A Sorority for Single Moms

A Sorority for Single Moms Pursuing Higher-Ed

"I wanted to be in a sorority so bad, then I had my son. I didn't have a baby sitter to do all that," says 22-year-old sophomore Danielle Cooney.

Cooney is a member of the new sorority Mu Tau Rho, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The sorority was formed specifically for mother-students.

The Greek letters Mu Tau Rho is an acronym for the English phrase "Mothers Together in Parenting,". While many Greek organizations hold the meaning of their letters a secret, only to be disclosed to initiated members, the sisters of MTP are different in that they have no such tradition.

Indeed, many members are non-traditional students who feel they would not fit in with a typical group of sorority girls.

"I did all my partying before, now I've got birthday parties." said Jessica Overstreet, who is twenty six years old an a mother of a 5-year-old.

Sorority's for non-traditional students have been sprouting up across the nation. Another, which is targets at student-mothers is Mu Omicron Mu at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. The Greek letters Mu Omicron Mu is an acronym for the english word "MOM".

Sororities like these typically appear at commuter schools like University of Missouri-St. Louis, where a typical student is 26 years old.