Providing Student Parents a Seat at the Table
Student Parent Spotlight Blog Series
Blog Post
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April 26, 2023
A conversation with David Croom, associate director of the Postsecondary Success for Parents (PSP) Initiative with Ascend at the Aspen Institute
New America: How did Ascend come to do this work?
David Croom: Ascend at the Aspen Institute Founder Anne Mosle set out with a mission to spark and spread breakthroughs in how we achieve intergenerational family prosperity and well-being. For a decade, Ascend has used a modern two-generation (2Gen) approach, where we look at policies and programs that impact children and the adults in their lives together, including health and human services, early education, social capital, and more.
When I joined Ascend, I came on to help launch the Postsecondary Success for Parents Initiative (PSP), which is nested within this two-generation approach. Our mission is to build pathways for every family to flourish across generations, and we know that student parent success immediately benefits families, communities, and the economy. As we launched PSP, we had expertise but were newer to this field. We took the approach of scanning, doing a landscape analysis, and learning from those who have already made many contributions. The student parent field is not new, but colleges still unintentionally but systematically exclude the 20 percent of students who are parents. We recognized that this was an excellent space for collaboration and growth. We wanted to be thoughtful, helpful, and add value.
New America: What is unique about Ascend's approach in the student parent space?
David Croom: Our approach is to be a catalyst and convener—to bring diverse stakeholders and individuals to the space to understand the gaps and needs of student parents. We believe the best solutions are built together with student parents, and we center their voices and lived expertise in our work—as seen across our Parent Powered Solutions Fund, our PSP Parent Advisors, and our new report, Tapping the Talent of Student Parents: A Playbook for Postsecondary Leaders.
Over the last few years, we have convened multiple stakeholders to build, learn, and share resources, hoping to strengthen the student parent field. We know that parents’ education level is a strong predictor of their children’s success. So, our goal is to establish an imperative to increase attainment rates for parents in postsecondary systems through parent-informed solutions that can scale and lead to high-quality learning and a deeper understanding of a two-generation approach. We are trying to accomplish this through movement building, parent expertise and engagement, institutional practice, and systems change and policy.
New America: What is Ascend working on, and what are your future plans?
David Croom: We believe that the most durable solutions are created when student parents are at the table. We launched a podcast called 1 in 5, highlighting student parents' experiences and challenges in attaining postsecondary success. The podcast allows us to engage a larger audience beyond the traditional policymakers.
We have three cohorts of parent advisors. We invite them to speak publicly on student forums; they act as internal advisors for many of our research and written products. We also have some parents actively contributing in the participatory grant-making process, where they are creating requests for proposals to include student parents at the center of the work.
We also started the Black and Native Family Futures Fund, where we are working with some Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) to implement student parent programming and student parent-friendly practices at their institutions. Lastly, I am working with a few cities and state agencies to reform some of their public benefit models to better serve student parents, along with a few more projects on the horizon.
New America: Are there any policies we can leverage to advance the student parent field?
David Croom: The space can expand into anti-poverty policy and initiatives. We are working with a partner that is doing work around guaranteed basic income, and they are implementing some goal-orienting practices to support student parents’ postsecondary attainment. Research has shown that a $3,000 increase in parents’ income leads to a 17 percent increase in their children’s future income, which is powerful. Also, Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program funding can and should increase, so that’s a policy area I think we can elevate. Some of the work has been very focused on institutional practices; however, it's time we start gravitating toward the state and federal systems and policies impacting this population's success.
New America: What advice do you have for funders wanting to join and support the student parent space?
David Croom: The funders currently in this space are doing an excellent job. Any new funders or those considering navigating this space should be aware of all the various intersections and systems that come to play. If a funder cares about students of color or low-income students, they also care about student parents. They must understand the importance of centering student voices and ensuring students have a seat at the table.
Approximately one in five college students is a student parent. A majority identify as women or students of color, particularly Black and Latina students. Although student parents often perform better academically than their non-parenting peers, they are less likely to graduate from college. A lack of access to resources like child care and transportation—in addition to food and housing insecurity and engaging with college campuses, benefits systems, and policies that are not designed with them in mind—are barriers to postsecondary success.
New America spoke with more than 100 stakeholders in the student parent advocacy, direct service, policy, and research spaces—including student parents themselves—to learn more about their work, what is needed in the field, and student parents’ journeys to and through higher education. In the Student Parent Spotlight blog series, we highlight conversations with some of the experts who are closing gaps in the field by conducting research, developing strategies for policy reform, engaging in advocacy, and supporting and serving student parents.
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