For students who are parents at the University, raising children and attending school is enough of a balancing act — but without a central location to get information on housing, financial aid and childcare, their job can be even more difficult.

To remedy that problem, a Friday morning summit hopes to identify unmet needs and create six-month, 12-month and three-year plans to meet them.

Jeanette Weider, associate director of University Housing for Family and Graduate Housing, said the intent of the summit is to organize a group of University faculty, staff and students to brainstorm solutions.

It is open to registered guests and will be held at the Student Dining and Residential Programs Building.

The idea for the summit came about when Carmen Wilson, junior in AHS, was invited to a meeting with the director of housing in the summer of 2010. Wilson had transferred to the University as a single parent and had noticed there was not a central place she could go to get information on childcare, family housing and financial aid.

And since there is no place in the admissions or acceptance process that asks an applicant whether they have a dependent, there are no numbers available for this demographic and the University has no way of knowing which students need to receive information.

“I wasn’t really sure where to go,” Wilson said. “It was really overwhelming.”

After her experiences transferring to the University, Wilson founded a Registered Student Organization called Resource and Information Services for Students with Kids Advocacy, of which she is president.

“I decided to create a student organization that would help combine all of the existing resources on campus as well as create more resources that would support student parents on campus,” she said.

Wilson said the problems she had when she transferred included finding information on housing, childcare and financial aid.

She said students who are parents are allowed to receive more in loans than traditional students, but do not receive additional money from scholarships or grants.

“You’re basically just borrowing more money to be able to go to school, which means you’re going to be having to pay more money once you graduate, which defeats the purpose because you have a child to support,” she said.

Since the University did not offer Wilson any information on family and graduate housing, she resorted to living off-campus.

Wilson said a lot of housing in the area is specifically geared toward students without families.

“They won’t let you rent a one-bedroom with you and your child if your child is over the age of one, so you have to rent a two-bedroom,” she said. “They make you rent both rooms at full price.”

Weider said there are one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments available through the University for students who have dependents. But because the University does not keep track of students with dependents, many are not aware of these options.

Wilson said at the summit, she will suggest flagging these students and creating a parent resource center so they can go to one place for help and information.

She said if a family resource center was created, students with children would be able to meet there and study while their children were supervised close by, since childcare is usually not provided in the evening and on the weekend.

Anne Robertson, director of I-Parents, said she thinks there are quality childcare and housing options available, but students are often unaware of how to access them.

Like Wilson, Robertson said she hopes there will be discussion at the summit about how to better communicate to students what resources are available to them.

“Supporting the entire family in some way and being welcoming to families when they return to get their education is so important, for the family and for the children,” Robertson said.