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Raising Up is a five-part docuseries investigating the barriers student parents face when pursuing higher education and the innovative leaders creating generational impact.

The series follows four student parents on their post-secondary journey with each film diving more deeply into the issues the student encounter with childcare, affordable housing, mental health, and workforce pathways.

Grounded in hope and real world solutions to systemic educational obstacles, Raising Up is a celebration of the 1 in 5 students parenting on campus and a call to recognize and support this population as they seek to build a better future for themselves and generations to come.

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Based on research from the Postsecondary Value Commission, this interactive data tool puts the power of the Value Framework at your fingertips, equipping you with data on the economic value that institutions deliver to their students.

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Empowering Parenting Students through Equity-Driven High-Impact Practices (ACCESS Student Parent Support Symposium May 2024)

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Empowering Parenting Students through Equity-Driven High-Impact Practices (ACCESS Student Parent Support Symposium May 2024)

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Empowering Parenting Students through Equity-Driven High-Impact Practices (HIPs) seeks to address the lack of accessibility and equity among parenting and caregiving students to high-impact practices in higher education by introducing equitable strategies and models tailored to their needs. It leverages recent research and needs assessment to emphasize the necessity for educational practices that accommodate parenting students. Participants will gain practical tools and strategies for creating transformational learning experiences, fostering a sense of belonging, and enhancing social connectedness among student parents. This workshop aims to cultivate transformative educational experiences for parenting students by integrating evidence-based teaching and learning high-impact practices known for increasing student retention, completion rates, and engagement. The workshop provides a comprehensive framework applicable across diverse educational settings, suggesting scalable strategies for community colleges, large universities, and online programs. It is designed to address the unique challenges and barriers, such as financial constraints, time management, and access to childcare, that parenting students face, promoting inclusivity and reimagining educational possibilities for this demographic.

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Check out this Presentation designed by Jessica Leveto, Ph.D…

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Long-Life Learning and the Age-Integration of Higher Education (SSIR)

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Long-Life Learning and the Age-Integration of Higher Education (SSIR)

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Universities have long histories of age segregation, and while innovative ideas for integration abound, they often topple under the weight of established practice, bureaucracy, and institutional inertia. Change eventually occurs, organizational scholars say, when the costs of doing nothing outweigh the costs of change. As leaders of higher education come to recognize the imperative to address urgent societal challenges—including the shift to a world with more people over age 65 than under age 18—that time is now.

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Universities are among the most age-segregated of institutions, catering almost exclusively to young people in their late teens and early 20s, even as new demographic realities render this educational model obsolete.

With unprecedented numbers of adults living longer, many want or need to learn and earn longer too. A new life stage- an encore to conventional adulthood-is opening up between the career- and family-building years, and the frailties associated with old age. Most people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s are healthy, energetic, and often surprised to be pushed into retirement or laid off with few job prospects. While some want to move into full-time leisure, the vast majority seek new pursuits, whether paid or unpaid, that offer meaning and purpose. But they find few roadmaps and few options for long-life learning at universities.

Meeting the Multigenerational Moment

This essay series, presented in partnership with Encore.org and The Eisner Foundation, explores how fresh thinking and new social arrangements hold the potential to make the most of an increasingly multigenerational society. FOLLOW THIS SERIES

This reality represents a lost opportunity for all parties-older adults and younger ones, universities and society at large. Older and younger adults, both grappling with increasingly ambiguous and uncertain futures, must find their own way without the benefit of each others' experiences and perspectives. By focusing only on young people, universities pass up a chance to add a new source of revenue, diversify and enrich campus life and learning, and leave a bigger mark on the future. Society, perhaps, loses the most, as younger and older adults represent largely untapped pools of talent that can be marshaled-individually and together-to respond to the social, economic, and environmental shocks characterizing life in the 21st century.

Introducing Multigenerational Initiatives

In 2017, we launched the University of Minnesota Advanced Careers Initiative (UMAC) to help older adults discover new futures, bring the generations together, and reimagine higher education as a welcoming place for people of all ages. UMAC connects multigenerational learning with social impact work, bringing younger and older students together in classes that address issues like inequality, climate change, global health, and social justice. These classes have fostered collaborative, cross-generational relationships that often extend beyond the classroom.

The University of Minnesota is one of a small but growing number of universities that are bringing encore adults to their campuses to help them prepare for engaged, longer lives. Unlike conventional continuing education programs-such as Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, which offer age-segregated, enrichment courses for retirees-these initiatives intentionally mix their older and younger students in classrooms. They also encourage older students, often known as fellows, to plan second careers in the nonprofit sector or as entrepreneurs.

Harvard's Advanced Leadership Initiative, launched in 2008, led the way with this model. Its year-long program targets corporate executives with at least 20 years of experience who are ready for their next chapters. These fellows take classes with younger students, attend some seminars together, and develop a plan for "a program, an organization, a foundation" with the potential for "significant impact on a major problem."

Meanwhile, Stanford's Distinguished Careers Institute, Notre Dame's Inspired Leadership Initiative, and The University of Texas's Tower Fellows Program emphasize exploration, personal growth, and purpose. All attract professionals with distinguished careers seeking a new trajectory for their lives. These programs encourage fellows to take courses in subjects they haven't studied before or that didn't exist when they were younger, attend campus events, and share their transition challenges with one another.

Cost represents a major barrier, however, with 2021 program fees starting at $53,000, depending on the program, plus housing expenses. While scholarships are sometimes available, these programs are designed primarily for people of means. By contrast, UMAC's nine-month program, the first multigenerational university program at a public university, costs $16,000. As growing numbers of people seek encores to their careers, we need to make programs like these more accessible to a broad mix of older adults, including those with modest incomes.

Layers of Learning

In the grand scheme of university life, these programs are all nascent, enrolling relatively small numbers of students and still learning a great deal about what constitutes success. Over the past few years, UMAC has exceeded expectations in some ways and fallen short in others. But the work has shown that universities have a great deal to gain from offering programs that engage older adults in the fabric of higher education.

The lessons we've learned can serve as guideposts for those at other colleges and universities who want to begin to move from age-segregated institutions to age-integrated ones.

1. Create an intentional, intergenerational learning community. Connecting learners of different ages in the classroom melds experience and exploration, often with transformative results. At UMAC, a retired neonatologist brought practical insights from his experience with infant care to a global health class. A realtor contemplating next steps gained new understandings of structural inequalities around race and housing, learning from the experiences of younger students in the class. An advertising executive collaborated with students in a community-organizing class to uncover parallels between the lived experiences of people involved in the 1960s civil rights movement and today's Black Lives Matter movement.

In intergenerational classes, older and younger students share their skills and knowledge, providing reciprocal mentoring and creating strong bonds across generations. The simplistic framing is that older adults offer career expertise, such as interviewing skills and professional networks, while younger students offer technological savvy. But age-integrated classes help create much deeper connections across the generations.

Some encore adults and undergraduates who meet in courses discover they both share a passion for the environment or early learning and decide to collaborate on a class project or meet for discussions outside of class. Others realize that despite their age difference, they're both grappling with what they want to do with the rest of their lives and can benefit from exchanging advice. And many form long-lasting friendships that challenge age stereotypes.

2. Build on existing infrastructure. Using existing resources and curricula helped integrate UMAC into the overall university community, alerting others to the program's presence and paving the way for deeper impact across the university.

As an example, we leveraged the university's Grand Challenge Curriculum, a collection of interdisciplinary classes focusing on contemporary issues. At first, we encouraged a few faculty members teaching these courses to invite UMAC fellows to join the classes. In addition to doing course work, the older fellows served as volunteers, helping undergraduates with projects or professors with research or other administrative tasks. We then approached colleagues in other university centers and institutes to open their doors to UMAC fellows, too, spreading the knowledge and skills older adults bring to a wider audience. A UMAC fellow with a background in investment banking, for example, joined the university's Venture Center business advisory team, bringing valuable expertise to early-stage startups.

On the flip side, we built UMAC within the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation, an interdisciplinary research institute. But while aligned from a research perspective, we had to look elsewhere for grounding when it came to spreading the word.

3. Determine funding needs and sources before launch. UMAC intentionally started small and under the radar. By launching as a pilot, we gained the flexibility and time to experiment with program design, learn what worked, and implement best practices. But our unobtrusive launch hindered financial resource development, compared to a bolder unveiling. The result was a skeleton staff with limited bandwidth for internal promotion, external marketing, and recruitment.

We received modest funding from the University of Minnesota's provost to launch, but the $16,000 fellows pay in fees doesn't cover ongoing operational costs. At this point, we need to admit at least 40 fellows to be sustainable.

The challenge is to find a way to garner necessary resources while simultaneously having room to try out various approaches. Given our experience, we recommend that new multigenerational learning programs solicit assistance from existing institutes or centers at their universities to contain costs. They should also consider raising as much financial support as possible from leaders, trustees, alumni, or other sources before launching, especially if they plan to keep program costs for participants low. A financial cushion and/or partnership with another institute or center on campus would have given us the opportunity to invest in areas like marketing and recruitment from the beginning.

4. Encourage an ongoing alumni network. Multigenerational university initiatives build age-integrated communities for encore adults at a time in their lives when they're separating from familiar work environments and need new support networks. These new communities foster relationships among older students and between older and younger ones, creating bonds that last beyond time on campus and opening doors for fruitful alumni connections.

Stanford's Distinguished Careers Institute (DCI), for example, invites alumni to return to the campus for periodic visits and alumni gatherings. In 2018, it created the dciX program to promote ongoing connections between current fellows and alumni, while offering a conduit for continued engagement with Stanford University. UMAC fellows also stay connected with each other and with undergraduate students they continue to mentor. Many maintain ties with the nonprofits where they volunteered as part of their fellowship.

A Blueprint for the Future

Younger and older adults, from their late teens to their 80s and beyond, confront two common sets of choices: how to fashion their own futures in a world of ambiguity, hyper-change, and risk, and how to respond to the pressing societal problems of our times.

Universities can help both generations grapple with these choices together instead of on their own. Based on our experience at UMAC, the resulting multigenerational learning is richer for students of all ages and life stages.

Universities have long histories of age segregation, and while innovative ideas for integration abound, they often topple under the weight of established practice, bureaucracy, and institutional inertia. Change eventually occurs, organizational scholars say, when the costs of doing nothing outweigh the costs of change. As leaders of higher education come to recognize the imperative to address urgent societal challenges-including the shift to a world with more people over age 65 than under age 18-that time is now.
Read more stories by Phyllis Moen & Kate Schaefers.

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Long-Life Learning and the Age-Integration of Higher Education (SSIR)

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Universities are among the most age-segregated of institutions, catering almost exclusively to young people in their late teens and early 20s, even as new demographic realities render this educational model obsolete. With unprecedented numbers of adults living longer, many want or need to learn and earn longer too.

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Students with Children

Interested in studying abroad but have children? It can be difficult but not impossible!

For students that are parents, a great concern may be how to care for your child(ren) while abroad. International study is possible with a family and can be just as rewarding, but as I'm sure you are aware, there are nearly countless considerations that you'll have to keep in mind. But with careful planning you can create an experience abroad that will benefit both you and your family!

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Students with Children - Study Abroad - Grand Valley State University

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In 2017, Student ARC was launched. Here, administrators and professionals at institutions that provide direct support to students can explore emergency aid strategies, learn about strengthening and sustaining emergency aid efforts, and contribute their own views and resources to the conversation.

Student ARC’s mission is to increase student retention in colleges and universities across the nation by:

Emphasizing the value of emergency resource offerings at higher education institutions.

Providing effective strategies for structuring, promoting, administering, evaluating and sustaining emergency aid efforts.

Assisting institutions in their work to strengthen programs that help students continue their education without the heavy burdens of concern about how to address unforeseen expenses.

Across the higher education community, research, advocacy and donor organizations are contributing to a growing conversation around emergency aid. You will find reports, resources, interviews and blogs from them here among the same types of content from institutions engaged in the work..

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In 2017, Student ARC was launched. Here, administrators and professionals at institutions that provide direct support to students can explore emergency aid strategies, learn about strengthening and sustaining emergency aid efforts, and contribute their own views and resources to the conversation.

Student ARC's mission is to increase student retention in colleges and universities across the nation by:

Emphasizing the value of emergency resource offerings at higher education institutions.

Providing effective strategies for structuring, promoting, administering, evaluating and sustaining emergency aid efforts.

