Pregnancy, childbirth and the weeks after can land in the middle of a term, and federal law gives you specific protections in class. This article explains what Title IX requires of your college and how to put it to use.
What Title IX requires
Title IX is the federal civil rights law for students at colleges that receive federal funding, and pregnancy and related conditions fall under it. Your college must excuse absences caused by pregnancy, childbirth and recovery for as long as your doctor says they are medically necessary. When you come back, you return to the same academic status you had before.
Staying in your program is your choice to make. A college may offer a separate class or program for pregnant students, but taking part in it has to be voluntary. Help the college gives students with other temporary medical conditions has to be offered to pregnant students as well.
The person to contact
Every college that receives federal funding has a Title IX coordinator, and that office arranges these protections. Write to the coordinator as early as you can, describe what you expect to need and ask how your instructors will be told. A doctor's note may be requested, but only if the college asks the same of students with other medical conditions.
Ask about the practical pieces too: making up exams and assignments, an incomplete grade, a later date for a lab or clinical placement, or a leave of absence. Many campuses also keep lactation rooms, and the coordinator or the student parent office can tell you where they are.
When you come back, you return to the same academic status you had before.
New parents and your aid
Title IX also reaches rules about parental status, which covers new fathers and other parents who did not give birth. The coordinator can explain how that applies to you, and the dean of students can talk through options for a term that a newborn has upended.
Before you take a leave or drop credits, talk with the financial aid office. A change in enrollment can reduce Pell, pause loans or start a loan grace period, and the office can tell you what a leave means for your aid. If complications become a lasting condition, the disability services office may be able to arrange accommodations as well.
Steps to take
- Find your college's Title IX coordinator
- Write to the coordinator about the dates you expect
- Ask where the campus lactation rooms are
- Talk with the aid office before taking a leave
Who decides
Your college's Title IX coordinator
Your Title IX coordinator arranges excused absences and your return after pregnancy and childbirth, so contact that office early.