How To Balance Uni And Parenting, From A Nursing Student Who’s Been There

This post is presented in partnership with CQUniversity.

Jayde Luke is just two subjects away from getting her Bachelor of Nursing.

“Thank goodness,” she laughed over the phone from Townsville.

As a stay-at-home mum with two children under the age of ten, Jayde, 29, has faced her fair share of hurdles on the path to that degree.

She wasn’t initially sure how she’d handle uni study while caring for her "bubs"; however, it was precisely because of those kids that she decided to take the tertiary plunge.

“I knew that, by the time my two kids were at school, I wanted to be able to go into a job and work full time,” she told Student Edge.

“I was a good old at-home mum, but I was always going to go back to work; I didn’t want to wait tables like I used to.

“The only obstacle I thought of initially was, ‘Well, if I have to go to uni, I have to go to uni.’ You know, go to school, sit the lectures and whatnot.”

Turns out, not so. Instead, Jayde registered for CQUniversity, where she was able to complete all her units from home.

“I needed to be at home and the fact that they could offer it was just perfect.”

To ensure she wasn't entirely isolated throughout her university experience, Jayde made a point of connecting with her fellow external students.

“We had the forums online, so there’d be external students who would message and say, ‘You want to meet up at the local library?’

“I’ve now got good, lifelong friends from this little external study group that we formed along the way, and I catch up with my residential schools in Mackay, so it’s worked out really well.”

Having been out of school for some time, Jayde needed to write a story about her life experiences to first get into the course.

“I ended up writing a story – like five pages of where I’d been and what I’d done – and that pretty much got me into nursing and allowed me to start uni, because my uni grades weren’t quite what they were after.

“My husband was in the army; I had our kids young; I’d lived a lot for a young person. That hopefully showed them I was worth it.”

Her husband being deployed for minor stints here and there made it difficult as she worked through her units, yet Jayde was able to lean on her family and friends for support.

“I kind of looked around and went, ‘This is what I’ve got to do; this is for my family. I’ve just got to do it. There’s no ifs or buts, really.’”

She’s now a student in nursing at the Townsville General Hospital, working in sub-acute rehabilitation.

“It’s very ironic, because where I’m working now is where I had my very first placement,” Jayde said.

“I was going into that place thinking, ‘Oh God, they’re all old; it’s going to be a nursing home-type thing. Oh God.’

"A lot of people do drop out when they know they’re going there, or they discover the experience and think, ‘No, nursing’s not for me.'

“I just embraced it; I got letters from patients of how much they appreciated the time I spent with them.”

Jayde believes that empathy is the trick to surviving – and thriving – in nursing.

“I say, you care for someone as if they were your grandmother, or mother, or grandfather, or father, or how you would like to be treated," she said.

“I think it’s paid off in the end, because I’m doing what I want to do, and it’s working so far.”

Photo supplied by CQUniversity.

Open up your universe and consider a degree at CQUniversity, just like Jayde. For more information, go to cqu.edu.au