Assisting institutions in their work to strengthen programs that help students continue their education without the heavy burdens of concern about how to address unforeseen expenses.

Across the higher education community, research, advocacy and donor organizations are contributing to a growing conversation around emergency aid. You will find reports, resources, interviews and blogs from them here among the same types of content from institutions engaged in the work..

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Discover the Mission and History of NASPA's Student ARC

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NASPA created Student ARC to help higher education institutions discover and share information about emergency aid.‬

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Fee program use for model to what may be possible

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Volunteer Abroad with United Planet | (your journey here)

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Virtual placements ideal for both students and professionals from around the globe.
Today's challenges teach us that we are all interconnected. We have the opportunity to rise up in the face of these challenges, support each other, and build new levels of partnership across our world, while honing our own skills and competencies. When walls go up, we need to work that much harder to keep lines of communications open and build bridges.

Why a Virtual Internship? Why Virtual Volunteering?

Make a positive difference

Develop skills

Explore different career areas

Broaden your cross-cultural and global perspectives

Build partnership and teamwork with other around the world

Gain real work experience

Participate in a virtual international experience

Enhance your resume

Immerse in a unique opportunity

Strengthen communications during a time of isolation and challenge

Support community organizations that focus on improving the lives of children and youth, such as schools, after school programs, as well as women's shelters and more while learning about the unique challenges communities face around the world and gaining exposure to the local culture of the community.

Community Development

Support organizations that aim to combat social issues like poverty, inequality, homelessness, economic development, women's rights, and more. Volunteer to ensure the community has access to basic necessities, empower women, support displaced refugees, advocate for human rights, support sustainable development in rural and urban areas, and more.

Support community health professionals and organizations in research, proposal writing, crowdfunding, development of technology tools in public health, and more. You can also gain real insight into shared healthcare challenges through supporting organizations focused on facing mounting health challenges.

Support organizations that conserve the environment, address climate change, protect wildlife, and more through collaborating with local professionals to support their organizations and efforts to provide environmental education to surrounding communities.

Costa Rica - Sea Turtle Conservation Program

Support a science-based sea turtle conservation project along Costa Rica's cost, a crucial nesting ground for 4 major turtle species. The organization tries to increase the amount of sea turtle hatchlings in order to give higher survival rates. The main goal is to assist in the recovery of sea turtle populations.
Education and Youth Development
Assist a local youth center which provides quality service to children between the ages of 3 and 7 years who come from families in extreme poverty. The teaching methods are based on the constructivist methodology and promote equality and develop core values for personal development.

Sierra Leone NEW - Environmental Sustainability

Fight against climate change by supporting an indigenous community-based organization through fundraising, producing study and training materials on plastic recycling, and more!

Mali - Community Empowerment through Development (Mali)

Support rural community development initiatives focused on empowerment. Target groups include adolescents, farmer communities, and women's groups. Main community development projects include access to drinking water, promotion of primary health care, protection of children and schools, safeguarding the local environment, and promoting the inclusion of women.

Virtual Quest Fee & Payment Plan

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

$800

$1100

$1400

$1700

$2000

$2300

About Our Virtual Quest Fee

We want you to succeed. That means having in place the support our interns and volunteers need. We don't just introduce your host project and hope for the best. We provide training before your program begins ... trainings... ongoing support ... and options for cultural activities and language lessons. The whole idea is to make the experience successful and productive for you and the host community, and we have found that these things are crucial. Remember that we are a non-profit, mission-driven organization - we wouldn't spend money on something that wasn't important.

*Payment Plan Details: A $300 deposit is due at the time of your enrollment to lock in your spot in our program. After your confirmation in a program, you can choose to pay the Quest Fee all at once or in installments. The total Quest Fee is due 2 weeks before your program begins.

Enrollment Process

What is the difference between Virtual Volunteer and Virtual Internship Quests?

What types of tasks will I do as a virtual intern or virtual volunteer?

Who can be a virtual intern or virtual volunteer?

Can I do an internship during the school year or while working full or part time?

What are my next steps?

How many hours am I expected to work as a virtual intern or volunteer per week?

Do I need to live in a certain part of the world to participate?

Is it possible to gain course credit for my Virtual Internship?

Is there a scholarship available?

What does my program fee cover?

Hear from Our Virtual Quest Alumni!

Have questions? We're here for you. We'd love to help.

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Keeping up with technology, we are introducing international virtual internship and volunteer opportunities -- that'll definitely broaden your skill set.

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United Planet Virtual Alternative Break

Your group can engage in a Virtual Alternative break, supporting organizations around the world through meaningful and engaging service work, while enjoying cultural and linguistic activities to immerse in the local culture. Participants will be able to learn about local and global challenges, provide meaningful support to international organizations, and build friendships and connections within your group and across global communities.  Participants will also receive United Planet’s Certificate of Global Citizen Leadership!

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Volunteer Abroad with United Planet | (your journey here)

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United Planet Virtual Alternative Spring Break | Volunteer Abroad with United Planet | (your journey here)

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EmpowerEd for Parenting and Caregiving Students: Innovating High-Impact Practices for Inclusion, Access and Equity

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EmpowerEd for Parenting and Caregiving Students: Innovating High-Impact Practices for Inclusion, Access and Equity

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Poster Presented at the 2023 University Teaching Council Meeting, Oct. 2023, Kent State University

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May 2023 Student Parenting Support Symposium (Columbus, OH)

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May 2023 Student Parenting Support Symposium (Columbus, OH)

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It is increasingly essential to equip faculty, staff, and administrators with strategies to create an inclusive and equitable learning environment for parenting and caregiving students. In this workshop, participants will develop skills and be provided tools to create more accessible experiences for parenting and caregiving students at their institutions. Drawing from principles of Universal Design, attendees will explore strategies for inclusion that emphasize flexibility while maintaining academic rigor.

This workshop will explore constructing high-impact practices (i.e., undergraduate research experiences, learning communities, internships, service learning, and study abroad) to be more accessible and inclusive for parenting students. Participants will be introduced to theories and practices that contribute to building a culture of belonging, support, and social connectedness for parenting and caregiving students.

By the end of the workshop, participants will have tools to integrate accessibility into course design and delivery, redesign high-impact practices to be more inclusive for student-parents, and increase social connectedness and a sense of belonging for parenting and caregiving students.

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April 2023 Center for Teaching and Learning Kent State University 

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April 2023 Center for Teaching and Learning Kent State University 

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Identify who parenting and caregiving students are; nationally, regionally, and within/around the institution.

Describe the experiences and unique challenges of parenting and caregiving students.

Outline the legal protections, such as Title IX, that protect pregnant and parenting students.

Provide a framework for pedagogical praxis to support parenting/caregiving students.

Apply Universal Design Principles to build accessibility into the course structure.

Demonstrate how flexibility can be applied for equity and maintain academic rigor.

Explore ways to cultivate a culture of support and care.

Create student-centered approaches that provide opportunities for the application of learning to the lives of parenting and caregiving students.

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The “Great Resignation” Meets the “Demographic Cliff “Lessons Learned and Lost from COVID-19’s Impact on Parents and Caregivers in Academia (North Central Sociological Association, Grand Rapids, MI) March 2023

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The “Great Resignation” Meets the “Demographic Cliff “Lessons Learned and Lost from COVID-19’s Impact on Parents and Caregivers in Academia (North Central Sociological Association, Grand Rapids, MI) March 2023

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The "Great Resignation" and the "Demographic Cliff"

The Burden on Caregiving and Parenting Faculty and Students

Policies and Practices for Creating Supportive Spaces

Adaptability & Transformation of Higher Education

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Equity and Access for Parenting and Caregiving Students: Focus on the Regional System (Kent State Regional Campus Mentoring Retreat) March 2023

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Equity and Access for Parenting and Caregiving Students: Focus on the Regional System (Kent State Regional Campus Mentoring Retreat) March 2023

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COVID-19 amplified the hardships faced by parenting and caregiving students and presented an opportunity for higher education institutions to address inequities and accessibility. For years, our understanding of our parenting students was unknown; data were not systematically collected on parenting students until 2020 at Kent State University; today, much remains unclear, but institutional attention is now being allocated to parenting students to ensure we are meeting the needs of this population.

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Equity and Access for Parenting Students Regional Campus Mentoring Retreat

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Check out this Presentation designed by Jessica Leveto, Ph.D…

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Use PowerStats to create custom online analyses. Use the Online Codebook to create syntax files and download micro-level public-use datasets. Use the Tables Library to browse through data tables published by NCES.

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NCES DataLab offers public access to wealth of data on the condition of American education. This suite of online data analysis tools (PowerStats, TrendStats, and QuickStats) allow users to create tables and regressions to answer critical questions about education across the nation. NCES Tables Library provides statistics on educational data studies.

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The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System

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The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System

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Welcome to the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the nation's leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation and statistics.

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The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System

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The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), established as the core postsecondary education data collection program for NCES, is a system of surveys designed to collect data from all primary providers of postsecondary education. IPEDS is a single, comprehensive system designed to encompass all institutions and educational organizations whose primary purpose is to provide postsecondary education.

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Wide-Ranging Education Data Collected

from our Nation's Public Schools

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5 Million Student Caregivers Need More Resources and Flexibility From SchoolsAARP report finds 7 in 10 say caring for a loved one affects academic performance

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5 Million Student Caregivers Need More Resources and Flexibility From SchoolsAARP report finds 7 in 10 say caring for a loved one affects academic performance

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"Instead, according to the AARP report, many college administrators, college professors and even college students themselves appear to turn their backs on student caregivers. Nearly one-quarter of student caregivers interviewed said they felt “discriminated” against because of their caregiving responsibilities."

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Heather Garner can't begin to imagine what her life would be like if she were a full-time student. As a full-time caregiver for her husband, Garner's life is tough enough just a few weeks every year when she must travel across New York state to take a series of continuing education classes to remain a certified assessor, yet somehow still provide caregiving for her husband, Mike.

Mike almost died four years ago when he became ill with pancreatitis and was in a coma for weeks. At age 45, he has no spleen and faces potentially life-threatening issues on a daily basis. His medical debt exceeds $500,000. Heather, 43, acts as his full-time caregiver even as she works a full-time job as an assessor and must take continuing education classes to keep her assessor's license. Since they can't afford to pay a caregiver, she brings her husband along on these mandatory training trips. Mike may sit in the car for hours while Heather's in class - and they hope that no medical emergency comes up during that time.

"If only there were waivers for people like me," says Heather. If her licensing requirements could be modified to taking classes every other year, for example, that could make their lives so much easier, she says.

Complex world of student caregivers

Welcome to the often uncomfortable, unpredictable and - for most of us - unimaginable world of student caregiving. Some 5 million adult students attending colleges, universities or trade schools also are caregivers of adults - typically their parents or grandparents - and while most of these student caregivers need resources and flexibility, only a fraction of them receive any, according to a landmark AARP 2020 student caregiving study of 400 adults completed in June. These student caregivers - many of whom also work at least part-time - must balance the complexities of significant academic demands with work requirements and unpredictable caregiving duties

"Most universities don't even think that students have caregiving responsibilities," says Dana Burr Bradley, dean of the Erickson School of Aging Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. "It wouldn't even be in their mindset."

Changing that mindset is critical, according to the report, because the well-being of millions of adult student caregivers - and their loved ones - is at stake.

Emotional strain and missed deadlines

The numbers are staggering.

Seven in 10 student caregivers say their caregiving has impacted their academic performance to at least some extent; 6 in 10 say it has affected their financial ability to pay for school. The most common impacts are emotional strain and distraction, yet about 1 in 3 have difficulty meeting deadlines or attendance requirements. Some 86 percent of student caregivers work at least part-time, which only adds to the strain.

"We know that caregiving can be emotionally, physically and mentally taxing," says Jean Accius, senior vice president, AARP Global Thought Leadership. "But there are very few policies within the world of higher education that assist student caregivers - particularly those who are caring for an older adult."

Instead, according to the AARP report, many college administrators, college professors and even college students themselves appear to turn their backs on student caregivers. Nearly one-quarter of student caregivers interviewed said they felt "discriminated" against because of their caregiving responsibilities. And some 43 percent of student caregivers kept their caregiving responsibilities private, more than half of them because they believed their school or institution would not understand their situation.

While the majority of student caregivers say they have told someone at their school that they are providing care for someone else, most of the time that person is a fellow student. Only 1 in 3 say they have informed their instructor or another staff member. Of those who did apprise instructors of their caregiver status, most said they did receive support, but the actual level of help seems to be lacking because only 1 in 3 said their instructor was "very supportive."

Addressing the issue head-on

What needs to be done?

First, Accius says, schools need to acknowledge that the problem exists.

Next, colleges need to train staff and promote whatever resources they have available for student caregivers. "Some schools provide resources for students caring for minor children but they're not even thinking about students caring for older adults," Accius says. These services could benefit not only students, but also university employees, he adds.

What student caregivers need most of all, he says, is more "flexibility." This would require early identification of their caregiver status, then offers of flexibility on everything from extended deadlines on assignments to a better understanding of possible class-attendance issues. Also, he notes, schools may need to offer tuition reimbursement policies for student caregivers who have to withdraw from a class due to changing caregiving responsibilities.

Where to turn to for help

Then, there's the issue of where student caregivers should seek help on campus.

Fully 40 percent of student caregivers believe the best place is the counseling center. Some 39 percent say it should be through their school's financial aid office. Another 37 percent look to the Student Health Center. Some 32 percent go to their academic advisor. And 28 percent think their best option is to reach out to their instructor.

Accius suggests that the best first stop is often the student's academic adviser, who ideally would help develop a plan to reach out to additional campus resources.

Some universities are taking real action. At UMBC's Erickson School of Aging, Bradley estimates 60 to 70 percent of the students are primary or secondary caregivers. "The AARP report is a wake-up call," she says.

As a result, the school recently sent a letter to professors, administrators, and staff proposing the establishment of a working group to directly address the issue of how to specifically assist such students.

"The hard work is in bringing the stories of student caregivers to light and then finding the right package of services to support them in their noble work," Bradley says.

Back in upstate New York, Garner, the assessor, says that all she wants is a bit more flexibility, leniency and emotional support from the state's licensing office. "Until you have walked in the shoes of a caregiver," she says, "it's almost impossible to understand."

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Student Caregivers Need More Support From Colleges

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Heather Garner can't begin to imagine what her life would be like if she were a full-time student. As a full-time caregiver for her husband, Garner's life is tough enough just a few weeks every year when she must travel across New York state to take a series of continuing education classes to remain a certified assessor, yet somehow still provide caregiving for her husband, Mike.

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A university-wide survey of caregiving students in the US: Individual differences and associations with emotional and academic adjustment

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A university-wide survey of caregiving students in the US: Individual differences and associations with emotional and academic adjustment

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The United States (US) does not formally count, recognize, or support students in higher education who are caregivers, unlike England and Australia. This mixed-methods study presents results from a new survey of caregiving undergraduate and graduate students at a large university in the US. Students (N = 7592; 62.7% White, 69.9% women) reported their caregiving responsibilities, depression, and anxiety, which were linked to administrative records of financial aid, part-time status, and academic grades (GPA). A small but noteworthy portion of students identified as caregivers (5.6%, N = 427), either for someone who was chronically ill or elderly (3.2%; N = 239) or for a minor under age 18 (2.9%; N = 227). Caregiving students were disproportionately women, graduate students, enrolled part-time, and receiving financial aid. Further, caregivers for the chronically ill or elderly (but not for a minor) faced heightened emotional and academic risk. Specifically, caregiving for 3–5 days per week was associated with lower GPA, and caregiving more hours per day was linked to greater anxiety and depressive symptoms. US universities should identify the needs of caregiving students and design policies to mitigate emotional and academic risk.

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The prevalence in increase in caregiving college students in the US

Socioecological models of development suggest that university students' academic endeavors are situated in the context of their home life and family obligations (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006). Many university students are simultaneously caregivers, although they are not often identified in the US. Students may care for a relative at home who is disabled or ill, such as an aging parent, grandparent, or sibling with health challenges (Siskowski, 2006). Alternatively, students may care for a minor (i.e., child or adolescent)-this includes parenthood, paid babysitting, or looking after a younger sibling. As such, many young people have the dual role of both "student" and "caregiver," requiring them to balance challenging responsibilities, which can sometimes conflict (Mancini et al., 2006). These dual responsibilities can limit the ways young adult caregivers make choices about their future (Hamilton and Adamson, 2013). For example, in the United Kingdom, caregiving youth adults are four times more likely to leave higher education than non-caregivers (Kettell, 2020). In the US, caregiving college students are not identified routinely through university surveys or understood as having distinctive needs (as compared to their non-caregiving peers) by student support services or academic units.

Caregiving students' daily tasks and responsibilities

Caregiving students' tasks vary significantly depending on household characteristics and the needs of the care recipient. For instance, student caregiving for someone who is elderly or chronically ill may assist with bathing, feeding, dressing wounds, administering medication, or assisting other instrumental tasks of daily living (Kavanaugh et al., 2016). In contrast, a caregiving student for a minor below the age of 18 years (who is not chronically ill) may have a more traditional parental role, including supervising, transporting, and preparing meals, depending on the age of the child. The amount of time needed for caregiving and the flexibility of tasks can also vary considerably. A student who is the primary caregiver for a relative who lives with them might spend up to 12 or 24 h day caregiving, whereas another student may provide care only a few hours a week (Kavanaugh et al., 2016). The chronicity and intensity of caregiving depend on many factors such as whether there are other individuals available to help, whether the care recipient lives in the same home or another home, and the general health of the care recipient. Additionally, households that can take on paid support for respite care or certain activities can provide more flexibility for care activities than those without those resources. This significant heterogeneity may impact the caregivers in different ways and makes it important to differentiate caregivers for the ill or elderly from caregivers for minors. It also underscores the importance of measuring variability in the hours per day and days per week of caregiving.

The challenges of identifying caregiving students in universities

Given the increase in caregiving students nationally in the US (Armstrong‐Carter et al., 2021), there is an urgent need for research to identify the prevalence of caregiving university students, and understand their emotional and academic experiences. Identification and assessment of outcomes is a crucial first step for educators, administrators, and policymakers in higher education to support caregiving students. However, identifying caregiving students in higher education can be challenging. With the absence of recognition of young people as caregivers in the US, children, adolescents, and young adults may not always self-identify what they do as caregiving. The term "caregiver" does not always resonate with young adults who view their care as part of being a family member, or as a category that they feel does not accurately reflect their relationships or their identities (Lewis, 2018). More research is needed to identify caregivers, and to examine how these variations in caregiving responsibilities and characteristics impact student success and wellbeing.

Student characteristics and caregiving

Existing evidence of the association between youth caregivers' racial and gendered identities and their experiences of caregiving raises both questions and concerns as they relate to diversity, equity, and inclusion goals for college students. Although the experience of caregiving is increasingly common across individual backgrounds and characteristics (Armstrong‐Carter et al., 2021), young adult student caregivers are believed to be more common among historically marginalized racial, ethnic, and socio-economic groups (AARP & National Alliance for Caregiving, 2020). There are several patterns in data about student caregivers that suggest intersectional identities matter to the scope and scale of care that they provide. First, young adult student caregivers around age 30 are more likely to be African American, Latinx, or Asian, compared to White non-Latinx (AARP & National Alliance for Caregiving, 2020). However, the demographic associations with caregiving have not yet been tested during the college years (ages 18-25 years), a critical developmental transition that sets the stage for lifelong success and achievement. Second, adult caregivers are more likely to come from households with low socio-economic status without hired caregivers (Bruhn and Rebach, 2014). In the university years, this disparity may be reflected in anecdotal evidence of students who are first-generation or receiving financial aid being over-represented as caregivers or having to prioritize caregiving over attending class or participating in activities with peers. Third, young adult caregivers may be more likely to identify as women as evidenced in recent research from six European countries (Santini et al., 2020). It is important to extend this work to examine racial and gendered disparities in caregiving among young adult caregiving students in the US. Identifying disparities in caregiving is an important first step in supporting caregiving students in higher education and reducing inequalities.

Caregiving students and emotional wellbeing

A key goal of universities across the US is to identify students who may be experiencing hardships or emotional or academic challenges so that they do not "fall between the cracks." Students who are caregivers and remain in higher education persist in their educational goals even with added familial responsibilities, and they may develop skills and perspectives from caregiving that improve and enhance their future success (Lewis, 2018; Shifren, 2008, 2009). However, caregiving responsibilities that require significant time, emotional investment, or finances can be stressful for college students who do not receive sufficient support (Hooper et al., 2014). Accordingly, it is important to investigate how caregiving relates to students' emotional wellbeing, such as their symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Although caregiving can be rewarding, research from adults shows that caregiving for someone who is elderly or sick can be stressful and interfere with physical and emotional health (del-Pino-Casado et al., 2018). This finding was recently replicated in a large, representative sample of middle and high school students in Florida (Armstrong-Carter et al., 2021). In small qualitative studies of college-age samples, caregiving stresses were associated with poorer mental health and social connections outside the family (Dellmann-Jenkins et al., 2000), and heightened worry and fatigue (Mancini et al., 2006). In a quantitative study of 353 undergraduate students, caregivers reported significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms compared to non-caregivers (Greene et al., 2017). Caregiving for elderly or chronically ill individuals may be uniquely stressful (compared to caring for someone who is not elderly or ill) because of increased worries for the loved one's physical wellbeing (Schulz and Eden, 2016). In contrast, caregiving for someone without aging-related needs, illness, or disability can be relatively less stressful when caregiving responsibilities are shared, or when structures and services, such as schooling or after-school care are both reliable and readily available. As such, the experience of providing sustained care as a university student may be differently associated with depression and anxiety depending on the characteristics of the care recipient. Distinguishing between caregiving recipients, and if caregiving is related to medical or health conditions, can therefore also help to distinguish gaps in needed supports and services, such as for non-parent caregivers or caregivers of aging adults.

Caregiving students and academic performance

Caregiving can also impact university students' academic performance because of the difficulty of simultaneously juggling both family and academic demands (Siskowski, 2006). For example, time spent caregiving may detract time from studying, or hinder access to supportive academic services such as tutoring. Adult caregivers tend to have lower educational attainment compared to non-caregivers (Bruhn and Rebach, 2014), and middle and high school students who are caregivers also showed lower academic GPA (Armstrong-Carter et al., 2021). Among college students in the UK, caregiving students report frequently missing class and social activities to stay at home to support their older or chronically ill family member (Becker and Sempik, 2018). Similar results were found in one small qualitative study in the US (Mancini et al., 2006). Moreover, the stresses associated with caregiving could interfere with students' concentration, sleep, or emotional wellbeing, which in turn hinder academic success (Siskowski, 2006). Understanding the link between caregiving and academic performance during university years can help to identify whether these students face heightened academic risk and could benefit from school-based support. In particular, caregiving responsibilities could be one key mechanism through which achievement gaps emerge (Armstrong‐Carter et al., 2021). In higher education, student supports have the potential to be fine-tuned to better address caregiver needs, thus improving the likelihood that student caregivers will be able to access the benefits that graduation from university provides for more general educational success and employment opportunities across the lifespan (Lövdén et al., 2020).

The current study

This study presented data from a novel university-wide survey of caregiving undergraduate and graduate students in the US, one of the first to date. The study had three primary goals. (1) The study identified the prevalence of caregiving students for elderly/ill persons and minors on a large college campus and examined the intensity of their caregiving (i.e., hours per day and days per week). The methods differentiated between caregiving students for the ill and elderly and caregivers for minors to allow for the possibility that different types of caregiving may differentially impact adjustment. Further, by examining the intensity of caregiving both as hours per day and days per week, the study shed light on whether the chronicity and duration of caregiving are impactful. (2) The study examined the demographic characteristics of caregiving students (i.e., gender, age, graduate status, first-generation status, socio-economic status (operationalized as the receipt of financial aid known as the Pell grant), and full-time vs. part-time status. (3) The study examined the association between caregiving and students' adjustment (i.e., academic performance, anxiety, depression), controlling for student individual and family demographic characteristics. By linking survey results to verified institutional records of demographics and academic GPA, this study employs reliable measures of students' socio-economic status and academic performance.

