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I have said this in other posts, but I will repeat it
IT DEPENDS
on the chapter
on the woman's situation
on the college
on the support system the woman has
on the woman's financial situation
In my experience, every organization I've ever been in has been similar in levels of participation: 10% do the majority of the work. Another 40% or so are pretty helpful, and the rest are minimal participants.
I don't think it is fair to condemn a pregnant 19 year old for choosing to continue with her pregnancy, go to college, and try to live a "typical" college student life too. That is a life learning experience that can be beneficial. There are so many different hypothetical scenarios that could be presented. It would work out fine in some situations and horribly in others. Chapters know which is the truth for their campus.
My next door neighbors have a daughter who is now 22 who has a 3 year old son. Their daughter went back to school the semester after she had her baby. She lived AWAY at school. I would bet she didn't tell a lot of people at school that she had a son. This was the best circumstance for this child and this young woman. She was no where near ready to be a parent, her parents and brothers are always around and they all take part in the parenting of this child. He's adorable, bright, and charismatic. He has a huge family of adults who love him, discipline him and care for him. Is that a bad thing? Nope. He knows that mommy is in college and he is proud to now be in pre-school because he goes to school just like his mommy does. He is very bonded to his mom and misses her, but he is also bonded to his grandparents and uncles. They had a choice. They could support him and help raise him, or they could have their daughter not finish college, not have a career and be on welfare or work minimum wage jobs to struggle her whole life. The child knows who his mother is and doesn't confuse grandparents or uncles as his parents.
Of course ultimately it's up to the chapter. I was just pointing out earlier that all chapters are different and some cannot afford to rule out non-traditional students because they are at non-traditional universities.
Dee
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