Pregnant! and no rights?????

upset_student

Hi,

I'm mature student and I'm pregnant. I doing a degree at the moment and I was hoping I could continue with my studies. I've tried to find out if I am entitled to a few weeks off college just to get over birth & spend a little bit of time with the baby. I dont want money I don't want 6 months off!!! All I want is to be treated fairly....I shouldn't have to defer for the year I am not sick!!! for personal reasons I cannot defer anyways...There is no information available for mature women in college who are pregnant. I rang a pregnancy crisis number for any advice but I'm not technically classed as a crisis since I have a partner supporting me. He will be taking time off work but lets face it hes not going to get much paternity leave..... Its like I have no rights. . . I rang the college (anonomously) and they said maybe I should defer. OMG surely theres more options available than that. I want to scream!!!! I'm now afraid to talk to my course director in case i am forced to defer...

Upset

MagicMarker

I'm not exactly sure how the college are supposed to give you 6 months off? They have a curriculum to follow, it's not like a job where they can just get someone to cover for you.

Is this a planned pregnancy?

Fox McCloud

Try to figure out exactly what you'll miss in college assuming you need time off around your due date or whenever, then ask can you do these assesments early or repeat without a cap on the marks over the summer.

I guess it'll come down to how much time you need off and what kind of course it is.
Go in and talk to your year head or the head of the department about your circumstances and see if theres a way to cover the course work. Maybe you could take on more modules in the first term?

upset_student

I Don't want 6months off. 6 weeks would be ideal. I am due before the easter break which is 2 weeks long. My college will also have a field trip around that time which alot of people dont go on so thats another week. The kind of course i am doing is full time but alot of it is self managed time ie not alot of class work like most other colleges. If I had influenza I would get a sick note which I assume the college would have to be ok with... But the fact is its not the flu...

Dermo

Have to agree with MagicMarker. The college runs on a curriculum, you could probably ask for some deadlines to be extended on a class to class basis but you would probably still have to take the tests with everyone else.

There aren't many options open for this sort of situation, if someone gets into an accident or gets sick and is forced to miss a significant part of a college year they usually have to repeat the full year. In these cases it is normal to have your fee waived for the repeat year for medical reasons

upset_student

Fox McCloud wrote: »

Try to figure out exactly what you'll miss in college assuming you need time off around your due date or whenever, then ask can you do these assesments early or repeat without a cap on the marks over the summer.

I guess it'll come down to how much time you need off and what kind of course it is.
Go in and talk to your year head or the head of the department about your circumstances and see if theres a way to cover the course work. Maybe you could take on more modules in the first term?

thanks Fox,

That is a good point that i did not even think of. I am willing to work as hard as necessary to make this work. i will find out about assignments in advance and see about getting some of them done..If college is ok with this. I really appreciate helpful advice.

Agent_99

Do quote me on this but I think legally you have to have two weeks before and two weeks after the birth, depending on how sure you are with your dates and if you can cover that time around the natural break in the term.

Best of luck anyway I hope that everything goes well!

rainbowtrout

If you are due around Easter, which must be around March you must have just only found out recently, so you have time to get sorted. College timetables are pretty much set in stone, however if you go to your lecturers the minute you go back and explain your situation, if they see that you are willing to work, they will probably accommodate you with assignments, presentations, essays etc.

I remember one of the girls that was in college with me was in the same situation and her lecturers were very accommodating. After she had the baby she was the only one who made it to 9am lectures on a friday despite a 2 hour commute. Go and talk to them before you have to try and get sick certs to cover you for labs or whatever compulsory assignments have to be completed, because even if you have to defer your summer exams until the repeats at the end of the summer it would be great to have all the coursework out of the way.

thumper10

hey there, can you defer your exmas until august-or when the repeats are, at least then you can tecnically finish your exams with your classmates? or ask the college for online tutition?

BostonB

Most colleges have some sort of system where you can repeat modules, even if you have to wait for the following year for them to come around again on the calendar.

swanangel

If it's a planned pregnancy or not is nothing to do with the lady's problem, frankly I find it quite rude that she was asked this.
I think you should contact your local citizens advice centre and I do hope things work out for you, don't give up on your studies no matter how hard people make it for you.
Best of luck for you and your partner.