Methods

Participants

The data were drawn from a campus-wide survey of 7592 undergraduate and graduate students at a public university in North Carolina. North Carolina does not currently have any formal policies to support caregiving students, although caregiving social services are available to individuals over the age of 18. Of the 7592 participants who responded, 69.9% identified as women ( N = 5308), 30.0% identified as men ( N = 2277), and <0.1% were gender non-binary ( N = 7). The sample was primarily White non-Latinx (62.7%), Asian (14.5%), Latinx (8.1%), Black/African American (6.2%), and Mixed/Other Race (e.g., Native American; 8.6%). For analysis, the Mixed/other Race/ethnicity groups were combined because the sample sizes were so small. For instance, there were only 21 American Indian participants and 3 Pacific Islander participants, consistent with persistent barriers to higher education which American Indians face (Keith et al., 2016). The sample was primarily composed of undergraduate students (67.5%), compared to graduate students, which included Ph.D. students, medical students, and other graduate degree students (32.5%). Medical students were included as graduate students because medical programs in the US require a Bachelor's degree for admission and therefore medical school is considered higher education. The majority of participants were full-time students (86.35%), compared to part-time students (13.65%). The undergraduate students were fairly evenly distributed by year in school; 30.21% were in their first year, 22.43% in the second year, 23.39% in the third year, and 21.76% in the fourth year. The graduate students were mostly either first-year students (40.91%) or second-year students (28.59%), followed by the third year (12.35%) or fourth year (7.12%). A small percentage of graduate students identified as another year, such as between years or a fifth year or higher (10.04%). A small portion of participants were first-generation students (12.6%). On average, participants' GPAs were relatively high ( M  = 3.49, SD = 0.43).

Socio-economic status was operationalized as financial aid (Pell grants). The Pell grant is a form of financial assistance that is offered to undergraduate students from low socio-economic status backgrounds and is assigned based on family income (Federal Pell Grant, 2021). Students who received Pell grants were categorized as from low socio-economic status backgrounds (20.6%) and non-Pell recipients were categorized as not from low socio-economic status backgrounds (79.4%). This information was only available among undergraduate students.

Procedures

Students at the large public research university in the South Eastern United States received an email invitation to participate in a campus-wide survey in the fall of 2020. It is important to note that the survey was distributed 7 months after social distancing measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic required University campus closure. The survey was designed overall to assess a variety of aspects of student wellbeing. The survey was designed to help university administrators understand students' experiences of managing academic goals, relationships, and family responsibilities such as caregiving. All undergraduate and graduate students were invited to participate. All participants provided informed consent online. Student responses were linked to university records to obtain records of student GPA, Pell grant receipt, first-generation status, undergraduate vs. graduate student status, and full-time vs. part-time status. The surveys included additional questions about students' course choices and experiences, which are not included in the current analysis. The surveys took approximately 10 min to complete. All procedures were approved by the University ethical review board at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and all research was performed in accordance with relevant regulations. Data and syntax are available upon request from the corresponding author.

Measures

Caregiving

Students' experiences of providing caregiving were indexed by four primary variables. Two dichotomous variables reflected whether the student self-identified as a caregiver or not, and two additional variables reflected the intensity of caregiving (i.e., hours spent caregiving per day, and days spent caregiving per week).

Caregiver for elderly/ill person

Participants were asked, "Are you a caregiver for someone who is chronically ill (lasts 3 months or more) or elderly or in need of care?" Participants responded via three response choices: "No, I do not provide care support for someone who is chronically ill, elderly, or in need of care", "Yes, I currently live with the person(s) that need my help or support", or "Yes, I do not currently live with the person(s) that need my help or support." This was then coded as dichotomous measure (1 = the participant provided care for someone who is chronically ill, elderly, or in need of care either within or outside of their home; 0 = the participant did not provide care for someone who is chronically ill, elderly or in need of care).

Caregiver for minor

Participants were asked, "Are you a caregiver, parent, and/or guardian for a minor or dependent who is under age 18?" Participants responded via three response choices: "No, I am not a caregiver, parent, and/or guardian for a minor or dependent under", "Yes, for one person under the age of 18", or "Yes, for more than one person under the age of 18". This was then coded as a dichotomous measure (1 = the participant provided care for one minor or more, 0 = the participant did not provide care for a minor).

Hours caregiving per day

Participants were asked, "How many hours per day do you typically spend caregiving?" Participants responded by a scale ranging from zero to 24. Accordingly, this variable was continuous, with higher values indicating more hours of caregiving per day.

Days caregiving per week

Participants were asked, "How many days per week do you typically spend caregiving?" Participants responded via five response choices: "There is no one in my family or home who is chronically ill, elderly, or disabled", "0 days per week" "1 or 2 days per week" 3 to 5 days per week", or "6 or 7 days per week". The first two responses were combined, such that 0 indicated that the participant either had no one to care for or spent 0 days per week caregiving. Accordingly, this variable was categorical, such that 0 = no caregiving, 1 = caregiving 1-2 days per week, 2 = caregiving 3-5 days per week, and 3 = caregiving 6-7 days per week.

Individual and family characteristics

Gender

Participants self-identified their gender via the campus-wide survey. For analysis, gender was coded 1 = girls/young women, 0 = boys/young men.

Race/ethnicity

For analysis, race/ethnicity was coded as White non-Latinx, Asian, Latinx/Hispanic, Black/African American, and Mixed/Other Race (e.g., Native American; Pacific Islander, more than one race). Again, the Mixed/Other Race were combined into one group due to the small sample sizes of each group.

Part-time status

University institutional records indicated if the participant was either full-time (minimum 9 credit hours per semester for graduate students and minimum of 12 credit hours for undergraduate students) or part-time (fewer than 9 for graduate students and fewer than 12 for an undergraduate student). There were 1036 part-time students in the sample (13.65%).

Pell grant recipient

University records indicated if the participant was the recipient of the Pell financial aid grant or not. The Pell grant is a form of financial assistance which is offered to students from households with low socio-economic status. This was a dichotomous measure. There were 1055 Pell grant recipients in the sample (13.90%).

First generation student

University records indicated if the participant was a first-generation college student or not. This was a dichotomous measure. There were 956 first-generation students in the sample (12.59%).

Undergraduate vs. graduate student

University records indicated if the participant was an undergraduate or graduate student. Graduate students included Ph.D. students, medical students, and professional students. This was a dichotomous measure. There were 2466 graduate students in the sample (32.48%).

Student adjustment

Depression

Participants responded to four items from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) tool (Radloff, 1977). Participants were asked "Over the last two weeks, how often have experienced the following?", followed by four specific items: "I felt depressed", "I felt lonely", "I had crying spells", and "I felt sad", ( alpha  = 0.87). Participants responded to each of these items on a four-point Likert-type scale ranging from "Rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)", "Some or a little of the time (1-2 days)", "Occasionally or a moderate amount of time (3-4 days)", "Most or all of the time (5-7 days a week)".

Anxiety

Participants responded to the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screening tool (GAD), a measure that includes 7 items (Löwe et al., 2008). Specifically, participants were asked, "Over the last two weeks, how often have experienced the following?" The items were: "I felt nervous, anxious, or on edge", "I was not being able to stop or control worrying", "I worried too much about different things", "I had trouble relaxing", "I am so restless that it is hard to sit still", and "I became easily annoyed or irritable" ( alpha  = 0.91). Participants responded on a four-point Likert-type scale ranging from Rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)", "Some or a little of the time (1-2 days)", "Occasionally or a moderate amount of time (3-4 days)", "Most or all of the time (5-7 days a week)".

Academic performance

University records indicated the participants' most recent GPA, which ranged from 0.5 to 4.

Statistical analysis

Research question 1 was addressed using descriptive analyses (i.e., percentages, mean, and standard deviations) to identify the prevalence of caregiving students and the intensity of their caregiving tasks. Regression models were used for the second research question, how students' individual and family demographic characteristics (i.e., student gender, race/ethnicity, Pell grant receipt, full-time vs. part-time status, undergraduate vs. graduate status, and first-generation status) were associated with their caregiving outcomes. The specific type of regression varied by the specific caregiving outcome measure. Logistic regressions were used to predict the likelihood of caregiving for an elderly/ill person and the likelihood of caregiving for a minor because the outcomes were binary. Negative binomial regressions (which adjust for over-dispersed count outcome variables) were used to predict caregiving hours per day and caregiving days per week, (Hilbe, 2011). This approach was optimal because the majority of participants in the sample were not caregivers, so the data was heavily weighted towards zero.

Regression models also were used for the third research question, how students' experiences of caregiving (i.e., caregiving hours per day, and caregiving days per week) were associated with their adjustment (i.e., depression, anxiety, and academic performance). These models used standardized linear regressions because the outcomes were continuous and normally distributed. The associations between caregiving intensity and student adjustment were first tested in the full sample, then separately among caregivers for elderly/ill persons, and caregivers for minors. All regression models controlled for participants' gender, race/ethnicity, Pell grant receipt, full-time vs. part-time status, undergraduate vs. graduate status, and first-generation status. Men and White non-Latinx youth served as the reference groups.

Missing data was low (<1%) for all variables except depression (missing 28.20%), anxiety (missing 28.46%), and GPA (missing 52.05%). GPA data was largely missing due to first-year student participants who had not received grades from the university and thus did not have a GPA available for analysis (61.08% of participants who were missing GPA data were first-year students). Missing data were handled using listwise deletion. Analyses were conducted using Stata software (StataSE, Version 17, StataCorp., College Station, TX, USA).

Results

Descriptive information about the prevalence of caregiving students

The first research aim was to identify the prevalence of caregiving students and the intensity of their caregiving responsibilities. In the full sample, 5.7% ( N = 427) of students reported that they provided at least some care for another person. Specifically, 3.2% ( N = 239) of participants cared for a person who was chronically ill or elderly. Of these students who cared for someone who was ill or elderly, the majority cared for a parent or step-parent ( N = 102), whereas others cared for a grandparent ( N = 64), another relative ( N = 26), a sibling ( N = 25), a spouse or partner ( N = 15), or someone else ( N = 7). In addition, 3.0% ( N = 227) of participants provided cared for a minor under age 18. Of these students who cared for a minor, 1.4% of participants ( N = 108) provided care for one minor, whereas 1.6% of participants ( N = 119) provided care for more than one minor. Only a few students were caregivers for both a minor and someone who was chronically ill or elderly (0.5%; N  = 39).

Descriptive information about caregiving hours per day and days per week

Table 1 provides descriptive information about study variables for the full sample, for caregivers for an elderly or ill family member, and for caregivers for a minor. Among caregivers for an elderly or ill family member, it was most common for caregiving students to provide care 6-7 days per week (31.38%, N = 75), followed by 3-5 days per week (27.62%, N = 66), 1-2 days per week (20.50%, N = 49), and <1 day per week (20.50%, N = 49). On average, students who cared for an elderly or ill family member provided <4.89 h of care per day ( M  = 4.89 h, SD = 5.47 h), although there was a wide range of caregiving hours per day (range = 0-24 h).

Among caregivers for a minor, it was most common for caregiving students to provide care less than 1 day per week (78.0%, N = 177), followed by 6-7 days per week (12.8%, N = 29), 1-2 days per week (5.73%, N = 13), and 3-5 days per week (3.5%, N = 8). On average, students who cared for a minor provided <7.53 h of care per day ( M = 7.53 h, SD = 6.72 h), although there was a wide range of caregiving hours per day (range = 0-24 h). Table 2 displays bivariate correlations between study variables.

Demographic characteristics and caregiving

The second research aim was to understand the demographic characteristics of caregiving students. Table 3 displays result from regression models in which demographic characteristics predict the likelihood of caregiving (Models 1 and 2) and intensity of caregiving (Models 3 and 4). As shown in Model 1, on average, students who provided any caregiving for an elderly/ill person were 1.75 times more likely to be women, 1.66 times more likely to be part-time students, 2.08 times more likely to receive need-based financial aid, and 1.42 times more likely to be graduate students. Similarly, as shown in Model 2, on average, students who provided any caregiving for a minor were also 1.83 times more likely to be part-time students, 1.05 times more likely to receive need-based financial aid, and 10.49 times more likely to be graduate students. They were also 41% less likely to be Asian compared to White. There were no other significant associations between demographic characteristics and the likelihood of caregiving for any type of care recipient ( p  > 0.05).

In addition, as shown in Table 3, demographic characteristics were also associated with the intensity of caregiving as indexed by caregiving hours per day (Model 3). Specifically, as shown in Model 3, on average, graduate students spent more hours caregiving per day ( B = 1.52, SE = 0.21, p < 0.001), as did part-time students ( B = 0.54, SE = 0.27, p < 0.05), and Pell grant recipients ( B = 1.05, SE = 0.32, p < 0.01). However, as shown in Model 4, demographic characteristics were not associated significantly with caregiving days per week ( p  > 0.05).

