The deVeber Institute
for Bioethics and Social Research

Athabasca University, in Athabasca, Alberta provides a very unique university experience. It offers unparalleled distance education opportunities. Distance education and flexible class times have been labelled as the most helpful resource available to pregnant and parenting students. Athabasca offers flexible class times as well as classes via internet, cable television, and correspondence for undergraduate, graduate and even doctorate programs. For parenting or pregnant students who are unable to physically attend a university due to geographical, social or financial barriers, this school allows students anywhere in Canada to study long distance in any program that is offered.

Since many parenting students or pregnant students cannot afford child care and need to work daytime hours, distance education is a good opportunity for those who do not want to choose between an education and a family.

Genevieve Bonomi
Student at the University of Western Ontario

Throughout Canada, thousands of young people attend University who are aged 19 to 24. This group is also the largest age cohort of women having abortions. The deVeber Institute is researching the resources available to pregnant and parenting students on university campuses in order to better understand some of the reasons that may be behind this statistical flux. 

Preliminary results reveal that the majority of schools in our country are lacking services. Often the resources are not available, or are not made known to students who need them. Of all Canadian universities, the University of Toronto was the only university to offer all of the following: