A nursing major at Shelton State Community College and a former biology student at The University of Alabama, Amanda Daidone credits her change in career path to the birth of her son, Sam. Experiencing firsthand the care that the nurses took of her, Daidone said she realized that was the profession she wanted to pursue.

“Sam was in the NICU for a week after he was born because we had some complications with the delivery, and so that’s where I fell in love with the NICU and the nurses,” Daidone said.  “They just, they knew me and Joe were young, so they took us under their wing and just helped us figure it all out.”

Taking things one step at a time, Daidone decided not to return to school immediately, which allowed her time to spend with her son Sam while also saving money on day care.  

“I was staying at home with Sam and then I decided like a year into it that I could start school, so I started,” Daidone said.

Daidone and her husband, Joe Daidone, a senior majoring in civil engineering, adapted to the needs of their family while navigating their education on new terms. They set up their courses in a way that was conducive to helping each other out with their son and also accomplishing their career goals.

“I made the accommodation of going to Shelton to save money, and so I’m doing the Shelton program, and Joe is doing the full time at ‘Bama, trying to graduate, and he made some accommodations by doing a co-op so that we could have some money to get through school, both of us, students,” Amanda Daidone said.

Grants dedicated to student parents and married students have also been a significant help, Amanda Daidone said.

“Me and Joe have both gotten, I mean, amazing grant money just from being a parent and being married,” Amanda Daidone said. “Him going to the University he gets a good amount of money and I get pretty much all of my school paid for through grants that we don’t have to pay back, which is great, because, you know, student loans are horrible. And being a parent you’re just like, ‘oh my gosh, I just want to be debt free.”’

The UA Title IX office provides accommodations for pregnant students as well. Beth Howard,  Title IX coordinator, said they aim to help these students fulfill their responsibilities and succeed in their courses.

“The accommodations allow the pregnant student to complete class assignments when they are medically able, without being penalized because of their medical condition,” Howard said.  “For example, if a student is expected to give birth around the same time as finals, if requested, the Title IX Office can assist the student with communicating with their professor to develop a plan to allow the student to either take their finals early, if that is an option, or receive an incomplete and take the final exams when they are medically able to do so.”

Amanda Daidone said her and Joe Daidone’s teachers have been understanding of parenting-related absences.  

“Our teachers are really understanding like when Sam would be sick, or anything like that,” Amanda Daidone said. “They’re very understanding, once you say, ‘Hey, listen, I’m a parent, like, I’m not just missing because I want to, I’m missing because my son has a 102 fever.’  They’re good about that.”

Taking care of a child, student parents are presented with challenges different from many other students. While many students are able to create a schedule based on their own availability, Amanda and Joe organize their school and studying schedules with their son in mind.  

“Our mindsets were all pointed toward Sam now,” Joe Daidone said. “Being so young, you’re just used to kind of being selfish. I guess it’s okay because it’s just you, you know what I mean? But our mindsets had to change a lot.”

Joe Daidone highlighted some of the differences between being a student parent and a student with no child. He and his peers have “different problems,” he said.    

“I’m going to class with a circle of baby vomit on my right shoulder, you know,” Joe Daidone said. “It’s just different, so it kind of puts you aside.”

Despite sometimes being unable to relate to his peers, Joe said that being a father has changed his life. The increased responsibility, a result of taking care of Sam, benefited professional and scholarly aspects of his life, as well.

“I would do homework because I had to do homework, not because I thought it was the right thing to do, but just because I needed to do it, it was just my responsibility,” Joe Daidone said.  “And that was not what my mindset before was. My grades are way better than they were before I was a parent, and my job went really well because I was responsible.”