By Meagan Walker

Georgetown, Dartmouth, Boston College, Cornell, Yale. How would these schools be ranked on a scholarly basis?

Are they prestigious? Yes. Are admissions tough? Yes. Are they expensive? Big yes. Are these schools the breeding ground for good housewives? For some female college students, the answer is yes, willingly.

In a recent study of female students at Yale University, 60 percent said they plan to either cut back on working or quit working entirely when they have children. The study appeared in The New York Times, and has prompted discussion about the rising trend among female students at acclaimed universities whose ultimate plan is to become stay-at-home mothers and raise a family, rather than pursue a career with the degree they’ve earned.

On the Facebook, 120 Northeastern students have joined the group “Can’t I just major in how to be a good housewife?” After spending four or five years at Northeastern, are women going to make a career out of their degree, or are they going to put it on the back burner and take it out only if they need it?

Some members of the Facebook group, including Stephanie Cappuccio, said they would rather use work as a distraction than a source of income.

“I don’t want to have to work for the money, but I’ll probably still work just because I think I’d go crazy just watching the kids all day long. Work will be a much-needed break for me,” the senior journalism major said.

For others, getting a college degree is something to fall back on if other life plans do not work out.

“Going to college is the logical thing to do. You don’t know how your life could play out. There are so many elements that could enter. You need skills to fall back on,” said Caitlin Ryan, a freshman journalism major.

Catherine Dolan, an assistant professor of sociology, said if women feel like they have to choose between a career and a family, it is a testament to the lack of child-friendly career options.

“It shows the lack of child care provisions that would allow women to do both; focus on their careers and mother children,” she said.

Some women, including senior entrepreneurship major Katie Borger, said a college degree is useless unless it’s put toward a career.

“I’m getting a degree because I intend to use it,” she said. “It seems like kind of a waste of money to get a degree and not use it.”

The allure of having a degree is the concept of having choices, Cappuccio said. Her goals to marry and depend on a husband outweigh the importance of an education, she said.

“Just because I don’t want to work doesn’t mean I don’t want to be educated. If I don’t have to work to make money, I could do the things that are enjoyable for me,” Cappuccio said.