While most AU students worry about class and work, students like Danielle Cooney, a sophomore at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and mother of a 3-year-old son, Jorden, worry about leaving their baby at home with a diaper rash.
Although groups that cater to student parents have received little attention on AU's campus, a growing number of universities are facing the need for on-campus day care centers, CNN reported.
Mu Tau Rho, whose Greek initials stand for Mothers Together in Parenting, is Cooney's brainchild.
Jessica Overstreet, a recent UMSL graduate and one of Mu Tau Rho's 13 founding members, said the group improved her college experience because it accommodated her student-mother lifestyle.
Cooney and Overstreet said they could not join other clubs because of time constraints and that children are not invited to most events.
"I worked 25 hours a week and went to school for 15 hours," Overstreet said. "When I got home, I had my homework and my son's homework."
However, Mu Tau Rho holds most activities and meetings on Saturday to fit the student-mothers' schedules and also organizes playdates for the toddlers and tutoring sessions for older kids, Cooney said.
Overstreet, who now works full time as an accountant and will pursue a master's degree and certification in public accounting, said the camaraderie of the sorority sisters and her family's support helped her cope with her difficult situation.
"I did it because I do not want my son to have a life of struggle," she said. "I want him to think that he can do anything he wants with his life."
Although child rearing and an academic life are difficult to balance, Overstreet said Mu Tau Rho members are proof that student-mothers can make it work.
To spread this message, the group engages in community outreach programs to help young pregnant women find their path to college.
Jackeline Stewart, a senior in the School of Communication, said a group that focuses on the needs of student parents might be helpful at AU because the majority of the student body is young, and student parents here probably feel judged for not taking the traditional student path.
"The reasoning behind teenage abortion is that you can't go to college," Viola Irvin, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said.
A support system like Mu Tau Rho on university campuses is one way to help these pregnant teens see they have other choices besides abortion, Irvin said.
"It was not intentional and I had him a month before graduation," Cooney said of her young son. "However, I always knew I was going to college, I just did not know when and how."
Among the other college groups that cater to student parents is Mu Omicron Mu, or MOM, at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., CNN reported.
Mu Tau Rho plans to expand on other college campuses starting with a statewide chapter for New York, Cooney said.