SugarHigh

swanangel wrote: »

If it's a planned pregnancy or not is nothing to do with the lady's problem, frankly I find it quite rude that she was asked this.
I think you should contact your local citizens advice centre and I do hope things work out for you, don't give up on your studies no matter how hard people make it for you.
Best of luck for you and your partner.

No one told her to give up her studies. They advised it would probably be better to defer for a year and tbh I agree with them. Do you realise how much it will cost to repeat the year if you fail? The government won't pay any registration fee and you will have to pay the course fee's for yourself so it could easily be over €3,000 and you won't get any grants either.

The college year is only something like 30 weeks long and your planing on missing 7 and then who knows how many days you will miss because your not feeling well. You are not going to be able to give college your all this year so just defer until next year.

Real_World?

Defer for a year . Go away have the baby . Spend some quality time looking after your new born.

As how can you concentrate on college when you have a new born. What is more important here.

You can come back to college then in a yr. Having had a good year with your baby. What is the big deal.

Pixied

Go see the college counsellor, tell then how stressed you are about this and they will give you support to explore your options and may even know better channels to communicate your problem to within the college. ( If that makes sense)..Good luck!

An Citeog

Jesus, citizens advice centre, repeating modules, statutory entitlements... OP, the only thing you can really do is contact your course director and explain the situation to them because they're the only person that can give you a definitive answer. You're not the first person to give birth during the college year and you definitely wont be the last, so you'll probably be surprised at how accomodating they can be.

The only problem I can see is that depending on when your summer exams start, you might have to defer sitting them until whenever the Autumn repeats are held. I'd definitely email the course director first though. You could always contact student services/your college's SU aswell if you wanted.

Best of luck with it anyway.:)

BostonB

BostonB wrote: »

Most colleges have some sort of system where you can repeat modules, even if you have to wait for the following year for them to come around again on the calendar.

I actually meant defer a module not repeat it.

swanangel

SugarHigh wrote: »

No one told her to give up her studies. They advised it would probably be better to defer for a year and tbh I agree with them.

I didn't say anyone told her to give up her studies, what I mean is it is hard for people to study and raise a family as 'some' colleges can be difficult and do not provide any support or information and she should not be put off by this and give up her studies ALTOGETHER and never go back.

Hope that is clearer.

crazy cat lady

I don't know much about your rights, I guess you could get your doctor to sign you off for 6 weeks if thats all you feel you need?

However... Speaking as someone who had a baby in January, I would highly recommend deferring for a year. A newborn baby is hard work, you'll be lucky to get more than 3 hours sleep, which can make you a bit scatterbrained which probably is not going to produce the best results in your studies. Your head and emotions will be all over the place with the lack of sleep and hormones causing havoc! You may also, for whatever reason, end up needing a cesarean section to deliver the baby. Your body will need a good 6-8 weeks to recover from this, and even from a normal delivery your body takes time to recover. I can honestly say that its only really in the last month that I have started to feel 'normal'.

I don't want to scare you or anything, I just want you to be practical and think about the realities of studying with a newborn infant at home.

My husband is a mature student doing a full time degree and he found that he had no time to really study while he was at home with a new baby. He passed the year but he says himself that he could've done better, and thats with me doing all the night feeds and doing my very best to take the pressure off of him.

Also, think about your baby. Who will mind it while you are back into full time education?? The first few months are so imprtant for bonding and developing a relationship with your child.

I wish you all the best and hope that whatever you do works out for the best for both you and your baby.

upset_student

Hi,

Thanks all for your replies. Alot of different kind of replies there. I would have no problem defering for a year but I am on a btea. I dont think I would get it the next year which means the end for my studies. For the long term future i think it is best that I continue with my degree as it will mean a brighter future for all of us. i presume I cant be forced to defer can i?

With regards to it being difficult to work hard in college and have a new born well I will do my best. I will simply have to take a certain amount of time off that I will negotiate with department head etc. I'l definitely see about doing assignments earlier too if at all possible. I have no exams I am on a continuous assessment. So I will do my best with that. I dont think its as impossible as it first seemed...
Thanks all. anymore advice greatly appreciated

student

Larianne

Best of luck!