Identifying Research and Policy Gaps to Expand Support for Student Parents

New America: What is unique about IWPR’s approach and work in the student parent research and policy spaces, and what brought your team to this work?

IWPR: We have been engaged in student parent research for over a decade now. It is an important research topic for IWPR because promoting success among this population has implications for racial and gender equity in higher education access. Data tell us that over two-thirds of student parents are mothers and that student parents are more likely to be students of color than non-parenting students. IWPR’s intersectional approach to student parent research enables us to analyze student parents’ educational journeys and experiences in the wider structural, economic, institutional, and representational context.

Our research tells us that this population faces specific challenges in accessing postsecondary education—including that they’re less likely to complete college and more likely to struggle under the burden of student loans—than other students. Student parents report high levels of financial insecurity and are often overlooked within an educational system not designed to meet their needs. Though the challenges student parents face are immense, the opportunity is too: educational attainment yields tangible benefits for both the students themselves and for their families.

New America: What are the most important takeaways from your work for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners?

IWPR: Understanding student parents’ needs and supporting them cannot be an afterthought. There is a critical role for institutions as well as policymakers to play, and we need engagement at all levels on this issue. Student parents are a significant proportion of students: over one-fifth, or 22 percent, of undergraduate students are student parents. At a time when college enrollment is well below the pre-pandemic levels, and the population of students who have completed some college but not earned any degree or certificate is growing (40.4 million as of July 2021, which is an increase from 39 million a year earlier), institutions need data-informed insights to understand and accommodate the needs of many non-traditional students, which include student parents.

It has mostly fallen to institutions of higher education, nonprofits, and other non-governmental entities to meet their needs. Relatively few states have implemented policies specifically designed to support student parents, and while limited federal policies exist, student parents are left behind in many federal programs that have been designed without their needs in mind.

Our work underscores the need for greater visibility of student parents. Student parents’ needs should be centered in conversations on access to and success in higher education, and their perspectives must be included in a range of other policy conversations, from social safety net programs to immigration to child care.

New America: What is on the horizon for IWPR in the student parent space?

IWPR: We have a research project in progress, as part of IWPR’s Student Parent Success Initiative, that focuses on Black single mother students. We just finished conducting interviews and are working on analyzing the data. We have rich data, which we hope to use to recommend policies and practices that will not only help Black single mother students succeed but also assist all student parents in achieving their academic goals. We expect to publish a report early next year. We are also analyzing the data to identify the areas that need further research.

IWPR recently published a landscape scan of state-level policies that aim to promote student parent success. In this paper, released in August 2023, we look at policies enacted or considered by state governors, legislatures, or executive agencies that promote the ability of parents to enroll and persist in higher education. The policies we identified fall into five main categories: improving data collection, financial assistance for student parents, basic needs and supports for student parents, child care access, and support for campus-based services for student parents. This paper provides state policy stakeholders with an overview of what states across the country have enacted to support this critical population of students.

New America: What research, policies, and/or practices are needed to better serve and support student parents?

IWPR: Better data on student parents would support greater visibility, and it’s critical that student parents be part of the development of policies and practices that impact them. They cannot be an afterthought. We need the architects of policy—at the institutional level as well as the state and federal level—to develop and employ mechanisms for consulting student parents themselves and to ensure that these students’ unique needs and challenges are part of policy discussions at all levels.

Collecting relevant quantitative data on student parents should be part of all conversations on postsecondary data infrastructure. We also need to collect qualitative data through engaging student parents themselves in conversations to understand their experiences and challenges. Institutions should design policies, practices, and services that meet the needs of this population and assess the impact of those practices and services on student parents’ academic progress, including their retention, transfer, and completion outcomes as well as their well-being. Of course, if data are available, researchers like us can produce insights at the national or state level.

New America: What do you hope this space will look like in the next 5-10 years?

IWPR: We hope there is increased awareness of the unique challenges student parents face from institutions and policymakers and that such awareness translates into developing and expanding support services for student parents. We hope we are in a place where stakeholders at all levels—from policymakers to education professionals to the general public—all recognize that structural inequities exist and that individual efforts sometimes are not enough to be successful. In fact, we hope institutions view student parents as an integral part of their student population and consistently come up with solutions that make postsecondary education accessible and accommodating for parenting students. This goes beyond academic support and includes financial support, an emphasis on addressing mental health challenges, and the resources student parents need for their children’s well-being.