A new BYU policy states that infants who attend their parent’s classes will receive partial course credit. To qualify, the infant will be expected to have consistent attendance and the parent will need to read assigned reading aloud to their child. If the infant sleeps through class, they will be eligible to receive no higher than a C. BYU believes it only fair to still give credit as regular students have been known to sleep through class and still pass.

This policy was born out of the concern that BYU students are waiting to graduate before starting families.

“This is not in line with the aims of a BYU education,” an anonymous BYU administrator said. “Students waiting until they are 23 or 24 to begin having children is unacceptable, even if it is to avoid needing to balance schoolwork and childcare. Next thing you know, they’ll be waiting until their mid-twenties to even get married, or worse, wanting to have a career before parenthood.”

Additional efforts to discourage BYU students from waiting to have children include a new policy giving students extra credit points per child and stocking baby food in the vending machines on campus.

Individuals who have received credit for classes attended as an infant will be required to pay tuition for credit hours already earned upon admittance to BYU as an adult.