Students' experiences caregiving and their depression, anxiety, and academic performance

The third research aim was to understand how caregiving as a student was associated with depression, anxiety, and academic performance (GPA). Table 4 displays result from regression models in which caregiving intensity predicts students' depression, anxiety, and academic performance. These regression models control for gender, race/ethnicity, Pell grant receipt, full-time vs. part-time status, undergraduate versus graduate student, and first-generation status. However, for simplicity, these covariates are omitted from Table 4. As shown in Panel 1, on average in the full sample, students who spent 3-5 days caregiving exhibited lower academic performance ( B = −0.63, SE = 0.20, p < 0.01). Similarly, as shown in Panel 2, among caregiving students for elderly/ill persons, those who spent 3-5 days caregiving exhibited lower academic performance ( B = −0.71, SE = 0.24, p < 0.05). In addition, caregiving students for elderly/ill persons who spent more hours caregiving per day experienced higher levels of depression ( B = 0.07, SE = 0.03, p < 0.05) and anxiety ( B = 0.07, SE = 0.03, p < 0.01). As shown in Panel 3, caregiving for a minor was not associated significantly with depression, anxiety, or academic performance ( p  > 0.05).

Discussion

The goal of this study was to understand the prevalence of caregiving students in higher education institutions in the US, and how caregiving as a student is associated with academic achievement and emotional wellbeing. The study revealed that a substantial proportion of students were involved in caregiving for someone who was elderly, ill, and a minor on a daily and weekly basis, and caregivers of all types were more likely to be graduate students, part-time students, and of lower socio-economic status than their non-caregiving peers. Further, students who were caregivers for someone who was elderly/ill (but not for a minor) showed lower academic performance and higher levels of anxiety and depression compared to their non-caregiving peers. These findings highlight the urgent need for US universities to identify and support the needs of caregiving students.

Demographics of caregivers

In this study, a small but substantial proportion of students were involved in caregiving. Almost 6% of students identified as caregivers for a person who was chronically ill or elderly, and 3% identified as caregivers for a minor under age 18. These percentages may seem small, but in this large sample, they corresponded to more than 400 students combined. Caregivers for a chronically ill or elderly person provided care on more days per week (on average 6-7 days) compared to caregivers for minors (on average 1 day). However, caregivers for minors provided care more hours per day compared to caregivers for chronically ill or elderly persons. These findings illustrated that caregiving is a not-uncommon experience among university students, and can require significant amounts of time. Further, these findings demonstrated the feasibility of identifying caregiving students via large-scale, university-wide surveys in the US.

Identifying individual and family characteristics of caregiving students can reveal which students are juggling multiple home- and school-based responsibilities, and may benefit from institutional supports. Caregivers of elderly/ill or minors were more likely to be graduate students, part-time, and from families of low-socioeconomic status. Graduate students may be more likely to provide care because they are older, have elder relatives (e.g., grandparents, parents), and potentially have children who require support (Yoo, 2021). In addition, caregiving requires significant amounts of time, so part-time enrollment may be more feasible for caregiving students for juggling both academic and caregiving responsibilities (Levine et al., 2005). Students from households with low socio-economic status may also be more likely to provide care because their families cannot afford in-home or out-of-home assistance (Bruhn and Rebach, 2014).

In addition, young women were more likely to care for someone who was elderly or ill, although young women and men were equally likely to care for minors. This finding was consistent with prior evidence from Europe that young adult caregivers for older adults and individuals with chronic illness were more likely to be women, due to historical inequities in the labor market and gendered social expectations (Santini et al., 2020). In contrast, gender disparities may not have been as apparent among caregivers for minors because they were fathers or mothers, or paid babysitters.

Caregiving emerged broadly as a common experience across racial and ethnic groups. This finding was consistent with evidence that caregiving is an increasingly common characteristic across groups (AARP & National Alliance for Caregiving, 2020), but diverges from some evidence that caregivers are overrepresented among adults from historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups (AARP & National Alliance for Caregiving, 2020). Only one racial/ethnic group difference emerged in this study, such that caregivers of minors were more likely to be White non-Latinx compared to Asian. This could be because Asian or Pacific Islander mothers on average give birth to their first child at an older age compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the US (Matthews and Hamilton, 2016). College-age Asian students tend to have no children or fewer children compared to other racial and ethnic groups (Matthews and Hamilton, 2016).

Caregivers for the elderly and ill are associated with emotional and academic risk

Students' experiences of caregiving were associated divergently with their academic and emotional adjustment depending on whether they were caregiving for a minor or a person who was elderly or chronically ill. Specifically, caregiving for a minor was not related to depression, anxiety, or academic performance (i.e., GPA). However, caregivers for a person who was elderly or ill experienced higher levels of depression and anxiety, and lower academic performance compared to their non-caregiving peers. This finding persisted when controlling for individual differences in students' gender, race/ethnicity, part-time vs. full-time status, graduate status, and socio-economic status. These findings suggested that caregivers for older and ill persons face a unique risk for academic and emotional challenges.

Caregiving for individuals who are elderly or chronically ill may be a particularly taxing experience compared to caregiving for minors for several reasons. First, caregiving for the elderly/ill involves a physical or mental health condition which may be inherently more stressful than caring for a typically-developing minor. The stresses associated with caregiving may contribute to symptoms of anxiety and depression, as caregivers struggle to receive emotional support for their work, worry about their loved ones, and find it difficult to meet their own needs while they are caregiving. In contrast, caregiving for a minor may include parenthood for typically developing children, or experiences of paid babysitting, which on average are likely less stressful by comparison. Future research should build on this study by distinguishing between parenting a minor or babysitting for another person's child, to clarify the type of care provided to the minor(s).

Second, caregivers for older and ill persons may experience poor emotional well-being and academic performance in part because they are less able to spend time socially with peers socially and dedicate time to maintaining their own emotional health. In turn, this could contribute to heightened feelings of isolation, sadness, or anxiety among caregivers for older and ill persons. In contrast, caregivers for minors may be able to socialize while looking after the child. Further, the time spent caregiving for an elderly or ill person and the stresses of caregiving for aging- and health-related problems can detract from time spent studying, completing homework, and participating in supportive academic activities such as tutoring or study groups (Levine et al., 2005; Siskowski, 2006). Lack of access to these enrichment opportunities detracts from academic engagement and performance over time (Levine et al., 2005; Siskowski, 2006).

The findings from this study were consistent with research from the US in qualitative studies and small quantitative samples. Two qualitative studies of university students found that caregiving was associated with heightened worry, fatigue, poorer mental health, and fewer social connections outside the family (Dellmann-Jenkins et al., 2000; Mancini et al., 2006). Similarly, one quantitative study of 353 undergraduates found that caregiving was associated with greater symptoms of depression and anxiety (Greene et al., 2017). Further, caregiving students reported frequently missing class and social activities to stay at home to support their older or chronically ill family member (Mancini et al., 2006). Similar empirical evidence was found in the UK (Becker and Sempik, 2018). However, the current results diverge from one study in Europe, which found that male caregivers of grandparents experienced better emotional health than other caregivers (e.g., caregivers for children), though this was not the case for women (Santini et al., 2020). In the US context, the current study suggests that caregiving while a university student for elderly or ill relatives may be particularly challenging. Further qualitative research can illuminate which specific daily experiences and emotional processes contribute to adjustment difficulties among US student caregivers for elderly and chronically ill family members.

It is important to interpret the study findings in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic given the timing of this study. Comparison with non-pandemic conditions will clarify how these trends continue into the future. There may be underreporting by caregivers, due to time pressures of caregiving, perhaps especially during the pandemic. In addition, heightened distress experienced during the pandemic, compared to non-pandemic times, may have impacted the results (Czeisler et al., 2020). In June 2020, the CDC found that pandemic-era mental health challenges were highest amongst young adults (age 18-24 years) and unpaid caregivers for adults (Czeisler et al., 2020). Future research may also reveal more increases in students' caregiving responsibilities over time, particularly if the long-term impacts of COVID-19 impose greater pressures upon family caregiving. For example, the pandemic may create more long-term caregivers amongst university students because of the increase in chronic health conditions across the population. The pandemic could also intensify the demand for family caregiving if it continues to create larger demands upon an already strained respite and domestic care workforce.

Conclusions

Higher education opens up many opportunities for different careers, higher incomes, and young adult's personal development and growth. Identifying populations of students who face a disproportionate risk for emotional health challenges and low academic performance is crucial for informing interventions to reduce disparities. This robust, large, study revealed that caregiving students are disproportionately from backgrounds of low socio-economic status, graduate student careers, and part-time status in the US. Further, caregiving students for an older or ill relative face heightened risk for interferences with academic performance and emotional health. If universities aim to increase access to education across broad characteristics of students, they must count on and provide services for caregiving students. Given the institutional structures in place for tabulating and identifying students who could benefit from services, the addition of a measure of caregiving students to university-wide surveys would be a small first step. Indeed, this study has demonstrated that identifying caregiving students via a school-wide survey is feasible. Moreover, identifying caregiving students is critical for supporting their emotional health and educational success. Specifically, identifying and supporting caregiving students may help to reduce persistent disparities in educational opportunities and achievement along gender and socioeconomic lines.

Limitations and future directions

This study has several limitations and points to areas for future research. First, this study is correlational and cross-sectional. Future quasi-experimental research may help to clarify the causal impact of caregiving, for example via a regression discontinuity design that assesses outcomes before and after caregiving begins or intensifies. Second, although the primary statistical models included thousands of diverse students, one of the regression models had a very small sample size, due to the small prevalence of caregivers for minors and high levels of missing GPA data. This small sample size likely reduced statistical power and the possibility of detecting significant associations between caregiving for minors and academic performance. Future research should replicate these analyses in larger samples of caregivers for minors.

Third, although this sample reflected the demographic makeup of the region, future research should replicate these findings across other college campuses with more diverse samples, because additional differences by race or ethnicity may emerge. In more diverse samples, it will also be important to examine individual characteristics that moderate the link between caregiving as a student and adjustment. For example, caregiving for an elderly or ill person may be related to anxiety and depression particularly strongly in lower-income households where fewer material resources are available, compared to higher-income households. To address these questions and others, future research may benefit from using alternative methodological approaches such as interaction models or latent-profile analyses to understand the experiences of specific subpopulations of caregiving students.

Future longitudinal research in the US should also identify whether caregiving is associated with increased risk for early departure from school, for example, via exit interviews or administrative records. In the UK for example, young adult caregivers were four times more likely than their non-caregiving peers to leave higher education before graduation (Kettell, 2020). Finally, this study focused on the unique population of caregiving young adults who are also students, but many other young adults who are not enrolled in university are also caregivers. Future research should investigate disparities in caregiving and the impacts of caregiving among other samples of young adults, for instance, those who are employed, in training, unemployed, or attending community colleges. For instance, students who find their transitions to adulthood severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic may not have the opportunity to pursue education at a large research university. There is also a need to further investigate how young peoples' provision of care relates to their emotional adjustment and educational experiences in low-and-middle-income settings such as Vietnam (Le et al., 2021) and South Africa (Cluver et al., 2012). As other leaders in this field have highlighted, caregiving young people across the world should be recognized, identified, and supported as a distinct group who may benefit from additional institutional support (Becker, 2007).

Acknowledgements

This manuscript was prepared with support from the Institute of Education Sciences (R305B140009) and the National Science Foundation Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, awarded to Emma Armstrong-Carter.

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

Emma Armstrong-Carter

2. The University of California, Berkeley, USA

Emma Armstrong-Carter

3. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

Emma Armstrong-Carter, A. T. Panter, Bryant Hutson & Elizabeth A. Olson

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Correspondence to Emma Armstrong-Carter.

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All procedures were approved by the University ethical review board at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and all research was performed in accordance with relevant regulations.

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Armstrong-Carter, E., Panter, A.T., Hutson, B. et al. A university-wide survey of caregiving students in the US: Individual differences and associations with emotional and academic adjustment. Humanit Soc Sci Commun 9, 300 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01288-0
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A university-wide survey of caregiving students in the US: Individual differences and associations with emotional and academic adjustment - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

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The United States (US) does not formally count, recognize, or support students in higher education who are caregivers, unlike England and Australia. This mixed-methods study presents results from a new survey of caregiving undergraduate and graduate students at a large university in the US.

