One of the most common questions we receive at RSMC is “how to manage a busy school schedule with the responsibilities of being an Egg Donor?” No doubt, donating your eggs is a great choice to help out Intended Parents who are struggling with infertility issues and one of the best ways to make a huge dent in your student loan debt. However, it is also a serious commitment that requires a lot of planning and time.
According to a CDC study in 2010, 12% of assisted reproductive technology procedures involved egg donation. But the eggs used in IVF and surrogacy process need to come from a young and healthy candidate. That’s why young females between the age of 18-26 are more suitable to become Egg Donors.
In this post, we’ll look at how you can successfully donate eggs while navigating the day-to-day hassles of college life.
First Of All – Why Donate Your Eggs?
Most of our donors are donating eggs just because they want to assist another couple or individual who cannot conceive without the assistance of a third party. Regardless of how much the compensation is, egg donation is a selfless act that enables you to positively impact another person’s life.
Usually, Egg Donors use the compensation to offset their student loans, save up for grad school or a Ph.D. program, or raise funds for their own business after school. It’s a huge sum of money for such a short time commitment, and the great news is, you can donate two or more times.
Fitting Egg Donation Into Your College Schedule
There are several fertility medications, screenings, and appointments involved in the egg donation process. This can be a bit difficult in the midst of a hectic college schedule.
However, that does not mean it cannot be done.
Before signing any agreement with hopeful parents, you need to be 100% sure you can be committed to the egg donation process from start to finish. As an Egg Donor, you need to do your best to ensure the cycle is successful. Most Intended Parents won’t mind working around your school schedules and fixing the donation process to your spring, summer, or winter holiday.
However, it’s also okay if you would like to undergo the process mid-semester, as long as you will be able to attend morning monitoring appointments and stick to your medication regimen.
The egg retrieval process itself is a short procedure that wouldn’t take much of your time. Many donors go back to school or work the day after, but it will be good to plan for an extra day of rest following the procedure.
It is best to inform your boss or professors that you are donating eggs if you think the process will affect your school schedule or workload in any way. The entire process only takes some weeks, so your lecturers may be willing to give you some slack or be more understanding if you miss a deadline or are late to class due to the early morning monitoring appointments.
Don’t hesitate to speak to your case manager in case you have any concerns about your schedule. At RSMC, we will always look for ways to help you seamlessly fit egg donation into your busy school schedule.
If you are out of state
If you are a student residing in another state and want to donate eggs, we will be happy to pay for all your travel-related expenses for the donation. However, we often advise our traveling donors to have their cycle scheduled for one of the longer school breaks.
The Egg Donation Process
It’s a good idea to start preparing for the egg donation before signing up with an agency. Doing so will ensure that you’re ready to go immediately when you are accepted.
Once you finish your registration and are admitted into our donor database, the next step is to be matched with the hopeful parents. When an Intended Parent likes your profile and wants to work with you, one of our case managers will message you and take the egg donation process to the next step.
After you have been chosen as a donor, we’ll invite you for several appointments to ascertain you are healthy and fit to donate eggs. During these clinic visits, you will undergo various medical, genetic, fertility, and psychological screenings.
Once cleared to proceed by our medical team, you’ll start taking contraceptive pills to sync up your cycle with that of the egg recipient. As the egg retrieval date approaches, our physicians will get you started on some hormone injections that will help induce ovulation.
We will figure out when is the best time to retrieve your eggs while you are taking these injections. Your part in the donation process ends once the egg retrieval operation is completed.
Preparing for Egg Donation
1. Take Care Of Yourself
Perhaps you are wondering what you should be doing in the period between signing up as a donor and being picked by hopeful parents.
In most cases, we only ask you to continue taking care of yourself as you would have if you are not donating eggs. We also advise that donors maintain a healthy lifestyle by:
- Following a healthy diet
- Getting a moderate level of exercise
- Stopping alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs
2. Plan Ahead
Egg donation is a big commitment, so it’s important to plan ahead for the donation along with your other engagements, such as school or work.
