"Joe College" and "Betty Coed" aren't your typical undergraduates at the University of the Virgin Islands these days — if they ever were.
In UVISION, the student newspaper at UVI, St. Croix editor Arlene Swanston reports that in one of her classes this semester, out of 23 students, 19 were female and of these women, 37 percent were single parents. In another course she had taken earlier, she said, the professor asked how many of the 35 or so student were parents, and more than half raised their hands.
Further, Swanston noted, many of the students who juggle the demands of academia with the responsibilities of parenthood also hold part- or full-time jobs to make ends meet. She said another professor noted a distinct difference in the overall performance of students in morning versus evening classes, suggesting that this could be due to the fact that most evening students have full-time jobs. At UVI, part-time students outnumber full-time students about two to one.
UVISION also reported, in a separate story, that nearly 73 percent of UVI students currently receive financial aid. This includes grants, work-study programs, loans and scholarships. The greatest number of students receive federal Pell Grants of $400 to $3,000 per academic year, financial aid supervisor Ardrina Scott-Elliott said. Different types of aid have different criteria, but overall, financial assistance is "need-based," she said.