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鈥淭he University of Toronto was the best in the country because they basically had every resource we questioned about and they also went above and beyond,鈥� said Genevieve Bonomi, a student at the in London, Ont., who spent her summer calling every university to enquire about services.

鈥淚t was just phenomenal the amount of encouragement  they鈥檙e providing for people to achieve an education and also have a family.鈥�

Bonomi wanted to find out whether or not campuses offered any of the following: flexible class times or long-distance education, child care centres or child care referral services, housing or financial aid specifically for parenting students, health care centres on campus for pregnancy testing or counselling. She and other interns also looked at the overall child friendliness of the campuses 鈥� whether or not there were baby change tables and if buildings were accessible for strollers.

The University of Toronto met all of these criteria, Bonomi said, and she was surprised to discover it has an adoption agency associated with the university for faculty, staff and students, offered women places on campus to breastfeed, provided on-campus housing for parenting students with a priority for single parents, offered discounts for the several child care centres and subsidies as well as food and clothing banks for parenting students.

鈥淚t was just phenomenal the amount of encouragement that they鈥檙e providing for people to achieve an education and also have a family,鈥� she said.

The U of T was the only university that offered information centrally, through the Family Centre and its web site.

鈥淭he point of the survey was to show that universities need a central point to help people find these resources on campus,鈥� Bonomi said, adding it soon became clear that at many of the universities these resources didn鈥檛 event exist or staff didn鈥檛 know which department to direct her to.

鈥淚 found that at a lot of the universities it鱿鱼视频app almost looked down upon to be a single mom or a teen mom so some universities find that if they just ignore the problem, it鱿鱼视频app almost like it doesn鈥檛 exist.鈥�

Bonomi was discouraged that most universities haven鈥檛 adapted services to families or single parents, when the ratio of women to men pursuing higher education in Canada is 60:40. There is an obvious change in demographic, she said, and the reality is that many young women 鈥� both married and unmarried 鈥� do become pregnant while attending school.

Brett Salkeld, a doctoral theology student at the University of Toronto, is one of many Catholics at the University of Toronto who doesn鈥檛 know what he鈥檇 do without the services. He has lived with his wife Fanning and their two small children in affordable, on-campus parent housing for a few years now. Affordable housing and reduced day care costs because of low income were the most important services, although the couple was on a waiting list for a year before they got their spot.

鈥淏ecause we were able to have the day care here so my wife could work to help cover rent and food while I go to school, we鈥檙e able to have kids while I鈥檓 in school without taking on more debt,鈥� Salkeld said. 鈥淚t would (otherwise) be crippling, it would be tens of thousands of dollars a year for four or five years. You鈥檇 never get out. It鱿鱼视频app hard to imagine how we could start our family if we weren鈥檛 able to take advantage of the day care and the housing here.鈥�

Elizabeth Ring-Cassidy, a researcher with the deVeber Institute who assigned the survey project to the interns, said Catholic universities didn鈥檛 fare any better than the secular ones and hopes the survey results, which they plan to send to every university and its clubs, will encourage change.

鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping it will be a bridging document between the pro-life clubs and the women鱿鱼视频app centres and women鱿鱼视频app issues clubs because this isn鈥檛 about abortion,鈥� Ring-Cassidy said. 鈥淭his is about what鱿鱼视频app there for women who choose to continue a pregnancy.鈥�

Ring-Cassidy said it鱿鱼视频app important to get the information out there about what individual campuses have, because students can鈥檛 lobby their campuses for support if they don鈥檛 even know what is offered.