There are several medical screenings and appointments that are required during the egg donation process, and you will want to be sure you can get an adequate amount of time off. Many donors quickly recover from the retrieval process, but you need to ensure you have an extra day or more after the procedure just in case you don’t feel back to normal as soon as it’s completed.
3. Ask Questions
You should ensure you ask all the important questions to be 100% confident and comfortable donating eggs. We know that the egg donation process can be intimidating, and we are here to guide you through it.
Our physicians and case managers will keep you updated from start to finish and answer any questions you’ve got about the process.
4. Set Up Your Support Network
One of the most crucial steps when preparing to donate eggs is making sure you’ll be well taken care of during and after the egg donation. Tell your trusted friends, family members, and people you love that you are donating eggs, and make sure you have a robust support system. You will likely need someone to accompany you to the clinic, take you home following the retrieval operation, or share your emotions and experience with.
Egg donation can be a stressful process, and the rest of mind that comes with knowing you have a strong support network is priceless.
Student Loans
One more thing you should consider is how donating your eggs can help offset your student loans. The average US college student has a student debt loan of over $17,000, which is enough to buy a new car or make an upfront payment for a small home. Student debt has increased by up to 150% since the Great Recession, and it’s the fastest-growing category of household debt in the USA.
The average fees and tuitions at a four-year public college were around $10,230 for the 2018-19 academic year. That is excluding accommodation costs and other crucial expenses. However, students at a four-year private college can expect to pay a lot more money.
For many people, student loans cover just 25% of the overall costs when financial grants, scholarships, and savings are inadequate, according to Sallie Mae’s National study, titled “How America Pays for College.”
A lot of students are facing huge loan debt that could take them up to 30 years to clear.
Nowadays, parents are choosing between paying for their children’s college education and funding their retirement. This issue is especially harder for older parents.
How Donating Eggs Can Help Offset Your Student Loan Debt
Since donating eggs does not impact your ability to have babies in the future, egg donation can help pay off a huge portion of your student loan debt.
Your body has thousands of potential eggs (oocytes) stored in the ovaries, and their quality remains the same all through the years you are eligible to donate. For this reason, many fertility clinics are looking for women between the ages of 20 and 30 to become their donors.
Egg Donors receive around $5000 to $1000 per donation, which can be repeated every six months (if you wish), and up to 6 times. The average student loan debt stands at $17,126. Now imagine how big of a dent $5000 or $1000 could make in the loan’s principal.
- For most student loans, there is a grace period of 6-9 months before you need to start payments. However, it’s best to begin your payments early in order to minimize interest. Moreover, most loans do not have a minimum payment or penalty for early payoff.
- If you’re still in college, you can use the compensation for books, tuition, and fees instead of getting a loan.
- Considering that you can donate eggs up to six times, egg donation can be a good source of income to rely on during your college education.
But Consider Commitment Towards Becoming an Egg Donor
Remember that egg donation is a serious commitment. It requires a surgical operation, and you should be able to visit the clinics while undergoing the treatment.
For those who are working, the series of blood tests, ultrasound, and the actual egg retrieval can be time-taking. However, a lot of clinics help ease the stress by covering your expenses for clinic visits!
One thing that determines your ability and willingness to donate eggs is how well your body tolerates the procedure, both physically and psychologically. You’ll need to observe your body and consult with your doctor to know if it is advisable to go for another round of egg donation.
However, for women who can withstand multiple rounds of the procedure, donating eggs remains one of the best ways to pay tuition and student loan debt. Whether you’re still in college or have graduated, egg donation offers an excellent opportunity to cover your costs.
Conclusion
As mentioned, as a young female student, you are in great demand because the younger the eggs used for IVF, the better. Due to this reason and the desire to help other people build a family, egg donation is a highly-rewarding thing to do. Plus, the compensation you get can help a great deal if you are facing huge student debt that is preventing you from owning a car or starting your own family.
But egg donation can be an intimidating process, especially for first-time donors and we understand that. At RSMC, we welcome any questions you may have about the egg donation process.
If you would like to know if you qualify to be an Egg Donor, contact us through our live chat or shoot us an email. You can also go to our website for more clarification about the egg donation process!
