It was a long day for dietetics senior Valery Heller and her 15-month-old son, Reece.

Heller made eggs as Reece sat attentively in his highchair, shoving yogurt into his mouth. After dinner, the two played with their dogs, before Reece had a bath and went to bed. It's then that Heller has time to study; she's carrying 17 credits this semester.

But after hours of classes, work and driving to their home in Mason, the two still manage to have smiles on their faces.

"He is my downtime during the day," she said. "Watching him play and watching him learn is so much fun."

Heller is one of about 5,000 student parents who juggle the tasks of class, work and a child, according to MSU's Child and Family Care Resources. Nationally, about 5-10 percent of college students are parents.

With child-care costs rising, tuition and rent costs challenge many student parents.

Lori Strom, coordinator for Child and Family Care Resources, said MSU increased funding by $10,000 in July for scholarships to low-income students who have children.

"It takes twice as much money to take care of a child as it does to put them through school," Strom said. "And that's only one kid. What if you have two?"

The scholarship is for child care at the Spartan Child Development Center, 1730 Crescent Road.

Funding for the scholarship was increased from $20,000 to $30,000, but the funds still have to be divided among all the recipients, Strom said.

About 60 people received the scholarship, which goes toward reducing the daily fees for child-care service at the center. Those fees cost $10,000 a year.

"Most people that apply get it," she said. "My whole mission with them is to keep them in school and make them successful. MSU truly does support parents."

Heller said the center plays a large role in her and her son's life, and receiving the scholarship money helps out.

"He's excited to see the people," she said. "It's like, 'You have fun at school and I'll have fun at school.'"

The MSU's Student Parent Organization also offers an undisclosed amount of scholarship money for student parents. That money is used at the discretion of the small number of recipients.

The organization pools money from individual contributors, which makes it difficult to estimate how much money will be available for the scholarship.

"Oftentimes that's what they need, money for food," Strom said.

Battling money issues can be stressful, but student parents have developed a system of support for the good and bad times. The organization provides a setting for parents and their children to interact.

Michelle Artibee and her 3-year-old daughter, Kaitelin, have formed lasting bonds with people they met in the organization while Artibee was an MSU student. Artibee now is studying at Lansing Community College.

"I met quite a few people who I'm still very close with," she said. Other student parents are helpful when they can trade off picking each other's children up from day care, Artibee said.

Juggling duties is especially difficult for student parents during finals week, Strom said. To help combat that hectic time, Child and Family Care Resources provides free child care the week before finals and the first Monday, so students have an opportunity to focus on studying.

Heller said although she didn't study for her finals last semester as much as she should have, free day-care programs during the hectic week helped out a lot.

"Every final means I'm closer to graduating," she said.

Stephanie Korneffel can be reached at korneff2@msu.edu.