Understanding the Needs of Student Parents

Did you know that 1 in 5 col­lege stu­dents are also par­ents? Stu­dent par­ents account for a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion of the under­grad­u­ate pop­u­la­tion in the Unit­ed States and face unique chal­lenges as they pur­sue an edu­ca­tion, work toward a career and raise a family.

Below, you’ll find some of the lat­est Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion-fund­ed resources for help­ing pol­i­cy­mak­ers, high­er edu­ca­tion lead­ers and non­prof­its bet­ter under­stand the evolv­ing needs of stu­dents with kids. 

Lessons From New Mexico’s Stu­dent Parents

A recent Child Trends pub­li­ca­tion shares the results of a sur­vey com­plet­ed by stu­dent par­ents in New Mexico. 

It iden­ti­fies many ben­e­fits to sup­port­ing these par­ents as they com­plete their col­lege edu­ca­tion, includ­ing high­er wages for grad­u­ates, increased tax rev­enue and low­er pub­lic ben­e­fits spending.

The sur­vey — which engaged over 1,000 preg­nant or par­ent­ing stu­dents with chil­dren at nine of New Mexico’s high­er edu­ca­tion insti­tu­tions — found that:

• Stu­dents with chil­dren have to bal­ance school, work and child care. Many stu­dent par­ents are enrolled part time and over half of all stu­dent par­ents sur­veyed work at least 30 hours per week.
• Stu­dent par­ents want flex­i­ble learn­ing. Forty per­cent of the stu­dents sur­veyed said that they pre­ferred online, asyn­chro­nous cours­es that could be com­plet­ed on their own time.
• The child care needs of stu­dent par­ents are not being met. The major­i­ty of stu­dents sur­veyed (66%) report­ed that they either had no for­mal child care or relied on unpaid help from fam­i­ly and friends.
• Stu­dent par­ents want sup­port­ive ser­vices on cam­pus. Such ser­vices include fam­i­ly-friend­ly study spaces and tutor­ing options, on-cam­pus child care and out­door play spaces for children.

Sup­port­ing Stu­dent Par­ents in Non-Degree pathways

The Nation­al Skills Coali­tion (NSC) has exam­ined the needs of stu­dent par­ents who are pur­su­ing skills train­ing and non-degree cre­den­tials. Three NSC blog posts devot­ed to this top­ic are:

1. Mak­ing Col­lege Work for Par­ents in Skills Training

This post names stu­dent par­ents as an impor­tant sub­set of ​“new major­i­ty learn­ers,” which is a new term to describe non­tra­di­tion­al stu­dents. It iden­ti­fies qual­i­ty short-term edu­ca­tion and train­ing pro­grams as afford­able career-advance­ment options for these par­ents and offers exam­ples of promis­ing strate­gies from state-lev­el NSC partners.

2. The Case for Invest­ing in Holis­tic Sup­port Ser­vices and Skills Training

This post calls for increased invest­ments to embed work­er sup­port ser­vices — options such as career nav­i­ga­tion, child care, hous­ing and trans­porta­tion assis­tance — in skills train­ing pro­grams. It cites a recent NSC pub­lic opin­ion poll, which found that 82% of vot­ers sup­port increased fund­ing for such services.

The entry also offers key con­sid­er­a­tions for pol­i­cy­mak­ers who invest in skills train­ing pro­grams, includ­ing call­ing on them to sup­port stronger resources for career coach­ing and nav­i­ga­tion ser­vices as well as expand­ed access to child care.

3. Pol­i­cy Action Lab: Expand­ing Holis­tic Sup­ports for Stu­dents on Qual­i­ty Non-Degree Path­ways

This post high­lights take­aways from a recent NCS-host­ed event devot­ed to sup­port­ing stu­dents in non-degree path­ways at com­mu­ni­ty and tech­ni­cal col­leges. It shares how schools can lever­age state and fed­er­al invest­ments, includ­ing access­ing pub­lic ben­e­fits pro­grams such as SNAP and TANF, to bet­ter sup­port students.

The entry also offers guid­ance on how schools can design strong poli­cies and pro­grams for these stu­dents, such as cen­ter­ing stu­dent voic­es and ful­ly uti­liz­ing flex­i­ble fund­ing streams.

Learn how col­leges are bet­ter sup­port­ing Lati­no stu­dent parents