Housing insecurity creates significant barriers for student parents, jeopardizing their academic success, economic mobility, and mental health. Addressing these issues through targeted interventions is crucial to support this vulnerable population and ensure they have the opportunity to complete their degrees and improve their families’ long-term outcomes.
What Students Want: Students’ Experiences and the Implications of Enhanced Holistic Supports for Non-Degree Pathways unveils that students and workers pursuing non-degree pathways are navigating higher education systems not designed with their realities in mind, and provides insights on the supports they need to succeed.
Highlights include:
The need for financial and holistic supports like childcare, transportation, and coaching.
Real stories from students balancing family, work, and education to build better futures.
Policy recommendations to make non-degree programs equitable and accessible.
This new brief published by the SPARK Collaborative uses 2020 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) data to document student parents’ living expenses, the resources student parents leverage to attend postsecondary education, and the gaps student parents face between their expenses and their resources.
This new brief published by the SPARK Collaborative uses 2020 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) data to document student parents’ living expenses, the resources student parents leverage to attend postsecondary education, and the gaps student parents face between their expenses and their resources.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges to students across the United States, particularly those
who are parents enrolled in community colleges. California’s community college system serves a diverse student
population, including a significant number of non-traditional, working adults who are also parents. These students
have faced unprecedented challenges due to the pandemic, including the difficulties of balancing childcare
responsibilities with academic and professional obligations. This paper summarizes the preliminary findings of a
study that intends to contribute to the crucial conversation around childcare needs among community college
students. The focus of this study was understanding the experiences of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)
mothers with young children and the impact of COVID-19 on their educational experiences in community colleges
across the state of California.
Nationally, approximately one in six undergraduates at public colleges are student
parents. In Virginia, the figure is one in eight. Being a student parent means pursuing a
college degree while caring for a child, and despite earning similar or better average
grades than their childless peers (Reichlin Cruse et al. 2019), student parents are about
twice as likely to leave college before graduating. Supporting this population can
promote college access, boost degree attainment, and enhance state economic
competitiveness. This brief considers three options for increasing graduation rates
among student parents in Virginia public colleges: establish a comprehensive student-parent support program on each campus, distribute grant aid, and expand on-campus
child care. This analysis suggests that all three options have a positive return on
investment to taxpayers. The creation of a comprehensive student-parent support
program has the highest return on investment: Every dollar invested in this program
would yield an estimated $5.36 in tax revenue and public-benefit savings, resulting in an
estimated $1.9 billion in public benefit net of costs by 2035. This is only based on
estimated growth in federal, state, and local tax revenue and decreases in benefit program costs; it does not include the many individual, family, and social benefits from
degree attainment, which would provide additional returns.
As part of its broader Student Parent
Success Initiative, IWPR conducted
original research focusing specifically on
Black single mother students. This report
summarizes findings from 25 interviews
IWPR conducted with Black single mother
community college students, consisting of
both students who were enrolled at the
time of the interview and those who had
been enrolled in the prior five years. These
interviews provide insight into how college
settings promote or inhibit the success of
Black single mother community college
students, how Black single mother students
engage with institutional resources, which
of these resources they find beneficial, and
how institutional resources can better serve
their needs.
Low-income students struggle with resources while trying to achieve future financial stability. As colleges explore ways to support students, one solution is integration with public benefits. This study focuses on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a program that offers cash assistance to low-income adults with children. Statistical analysis of New Jersey data on applications from students (N = 1,064) is complemented by interviews with higher education experts (N = 6). Findings indicate that knowledge about the program is lacking. Among students who do apply, many either withdraw their application or do not complete the requirements. Findings offer recommendations to improve access for students.
Objective: The purpose of this paper was to examine variables associated with food insecurity among community college caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We used data from a multi-institutional survey of 15,051 caregivers enrolled at 130 community colleges in 42 states in fall 2020. We used a logistic regression
to examine whether demographic, academic, caregiving-related, financial, or COVID19-related variables were associated with caregivers’ food insecurity. Results: Over half (52%) of community college caregivers experienced food insecurity. Transgender caregivers, first-generation caregivers, and caregivers who were divorced or single, had multiple disabilities, were previously in foster care, and had a family that experienced trouble making ends meet growing up had significantly (p<.05) higher probabilities of experiencing food insecurity. Community college caregivers who used childcare and those with at least one child up to 12years old also had increased probabilities of experiencing food insecurity. Moreover, caregivers who felt childcare was not affordable and believed that they did not earn enough money to make employment worthwhile after paying for childcare expenses had higher probabilities of experiencing food insecurity, as did those who experienced housing insecurity and used Pell grants, student loans, and support from friends or family to pay for college. Losing a job, experiencing cuts to work hours or wages, employment as a frontline worker, and contracting COVID were associated with higher probabilities of food insecurity. Contributions: Community college caregivers experienced high rates of food insecurity during the pandemic and some caregivers were at greater risk of exacerbated probabilities of food insecurity. We advocate for targeted interventions, wraparound services, and increased advocacy for legislation to support student caregivers.
Parenting students constitute a significant portion of the college population, with 22% of undergraduate students nationwide managing the dual responsibilities of parenthood and education. Single-parenting students face disproportionate challenges to achieving academic success. This study examines the health, financial, and academic aspects of parenting students attending a large, urban public university, specifically comparing single parents to their married or cohabiting counterparts and non-parenting students in New York City. We collected data from 2104 participants, including 142 single parents and 119 married or cohabiting parents, through a cross-sectional survey. Using adjusted regression models, we evaluated the associations between parenting status and financial, health, and academic factors. Our findings reveal that, in comparison to non-parents, single parents are significantly more likely to carry debt (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.81), rely on food assistance (aOR 5.03), and achieve slightly lower GPAs (β − 0.11). Single parents also work more hours (aOR 1.66) and have an increased likelihood of facing debt (aOR 2.66), housing difficulties (aOR 2.80), food insecurity (aOR 2.21), and lower GPAs (β − 0.22) compared to their married or cohabiting peers. The disaggregation of single and married or cohabiting parents reveals significant disparities, emphasizing the vulnerability of single-parenting students in higher education. Targeted interventions addressing issues like food security and housing are essential to support the academic success of single parents.