Supporting Latino Student Parents Pursuing Higher Education

“Ele­vat­ing Lati­no Par­ent­ing Stu­dents in High­er Edu­ca­tion,” a new Child Trends brief fund­ed by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion, shares find­ings on Lati­no stu­dent par­ents, the strate­gies col­leges are using to sup­port them and rec­om­men­da­tions for the field.

“Lati­no par­ents are a major seg­ment of the over­all stu­dent pop­u­la­tion but they are often over­looked in post­sec­ondary edu­ca­tion. In many cas­es, they do not have the sup­port they need to suc­ceed aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly while rais­ing a fam­i­ly,” said Quanic Fullard, a senior asso­ciate with the Casey Foun­da­tion. ​“This research brief sheds light on the unique needs of these stu­dent par­ents and how our part­ners in high­er edu­ca­tion can improve their out­reach efforts.”

Who Are Lati­no Stu­dent Parents?

Accord­ing to ​“Ele­vat­ing Lati­no Par­ent­ing Stu­dents,” Lati­no stu­dents are the fastest grow­ing group of stu­dents in high­er edu­ca­tion with­in the Unit­ed States. One in 5 Lati­no under­grad­u­ate stu­dents, more than 600,000 peo­ple, are also par­ents. And 30% of all Lati­no chil­dren have par­ents with some col­lege expe­ri­ence but no col­lege degree.

The brief’s key find­ings include:

• Lati­no stu­dent par­ents are not a mono­lith. Although 49% are Mex­i­can, 43% of Lati­no stu­dent par­ents are Puer­to Rican, Cuban or from anoth­er coun­try. While 43% of Lati­no stu­dent par­ents speak Span­ish as a first lan­guage, 39% grew up pri­mar­i­ly speak­ing Eng­lish. In short, these stu­dent par­ents have diverse expe­ri­ences and dis­tinct needs.
• Lati­no stu­dent par­ents face bar­ri­ers in high­er edu­ca­tion. These include the ris­ing costs of col­lege tuition; unwel­com­ing cam­pus­es; lack of sup­port ser­vices in areas like hous­ing, legal ser­vices or trans­porta­tion; and the ten­sion between their duties as par­ents and their respon­si­bil­i­ties as students.
• Increased fund­ing is cru­cial. Exist­ing ser­vices for Lati­no stu­dent par­ents have lim­it­ed fund­ing. They empha­sized that some Lati­no par­ents who are stu­dents may be inel­i­gi­ble for finan­cial aid due to their immi­gra­tion sta­tus and that Lati­no stu­dents are gen­er­al­ly more averse to tak­ing on stu­dent loan debt. If prop­er­ly fund­ed, sup­port­ive ser­vices tar­get­ed toward Lati­no stu­dent par­ents would relieve many of the stress­es they face on and off campus.

Rec­om­men­da­tions for Post­sec­ondary Edu­ca­tion Providers

To bet­ter sup­port Lati­no stu­dent par­ents, ​“Ele­vat­ing Lati­no Par­ent­ing Stu­dents” offers the fol­low­ing pol­i­cy and prac­tice rec­om­men­da­tions for high­er edu­ca­tion professionals:

1. To ensure Lati­no stu­dent par­ents suc­ceed, insti­tu­tions need to lis­ten and learn from them. Gath­er infor­ma­tion from sur­veys or by build trust­ed one-on-one rela­tion­ships with stu­dent par­ents that ensure poten­tial­ly sen­si­tive infor­ma­tion remains confidential.
2. Insti­tu­tions should cre­ate sup­port­ive infra­struc­ture and poli­cies tai­lored to stu­dent par­ents, includ­ing Lati­no stu­dent par­ents. These could include child-friend­ly study rooms and free or afford­able child care on cam­pus. For Lati­no stu­dent par­ents specif­i­cal­ly, this sup­port could include offer­ing ser­vices in Span­ish or devel­op­ing pro­grams or poli­cies that are co-designed by cur­rent Lati­no students.
3. Sup­port for Lati­no stu­dent par­ents must organ­i­cal­ly incor­po­rate their chil­dren and fam­i­lies. To do this, the brief rec­om­mends cre­at­ing events like fam­i­ly engage­ment nights, devel­op­ing holis­tic ser­vices that go beyond the cam­pus — such as hous­ing and health care — and ensur­ing ser­vices are acces­si­ble and avail­able to stu­dents and their families.

Learn more about how com­mu­ni­ty col­leges can help stu­dent par­ents succeed