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Grants are made through the Single Mother Student Success Initiative will continue to support equity-centered research, direct service and technical assistance efforts targeting community colleges and organizations supporting community college students. The initiative’s guiding focus is on efforts that increase the share of single mother students who attain an associate degree within six years of enrolling at a community college to 25%. Currently, the initiative sits at the testing and learning phase as the Foundation considers whether to widen and/or expand its focus; an evaluator will support the development of metrics and refinement of the initiative’s point of view in 2023.

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Investments in single mother students benefit all of us, not just from billions in increased tax revenue, but also in the future health and well-being of the next generation. Ensuring that single mothers can pursue their educational dreams also produces measurable progress on racial and gender equity, not just in higher education, but in society as a whole, reducing poverty and boosting economic mobility.

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As the only national funder focused on single mother students, ECMC Foundation's initial investments since 2016 have laid the groundwork for needed systemic change. In 2021, ECMC Foundation announced a new five-year, $10 million commitment to increase the share of single mother students who attain an associate degree within six years of enrolling at a community college to 25%.

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Grants are made through the Single Mother Student Success Initiative will continue to support equity-centered research, direct service and technical assistance efforts targeting community colleges and organizations supporting community college students. The initiative's guiding focus is on efforts that increase the share of single mother students who attain an associate degree within six years of enrolling at a community college to 25%. Currently, the initiative sits at the testing and learning phase as the Foundation considers whether to widen and/or expand its focus; an evaluator will support the development of metrics and refinement of the initiative's point of view in 2023.

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Single Mother Student Success Initiative | ECMC Foundation

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Investments in single mother students benefit all of us, not just from billions in increased tax revenue, but also in the future health and well-being of the next generation. Ensuring that single mothers can pursue their educational dreams also produces measurable progress on racial and gender equity, not just in higher education, but in society as a whole, reducing poverty and boosting economic mobility.

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Roadmap for Change: Urban Institute, SPARK Collaborative

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Roadmap for Change to Support Pregnant and Parenting Students

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Roadmap for Change to Support Pregnant and Parenting Students

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https://www.urban.org/research/publication/roadmap-change-support-pregnant-and-parenting-students

More than 5.4 million college students in the United States have children, representing nearly a quarter of undergraduate students and nearly a third of graduate students. For these students, pursuing their education goals often requires interacting with many different policy systems and supports. We have mapped 11 large policy systems that student parents concurrently navigate, including social safety net programs, early childhood education and care, and the public school system. In contrast, students who are not parenting and otherwise fit a “traditional” college profile primarily interact with one policy system, which we have termed “college access and success policies” and includes policies and practices that help students enter and persist in college.

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This toolkit is the first in a series by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR). It introduces the wide variety of child care services that exist at institutions of higher learning. Rather than an exhaustive study of campus child care programs, it is an introduction to possible options. It is for those seeking to provide quality child care at colleges or universities and for those considering how to expand or rethink existing services.

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This toolkit is the first in a series by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR). It introduces the wide variety of child care services that exist at institutions of higher learning. Rather than an exhaustive study of campus child care programs, it is an introduction to possible options. It is for those seeking to provide quality child care at colleges or universities and for those considering how to expand or rethink existing services.

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Tools for Student Parent Success: Varieties of Campus Child Care - IWPR

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This toolkit is the first in a series by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR). It introduces the wide variety of child care services that exist at institutions of higher learning. Rather than an exhaustive study of campus child care programs, it is an introduction to possible options.

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The updated 2Gen Toolbox was produced by a partnership between Ascend at the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group (CSG), and supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The inclusion of more than 300 resources in the toolbox reflects input from key 2Gen leaders and consultants, gathered by Karen Murrell (Higher Heights Consulting), Aspen CSG and Ascend. Ascend is grateful for ongoing insights and materials provided by everyone working to advance the field.

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How to Navigate the 2Gen Toolbox to Find Useful Resources

Use the filter categories in the right-hand menu to more quickly find helpful resources.

Select any filter category (e.g., Topics, Type of Resources, Audiences, etc.) to specify criteria for the kind of tool or information you are seeking, and the audience that will be using it.

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The updated 2Gen Toolbox was produced by a partnership between Ascend at the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group (CSG), and supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The inclusion of more than 300 resources in the toolbox reflects input from key 2Gen leaders and consultants, gathered by Karen Murrell (Higher Heights Consulting), Aspen CSG and Ascend. Ascend is grateful for ongoing insights and materials provided by everyone working to advance the field.

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Resources - Ascend at the Aspen Institute

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Use the filter categories in the right-hand menu to more quickly find helpful resources. Select any filter category (e.g., Topics, Type of Resources, Audiences, etc.) to specify criteria for the kind of tool or information you are seeking, and the audience that will be using it.

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CashCourse® is a free, online noncommercial financial literacy resource for colleges and universities, created by the nonprofit National Endowment for Financial Education®. The program provides customizable, interactive personal finance tools used at more than 750 colleges and universities across the country.

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The Student-Parent Families at the Center Framework

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The Student-Parent Families at the Center Framework

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The Student-Parent Families at the Center Framework intends to provide a comprehensive map of the intersecting systems affecting student-parent families and the programs and issues within each. The details of the Framework and a series of fact sheets annotating these policy areas appear on the Systems, Policies, and Programs page. A detailed diagram is available for download. We have developed the Student-Parent Families at the Center Roadmap for Change to highlight opportunities to ease systems, policies, and practices—with the support of research and investment—so parenting students and their families can meet their educational goals.

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Every year, millions of parents pursue further education or training. Student parents make up nearly a quarter of undergraduate students and nearly a third of graduate students, but parenting students complete college at a much lower rate than other students, even though they earn comparable course…

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Tools for Student Parent Success: Varieties of Campus Child Care

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Tools for Student Parent Success: Varieties of Campus Child Care

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This toolkit is the first in a series by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR). It introduces the wide variety of child care services that exist at institutions of higher learning. Rather than an exhaustive study of campus child care programs, it is an introduction to possible options. It is for those seeking to provide quality child care at colleges or universities and for those considering how to expand or rethink existing services.

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This toolkit is the first in a series by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR). It introduces the wide variety of child care services that exist at institutions of higher learning. Rather than an exhaustive study of campus child care programs, it is an introduction to possible options. It is for those seeking to provide quality child care at colleges or universities and for those considering how to expand or rethink existing services.

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Tools for Student Parent Success: Varieties of Campus Child Care - IWPR

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This toolkit is the first in a series by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR). It introduces the wide variety of child care services that exist at institutions of higher learning. Rather than an exhaustive study of campus child care programs, it is an introduction to possible options.

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Studying abroad is challenging for everyone. Living far from home in a totally different and unexplored environment while trying to keep the pace with your studies and personal obligations is difficult. Imagine how hard would be for me that in addition to all that I will have to take care of my child, you might be thinking.

Despite it is difficult, in today’s world, giving up from your dream of studying abroad because you have a child has to be just an excuse. There are plenty of study choices which help you alleviate this kind of barriers and help you achieve your education goals. Australia is surely on that list. In the end, you won’t be the first mom or dad to ever study abroad in Australia while having a little toddler to take care of.

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Study Abroad in Australia With Children - Study Abroad in Australia

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Becoming a parent is surely the most emotional moment in your life, but it also comes with countless responsibilities. Your entire perspective over matters of life changes instantly and this can also mean considering your education goals. Studying abroad is challenging for everyone. Living far from…

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Welcome! Berkeley Study Abroad encourages student parents to study abroad. As a student parent, you have likely learned to balance multiple priorities while meeting the needs of you and your family members, and this will serve you well in your study abroad planning. Traveling with your family or independently can be a tough decision, but it is up to you and what you want out of your experience. Below are some resources and considerations to keep in mind while planning to study abroad.

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I am a... Student Parent | UCB Study Abroad

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Welcome! Berkeley Study Abroad encourages student parents to study abroad. As a student parent, you have likely learned to balance multiple priorities while meeting the needs of you and your family members, and this will serve you well in your study abroad planning. Traveling with your family or ind…

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For students that are parents, a great concern may be how to care for your child(ren) while abroad. International study is possible with a family and can be just as rewarding, but there are considerations that you should keep in mind. Careful planning can create an experience abroad that will benefit you and your family.

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For students that are parents, a great concern may be how to care for your child(ren) while abroad. International study is possible with a family and can be just as rewarding, but there are considerations that you should keep in mind. Careful planning can create an experience abroad that will benefit you and your family.

Benefits and Drawbacks of a Semester Abroad with a Family

Spending a semester abroad with your children or family members can be rewarding for everyone. You will be able to experience a new culture, explore new places, try new foods, and build memories you can share in the future. However, it will take careful planning to make this a possibility. Consider child-care, schooling options, housing, language barriers, and finances. Start planning early, and work with your program coordinator in Study Abroad & Global Engagement to determine feasibility. We are happy to support you as best as we can.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Short-term Programs

Shorter programs, over winter break, spring break, and the summer, may be more feasible for students with families. The shorter length of time makes it easier to secure care for your loved ones locally while you are abroad, and may make it easier if you have family members in school, with health issues, or other commitments that may complicate a full semester abroad. Of course, you will be more limited in the coursework available to you abroad, and you will not be able to spend as much time abroad, but it may be more feasible and achievable to study abroad for a shorter amount of time.
Thinking about a semester abroad? Make sure you chat with your program coordinator!
Childcare and Extra Costs: Questions to Consider

Can you find a host university that will provide housing options to accommodate your family? What are the off-campus housing options?

Are you traveling abroad with a spouse or partner that will be able to care for your child while you are in class? If not, what childcare options are available at your host university or in your host city that will work for your budget?

Do you have family members in school? What educational options will exist for them to continue their educations while you are abroad?

Be aware of extra costs that are associated with traveling with children. These include international health insurance, visas, immunizations, and flight tickets for the entire family. Some items may be covered by your program for you, but not for your child(ren) or family.

Program Options

If you are unable to find a host institution that suits your desires and needs for childcare, consider a short-term study abroad program or a faculty-led program. These can take place over spring or fall break, and it may be more reasonable to ask family members to care for your child(ren) while you are gone.
Winter Break Programs
Spring Break Programs
Summer Faculty-Led Programs Traveling With Children - The Why's and How-To's
Staying Safe While Traveling Abroad With Your Family
Cultural Attitudes

Depending on where you go, cultural standards may impact the response to being abroad with children, especially as a single parent. Before you go, make sure you are prepared and knowledgeable of how you will be perceived in your host country.

Resources

These resources provide travel and safety tips for traveling with children, as well as personal stories from author Elisa Bernick.

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For students that are parents, a great concern may be how to care for your child(ren) while abroad. International study is possible with a family and can be just as rewarding, but there are considerations that you should keep in mind. Careful planning can create an experience abroad that will benefit you and your family.

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U of Minnesota Student Parent Help Center

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U of Minnesota Student Parent Help Center

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If you would like to be screened for eligibility for either of our two childcare grants, please contact the appropriate student parent counselor to set up an intake appointment.

Undergraduate Student Parent Counselors: Na king Xiong, 612-626-0824 (office) or 612-399-6313 (remote), [email protected] and Hannah Serwe, 218-461-1802, [email protected]

Graduate/Professional Student Parent Counselor: Our new graduate and professional student parent counselor will not be starting her position until the end of September so any graduate and professional student parents interested in getting screened for our child care grants will need to contact the SPHC at 612-626-6015 or [email protected] for the time being.

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If you would like to be screened for eligibility for either of our two childcare grants, please contact the appropriate student parent counselor to set up an intake appointment.

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Student Parents are Welcome in the Learning Abroad Center

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Student Parents are Welcome in the Learning Abroad Center

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Student Parents are Welcome in the Learning Abroad Center
U of Minnesota

The Learning Abroad Center works in conjunction with the Student Parent Help Center to assist student parents who are considering participating in an experience abroad.

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Student Parents are Welcome in the Learning Abroad Center

The Learning Abroad Center works in conjunction with the Student Parent Help Center to assist student parents who are considering participating in an experience abroad.

Things to Consider

While an international experience is a viable option, there are some things to consider when planning to take your child or family with you:

A Few Scenarios

There are many ways to plan your experience abroad. Here are two scenarios for bringing a child that have worked for other students:

One student arrived at the program without his daughter. While he was getting oriented and finding housing and child care, his parents were taking care of his three year old in the US. About one month into the program, his parents arrived to visit and brought his daughter. His daughter then stayed with him for the rest of the semester.

Another student brought her husband and daughter on a short term program. The program had a housing option that made it possible for them all to stay together. The student went to class while the husband took care of their daughter.

