of science.
Women’s Opportunity Awards are given to women who serve as the primary head of their household, so basically single moms. Depending on the woman’s financial need and the cost of tuition at her chosen school, this award could pay for a mom’s entire college education.
Pregnant on Campus Site- Scholarship List
Scholarships for Women Site- Scholarship List
It is important to know that you do have options and there are many people willing to both financially and emotionally support you so you don’t have to choose between having a child and going to college.