Student Parent Success Initiative

Newsletter Winter 2022

IWPR RESEARCH & RESOURCES

Supporting Student Parent Recovery through State Policy: Lessons from Georgia, Texas, and Washington State

This new brief examines what states can do to help student parents in the context of the pandemic recovery. It provides examples and opportunities of how states can apply a student parent–lens to guide policy decisions and utilize stimulus funds. States should: (1) channel stimulus funds to support institutions and services that promote student parents’ success; (2) engage in state-level policy reform to improve child care access for student parents; and (3) create campus-based supports for student parents and improve data collection of parent status across the state higher education system. November 2021

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Evaluating the Role of Campus Child Care in Student Parent Success

This brief highlights the importance of campus child care services for student parent success. Authored in partnership with Insight Policy Research, it presents the challenges to evaluating the impact of campus child care on student outcomes. The brief concludes with recommendations to improve conditions for rigorous research on the role of campus child care centers and outcomes for student parents. October 2021

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EVENTS & FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The 2022 Virtual National Student Parent Support Symposium will be held May 18-19, 2022. The theme this year is “Bridging the Intersections: Examining the Interdependent Experiences and Needs of Parenting Students.” This nationally acclaimed symposium brings together students and higher education professionals to discuss best practices, policies, research, program models, and community collaboration to support post-secondary parenting students and their families. The 2022 Virtual Symposium will be free-of-charge to support the success and accessibility of parenting students and advocates! Sign up for updates here.

SwiftStudent Empowers Student Parents to Ask for More. IWPR is a proud partner of SwiftStudent, an online tool to help guide students through the process of requesting more financial aid. It provides core information on the aid appeal process, shares eligibility requirements, and offers a free, customizable template for appeal letters to submit to students’ college financial aid office. A Spanish language guide to SwiftStudent is also available.

STUDENT PARENT RESEARCH & RESOURCES

Single Moms Success Design Challenge: In this brief, the Design Insights Lab shares six design insights, highlights key learnings, and paints a picture of the four pilot programs developed to support single mothers in college. Each college received $50,000 in start-up funding as part of this grant to support pilot implementation. | November 2021

Higher Education and Student Parent Supports: Barriers, Challenges, and Opportunities: This report from Generation Hope presents the findings from focus group sessions held with student parents, philanthropy, and higher education representatives, including college presidents, professors, and administrative staff. The report identifies the top three barriers to student parent success in college. | November 2021

WTCS Voices: A Conversation with Parenting Students: This podcast from the Wisconsin Technical College System is the first in a series of conversations about supporting students and building inclusive spaces. This episode focuses on parenting and caregiving students. Parenting students have been significantly impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary analysis has shown that the enrollment of single parents, in particular, in Fall 2020 was roughly 37% lower than prior years. | November 2021

POLICY UPDATES

The Department of Education published new guidance to assist institutions seeking to provide students with basic needs supports. It provides examples of how higher education institutions can use the portion of their HEERF grants to make investments into basic needs supports for students to help them navigate financial challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic, including insecurity with housing, food, and child care. The guidance also highlights leading colleges already using HEERF funds for these efforts, including Bergen County Community College, which used HEERF funds to subsidize tuition for their on-campus Child Development Center and support student parent success.

Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CCAMPIS) Reauthorization Act. Introduced by Senator Duckworth, this bill would reauthorize and fully fund the only federal program that exclusively supports on-campus child care services. It would authorize CCAMPIS at $500 million per year beginning in FY 2022. For more information, see the bill text, and read IWPR’s letter of support here.

STUDENT PARENTS IN THE NEWS

Supporting Student Parent Success

Support for Parents Attending College: What to Know | US News | January 24, 2022

What Does it Take to Train Single Moms for Good Careers? | Ed Surge | January 16, 2022

Opinion: Looking at College Debt and Single Parents | Amarillo Globe-News | January 9, 2022

College Students with Young Kids – Especially Mothers – Find Themselves in a Time Crunch | The Conversation | January 6, 2022

Student Parent Programs

Program Launched to Support Student Parents as They Complete College Degrees | The Chicago Crusader | January 18, 2022

New UNK Program Supports Student-Parents as They Pursue a Degree | UNK News | January 3, 2021

Student Parents Get a Boost At KSU | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution | January 1, 2022

Family Friendly: Initiative Helps Student Parents Succeed at CSUMB | Monterey Herald| December 5, 2021

Students Who Parent Group Offers Support at Kennesaw State | Kennesaw State University News | December 3, 2021

Expansion of Child Care Access for Student Parents

The Pandemic Accelerates a Decline in Campus-Based Child Care | Chronicle of Higher Education | December 15, 2021

University student-parents supported with new child care program | This is Reno | December 7, 2021

‘The Cost for Child Care Is Almost My Entire Monthly Stipend as a Graduate Student’ | USC Annenberg | November 3, 2021

About the Student Parent Success Initiative

The Student Parent Success Initiative (SPSI), a project of the Institute for Women's Policy Research, conducts research and analysis to improve supports and services for student parents and promote their success in postsecondary education. SPSI serves to initiate new research, raise awareness on the need for student parent supports, and foster communication and collaboration among advocates, policymakers, educators, and practitioners. Contact us at [email protected].

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Washington DC, 20036

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