Cultural Attitudes

Depending on the cultural context, as well as your own personal context, there will be a variety of responses to you traveling with a family or child. Being a single parent will be perceived differently in other cultural contexts and may vary if you are a man or woman. This is something for you to reflect on, and perhaps seek input about, before your experience abroad.

Additional Financial & Logistical Considerations

Housing

The best case scenario would be that the program provider would be able to provide you with housing. If their regular housing is not a possibility (it may be in dorms or another location that cannot accommodate children), then it may be possible that the program provider would be able to help you find appropriate housing. Alternatively you may have to find housing on your own before the program begins. If there is no on-site support to assist you or the on-site resources are not able to locate other housing.

Flights

You will need to purchase tickets for your child or family. It is likely that your family will not be able to participate in the group flight because it may already be factored into the program fee.

Passports, Visas, & Immunizations

Each family member will need a passport and a visa for entry into the country. Depending on the country, immunizations may also be needed. Program providers usually assist in obtaining a student visa for the program participant. Depending on the length of stay and country where you will be visiting, the visa for your family may be easy or hard and expensive or inexpensive to obtain. You will need to acquire these visas on your own. Also, some countries have other requirements for entry when minors are involved and not traveling with both parents. Be sure to thoroughly check on requirements.

Schooling & Child Care

You will need to provide schooling or child care for your child while in classes if you do not have another family member with you on the program. This will incur extra costs. Also, the level to which the program provider can assist in finding child care or entering your child into school will vary depending on location. The best case scenario is that they have child care services nearby or are affiliated with a school for your child to attend. Alternatively, you may need to locate the services or school on your own. You may be eligible for Child Care Assistance Grants through the University of Minnesota Student Parent Help Center. Contact the Student Parent Help Center for details.

Funding Sources for Student Parents

The Student Parent Help Center may offer scholarships and funding support for student parents on study abroad programs.

The Learning Abroad Center offers scholarships and has many resources to research scholarships.

Next Steps

1. Attend a Learning Abroad Center First Step Session.

2. Register at the Student Parent Help Center.

3. Research program options.

4. Schedule a Program Selection Advising appointment to discuss program options with a Learning Abroad Center adviser - let them know you are planning on bringing your child or family.

5. Choose a program and apply.

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The Learning Abroad Center works in conjunction with the Student Parent Help Center to assist student parents who are considering participating in an experience abroad. While an international experience is a viable option, there are some things to consider when planning to take your child or family with you: There are many ways to plan your experience abroad.

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Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Students: Ideas for Faculty

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Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Students: Ideas for Faculty

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This document contains some ideas of what you can do as a faculty member to support pregnant and parenting students on your campus. Each ‘best practice area’ described herein contains both a quick summary of legal requirements and some best practice examples that you can implement immediately. As always, listening to and utilizing the voices of our pregnant and parenting students shows us how we can do better as we move beyond Title IX compliance to best practice.

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The Pregnant Scholar Initiative is the nation’s first and only legal resource center for pregnant and parenting students. We aim to create an educational system where no student is asked to choose between their education and their family. The Pregnant Scholar’s team provides technical assistance to college and university administrators, faculty, and students, training on Title IX’s pregnancy-related protections, and assistance implementing best practice policies to support pregnant and parenting students. We share strategies that center student voice, destigmatize pregnancy and parenthood in academia, secure legal rights for students, and integrate family-responsive practices into the campus environment. Our work uses an intersectional framework, and it is guided and reinforced by our commitment to striving for gender, racial, and disability justice.

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Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Students: Ideas and Obligations 

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Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Students: Ideas and Obligations 

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This document contains some ideas of what you can do as a faculty member to support pregnant and parenting students on your campus. Each ‘best practice area’ described herein contains both a quick summary of legal requirements and some best practice examples that you can implement immediately. As always, listening to and utilizing the voices of our pregnant and parenting students shows us how we can do better as we move beyond Title IX compliance to best practice.

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2Gen Approach - Ascend at the Aspen Institute

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2Gen Approach - Ascend at the Aspen Institute

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Two-generation (2Gen) approaches build family well-being by intentionally and simultaneously working with children and the adults in their lives together. 2Gen approaches center the whole family to create a legacy of educational success and economic prosperity that passes from one generation to the next.

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About the 2Gen Approach

Click the above image to enlarge the graphic. Download this social graphic HERE.

2Gen approaches recognize whole family units, as families define themselves, in order to understand the multiple dimensions of family life and consider a variety of pathways for promoting positive, pragmatic, and effective outcomes for everyone. We work with families as experts and meaningfully engage parents and caregivers in designing policies and programs that affect them in order to develop holistic, integrated, and equity-focused solutions. This family-centered lens helps us to immediately identify families' needs and goals and informs integrations and alignments to programs that serve them, which maximizes long-term impact for families and communities.

Many programs focus solely on the child or the parent(s), but 2Gen approaches do not focus exclusively on either a child's development or isolate an adult's needs because their well-being is interconnected and interdependent. 2Gen approaches aim to integrate services and supports to move the whole family forward, benefiting both the child and the adult(s) in their lives.

A 2Gen approach can take many forms in policy and practice. One example of such an approach would be a college or career training program that connects adult caregivers with childcare programs. This way, a parent or caregiver can pursue higher education while their child's development is also supported. Child-parent approaches focus primarily on the child but are moving toward a two-generation approach by including services and opportunities for the parent. This could look like a care center providing young children with early childhood education opportunities while also offering a workforce development program for parents and caregivers. Parent-child approaches focus primarily on the parent but are moving toward a two-generation approach by including services and opportunities for children. One example would be a place of employment that provides caregiving employees with child care referrals or a family resource renter.

The Origins of 2Gen

The 2Gen approach recognizes family as fundamental to human development. This intuitive link between individual and collective success has long been recognized by indigenous communities in the U.S. and around the globe, but supporting entire family units wasn't employed as a formal, federal strategy until the early development of the human services sector in the late 19th century.

The term "2Gen" was coined in the late 1980s by the Foundation for Child Development to reflect programs that were emerging across the country. 2Gen approaches continued to gain traction throughout the early 2000s and reemerged in 2010. In 2012, in partnership with a group of philanthropic partners, Ascend at the Aspen Institute published the " Two Generations, One Future" report that laid the groundwork for the growth and development of the 2Gen field's expansion. Then, with a decade of accomplishments and learnings from its Network of partners and Fellows, Ascend released the landmark " State of the Field: Two Generation Approaches to Family Well-Being " that outlines our vision for exponential expansion and implementation.

The"two-generation" or "2Gen" approach has been and continues to be referred to by many names within and across the field - "whole family," "intergenerational," "Ohana Nui," "multigenerational," "multi-gen," "generation to generation," and "Gen2Gen" - which all encompass the same fundamental principles: 2Gen approaches reflect and embrace the diverse shapes, sizes, and structures of families to ensure all family members can reach their full potential.

The Reach of 2Gen

Through the Ascend Network, more than 450 organizations from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico implement 2Gen approaches in policy and practice to increase families' economic security, educational success, and health and well-being.

Principles of 2Gen Approaches

There are countless essential experiences and opportunities that are required for people to reach their full potential. To facilitate connections to these supports, all 2Gen policies and programs are grounded in and guided by 5 core principles.

Key Components of Well-Being

Click the above image to enlarge the graphic. Download this social graphic HERE.

Well-being is a multifaceted process and lifelong pursuit. An individual's or family's well-being isn't a solo endeavor, and financial, social, mental, and spiritual health depends on a person and family's context, the resources and opportunities available to them, and the support of others. 2Gen approaches have a robust vision to improve conditions for families by coordinating equitable access to the systems and structures that are necessary to thrive economically and socially. Ultimately, 2Gen approaches recognize six key components to improve families' financial stability, social capital, health care, and quality education.

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2Gen Approach - Ascend at the Aspen Institute

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The 2Gen Approach Two-generation (2Gen) approaches build family well-being by intentionally and simultaneously working with children and the adults in their lives together. 2Gen approaches center the whole family to create a legacy of educational success and economic prosperity that passes from one generation to the next.

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Washington, DC – Today, Ascend at the Aspen Institute and its podcast production partner, LWC Studios, released the second season of “1 in 5,” its highly rated podcast that explores the multifaceted lives of the one in five college students raising children. Over the course of 12 episodes, season 2 of “1 in 5” continues to feature student parents sharing their lived expertise, while widening the lens to lift up lessons from leaders working to transform their communities with student parents’ success in mind.

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Ascend at the Aspen Institute's highly rated podcast presents portraits of parents navigating school, work, and life, highlighting solutions that support their success

Washington, DC - Today, Ascend at the Aspen Institute and its podcast production partner, LWC Studios, released the second season of "1 in 5," its highly rated podcast that explores the multifaceted lives of the one in five college students raising children. Over the course of 12 episodes, season 2 of "1 in 5" continues to feature student parents sharing their lived expertise, while widening the lens to lift up lessons from leaders working to transform their communities with student parents' success in mind.

Ascend's Postsecondary Success for Parents initiative and LWC Studios launched "1 in 5" in 2021 to give student parents a platform to share their stories in their own words about what it's like to care for a child and pursue a postsecondary credential. Season 2 is part of Ascend's expanded commitment to equip leaders within and across systems with parent-informed solutions that advance student parent success.

"I didn't realize the importance of education, years ago. I had no clue that that was going to be the catalyst for what I do in my future," says former student parent Yolanda Johnson-Peterkin in episode 5, which follows her journey from Rikers Island to working in New York City government to support others in her community. Yolanda is now the Executive Director of Housing Initiatives for the New York City Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. Her story underscores how supporting student parents' dreams and ambitions has ripple effects that benefit generations of communities, a key theme of "1 in 5" season 2. "The biggest goal of my life is to be able to do something for somebody that matters, other than myself," Yolanda shares.

"Listening to the wisdom shared by each of these student parents, it's clear that if we redesign higher education with their needs in mind, we will all benefit," said David Croom, associate director of Postsecondary Success for Parents at Ascend and host of "1 in 5" season 2. "Student parents are resilient and highly motivated to succeed. Each one of these episodes challenges listeners, institution leaders, and policymakers to consider what higher education, our economy, and society as a whole, could look like if we made the success of 4 million parents who are students a priority."

In Season 2's "Winter Break," we meet five former and current student parents seeking to transform their lives and the systems that shape success:

"Meet Daria Willis" (Episode 1) - Dr. Daria Willis - a 2021 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow - brings her own experience as a student parent to her role as president of Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland, where she works to break down barriers and expand opportunities for parents on campus.

"Meet Ignacio Angel" (Episode 2) - Being incarcerated spurred Ignacio to reevaluate how to make meaningful changes in his life to support his family. First step was getting his high school diploma. Then, college.

"Meet Soren" (Episode 3) - As a single parent, Soren was hardly making ends meet when their university's student parent center told them about emergency grants, many specifically for queer parents. With this additional support, Soren is launching their academic career with the hope of helping future generations, like their son's, to live healthier lives.

"Catching up with Drayton Jackson" (Episode 4) - Drayton Jackson shared his journey from homelessness to higher education in season one. When we check back in with him, we hear about the work he's doing to make his community a better place.

"Meet Yolanda Johnson-Peterkin" (Episode 5) - A former student parent who mentors formerly incarcerated women by drawing upon her own educational and criminal justice experiences, Yolanda is the Executive Director of Housing Initiatives for the New York City Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice.

Listen to the first five episodes of season 2 now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Pandora, Amazon Music, and other podcast platforms. Subscribe to be the first to listen to Season 2's "Spring Break," coming in March 2023.

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Ascend at the Aspen Institute's 's mission is to create a society where every family passes a legacy of prosperity and well-being from one generation to the next. In 2010, Executive Director and Aspen Institute Vice President Anne Mosle founded Ascend to spark and spread breakthroughs in the ways we think about and invest in leadership to foster the well-being of children and the adults in their lives, together. Ascend has since propelled a national movement to shift the odds back in favor of families. Through the visionary leadership of more than 120 Ascend Fellows, 130 Parent Leaders, and 480 Ascend Network Partners, two-generation (2Gen) approaches are now being advanced in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Guatemala, and Rwanda. Together, the leaders in this growing movement are transforming systems that serve more than 12 million families.

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most important challenges facing the United States and the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

LWC Studios is an award-winning digital media studio whose original work reaches rising audiences with programming that has a social-justice vein. Its flagship show, 70 Million, is the first open-source solutions journalism podcast chronicling how locals are tackling jail reform around the country. In 2020, LWC Studios received a Peabody Award nomination, earned silver in the audio documentary category at the New York International Radio Festival, and won "The Director's Prize," their first Third Coast award, also known as "The Oscars of Audio." In 2021, "Driving the Green Book," which the company produced for Macmillan Podcasts, earned the inaugural Ambies Award for Best History Podcast. Learn more at lwcstudios.com.

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Contact: Brendan Creamer
Communications Manager
Ascend at the Aspen Institute
brendan.creamer@aspeninstitute.org

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Student Parent Podcast "1 in 5" Returns for Second Season - Ascend at the Aspen Institute

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Washington, DC - Today, Ascend at the Aspen Institute and its podcast production partner, LWC Studios, released the second season of "1 in 5," its highly rated podcast that explores the multifaceted lives of the one in five college students raising children.

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CREATE A FAMILY-FRIENDLY SYLLABUS When professors acknowledge parenting responsibilities in their syllabi, it communicates to student parents that they are valued and can share their needs and situations openly with instructors. Our report found that 21% of student parents do not feel comfortable disclosing their parenting status to faculty and staff in part because of past negative experiences and/or fear of how it will be received. During the pandemic, open communication is critical for student success, and a syllabus that embraces parenting responsibilities is key. Here is a sample of syllabus language that communicates that students with children are welcome and that their needs will be considered.

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Sample Student Parent Syllabus Language_Toolkit

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Send a welcome email that embraces parenting

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Send a welcome email that embraces parenting

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SEND A WELCOME EMAIL THAT EMBRACES PARENTING To go one step further in ensuring that student parents feel supported, professors can mention a willingness to work with students who are parenting in their welcome emails at the start of the semester.

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The Family Friendly Campus Toolkit: Using Data to Improve Outcomes

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The Family Friendly Campus Toolkit: Using Data to Improve Outcomes

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The Family Friendly Campus Toolkit: Using Data to Improve Outcomes is an award-winning self-assessment system and guide for improving supports and outcomes for students who are raising children. It is intended for those in higher education—staff, faculty, and students—who want to improve outcomes and conditions for student parents and others. The Toolkit offers a flexible process and set of tools designed to be used in any institution.

While the Toolkit elements can be helpful as stand-alone documents, the Toolkit is most often used to guide a self-assessment process leading to recommendations for change. Student parents should be involved in any efforts. Although staff and faculty have more flexibility and ability to make changes, student parents are the true experts on what is needed, and their/your participation is essential.

The Toolkit can be used to:

Raise awareness and increase campus dialogue about student parents

Identify and increase visibility of current campus resources for student parents

Gather data from and about student parents

Learn about recommended practices and improve supports

Advocate for and prepare a student parent success initiative

Locate helpful resources

Provide support for strengthening student parent programs

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The Family Friendly Campus Toolkit: Using Data to Improve Outcomes is an award-winning self-assessment system and guide for improving supports and outcomes for students who are raising children. It is intended for those in higher education-staff, faculty, and students-who want to improve outcomes and conditions for student parents and others.

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Policy Review: Creating Student-Centered Course Policies

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Policy Review: Creating Student-Centered Course Policies

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Developing student-centered course policies is likely to be one of the most effective things that instructors can do to drive more equitable academic outcomes in their courses. Ensuring that course policies and practices acknowledge and accommodate the lived experiences of diverse student populations can help close outcome gaps by helping to ensure that students' engagement and performance is not negatively impacted by lack of access to the resources or supports that will help them succeed, even when life circumstances present obstacles to education. Course policies that acknowledge students’ lived experiences and are written to work for all students also helps to promote student engagement in courses by lowering identity threat, promoting student engagement, and increasing social belonging, particularly among underrepresented or underserved student groups (McNair et al., 2016; Murphy & Destin, 2016; McNair, Bensimon & Malcom-Piqueux, 2020).

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The Classroom Practices Library was developed by CTC, with feedback and collaboration from university partners, for the Student Experience Project. (© 2022) Copying, reproducing, or monetizing this resource without express permission from the College Transition Collaborative is prohibited.

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MCaSP at the University of Michigan - Vision

The goal of MCaSP is to build and sustain a thriving community of student-parents and caregivers at the University of Michigan who are bolstered by their knowledge of their educational rights as student-parents and caregivers, socially supported by their cohort, and confident in their ability to utilize their non-traditional identities to succeed.

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MCASP - Michigan Caregivers and Student Parents

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MCASP - Michigan Caregivers and Student Parents

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The goal of MCaSP is to build and sustain a thriving community of student-parents and caregivers at the University of Michigan who are bolstered by their knowledge of their educational rights as student-parents and caregivers, socially supported by their cohort, and confident in their ability to utilize their non-traditional identities to succeed.

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Faculty and Staff Allies drive change by providing guidance to students, faculty & staff in their unit about how to best support student caregivers.  Are you seeking guidance on how to support student caregivers or are you a student caregiver in need of support? Find an ally in your unit

The Allies group is comprised of:

Lecturers, Tenure track, Tenured Faculty, Clinical Faculty, Research Faculty, Post-docs

Staff

Members from all units

The goals of the Allies group are to:

Assist student parents as they navigate challenges and provide warm referrals to resources on campus.

Provide support to colleagues who may have questions about how to best support student parents.

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Faculty and Staff Allies for Student Caregivers (website)

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Supporting the Academic Excellence of Student Caregivers

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Supporting the Academic Excellence of Student Caregivers

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Student caregivers are some of the most focused and resourceful students on campus, as demonstrated by their ability to balance school, work, and parental responsibilities. Did you know that 26% of all college students nationwide are raising children?

CEW+ has always served as an advocate for student caregivers. Our founder, Jean Campbell, gave life to the Center’s mission to level the playing field for access to education, the pursuit of finding fulfilling employment, and the acknowledgment of our complex lives. Early on the Center began tackling barriers to student parent enrollment and that work actively continues today. The reality is the identity of a student caregiver at U-M has never been simple or easy. Historically the Center has stood the test of time because of our collaborative approach and a willingness to do the heavy lifting of initiating changes that caused ripple effects at U-M and beyond. Today we are focused on building our collaborative work with student parents to create more systems-level change, removing barriers for student parents on their path to graduation.

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Supporting the Academic Excellence of Student Caregivers - Center for the Education of Women | University of Michigan

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CEW+ Program Assistant Jessica Pelton Selected as Parent Advisor for the Aspen Institute Ascend at the Aspen Institute announced that 11 new Parent Advisors have joined its Postsecondary Success for Parents initiative to help shape Ascend's expanded agenda to improve higher education policy and practice for student parents.

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Conway, Katherine M., Claire Wladis, and Alyse C. Hachey. "Time Poverty and Parenthood: Who Has Time for College?." AERA Open 7 (2021): 23328584211011608.

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Time Poverty and Parenthood: Who Has Time for College?

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Time Poverty and Parenthood: Who Has Time for College?

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Student parents are among the least likely student groups to complete college. Regression models were run using 2003–2019 American Time Use Survey data to explore time poverty among college students. Results indicate that students with children under 13 years had significantly less discretionary time and free time, spent significantly less time on their education, enrolled part-time at significantly higher rates, and spent significantly more time studying while simultaneously caring for children, compared with students without children under 13 years. The strength of these relationships was strongest when children were younger. Parents with children under 6 years, and mothers of children of all age-groups, had significantly higher time poverty than other groups, yet spent significantly more time on education after controlling for discretionary time, at the cost of significantly less free time for themselves. Results suggest that improving college outcomes for student parents may require consideration of time poverty.

Conway, Katherine M., Claire Wladis, and Alyse C. Hachey. "Time Poverty and Parenthood: Who Has Time for College?." AERA Open 7 (2021): 23328584211011608.

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Resource Guide for Prospective College Students with Kids 

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Resource Guide for Prospective College Students with Kids 

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Find Your Way is a guidebook series created from the findings of the Parenting Students on Campus Research Initiative — the first nationally comprehensive study of U.S. parenting student programs and support services on college and university campuses. Find Your Way is a sister project of the Campus Family Housing Database, a complete national database of colleges and universities that allow students to live with their children in campus housing. Find Your Way expands this database to include campuses that offer other parenting student support services or programs, but do not offer family housing.

Led by Autumn Green, Ph.D., of WCW’s Higher Education Access for Parenting Students Research Initiative, the research team has learned how few institutions of higher education offer these types of programs, despite the fact that one in five U.S. college students is a parent. Their research has also revealed national and regional patterns of systemic exclusion and disadvantage for parenting students seeking to advance their education, credentials, and career prospects through higher education. Importantly, parenting students are disproportionately female, students of color, first-generation, and low-income students — making their inclusion in higher education a matter not only of educational equity based on parenting status, but also of racial and economic justice and gender equity.

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Principal Investigator: Autumn Green, Ph.D.

Project Staff: Angelica Montealegre - Hawaii Community College; Cristal A Ramirez - Kauai Community College; Lillian Kekaualua - University of Hawaii Hilo; Jordan Hocker - University of Hawaii Maui College; Anela Apo - University of Hawaii Manoa; Nubia Stoy - Honolulu Community College; Inthava Phanthanouvong - University of Hawaii West Oahu
Project Overview:
Find Your Way is a guidebook series created from the findings of the Parenting Students on Campus Research Initiative - the first nationally comprehensive study of U.S. parenting student programs and support services on college and university campuses. Find Your Way is a sister project of the Campus Family Housing Database, a complete national database of colleges and universities that allow students to live with their children in campus housing. Find Your Way expands this database to include campuses that offer other parenting student support services or programs, but do not offer family housing.

Led by Autumn Green, Ph.D., of WCW's Higher Education Access for Parenting Students Research Initiative, the research team has learned how few institutions of higher education offer these types of programs, despite the fact that one in five U.S. college students is a parent. Their research has also revealed national and regional patterns of systemic exclusion and disadvantage for parenting students seeking to advance their education, credentials, and career prospects through higher education. Importantly, parenting students are disproportionately female, students of color, first-generation, and low-income students - making their inclusion in higher education a matter not only of educational equity based on parenting status, but also of racial and economic justice and gender equity.
Methodology:
The research team has been working its way across the six regions of the United States as defined by the jurisdictions of the corresponding regional higher education commissions and associations. Data has been collected in New England (2014-2015), the Mid-Atlantic region (2015-2016), Texas (2016-2017), and Florida (2017-2018). In 2020, a study of the Western and Pacific Northwest regions got underway in partnership with University of Hawaii's Bridge to Hope program, and a team of parenting student researchers attending two- and four-year institutions across the University of Hawaii system. In 2021, the research team is initiating new partnerships to support data collection in the remaining regions, in order to finalize a complete national dataset.
Implications:
When it is released, the database and analysis findings will be publicly shared and disseminated, and made available for secondary analysis by other researchers. New resource guides and online tools will be developed to support educational access and success for parenting students, and the researchers will work with advocacy organizations and higher education institutions to inform higher education policy and practice. This includes efforts to support, encourage, and enforce the provision of support services and existing legal protections for parenting students, and encourage and promote the growth of parenting student support services through offering best practices to institutions aiming toward greater inclusion of parenting students on campus.
Collaborators:
Current and past contributors to the Parenting Students on Campus Research Initiative include Dr. Autumn R. Green and Sarah Galison of the Wellesley Centers for Women; Dr. Nicole Parsons of Curry College; Dr. Sheila Katz, Yen Ni "Annie" Pham, and Suezen Salinas of the University of Houston; Sahar Haghighat of George Mason University; Teresa Bill of the University of Hawaii; and Karissa Gibbs, Isis Patterson, and Meghan Cane of Endicott College.

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Find Your Way: Resource Guide for Prospective College Students with Kids - Wellesley Centers for Women

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Principal Investigator: Autumn Green, Ph.D. Project Staff: Angelica Montealegre - Hawaii Community College; Cristal A Ramirez - Kauai Community College; Lillian Kekaualua - University of Hawaii Hilo; Jordan Hocker - University of Hawaii Maui College; Anela Apo - University of Hawaii Manoa; Nubia Stoy - Honolulu Community College; Inthava Phanthanouvong - University of Hawaii West Oahu Project Overview: Find Your Way is a guidebook series created from the findings of the Parenting Students on Campus Research Initiative - the first nationally comprehensive study of U.S.

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A free, evidence-based program designed to support a sense of belonging on campus for students at four-year colleges and universities.

The Social-Belonging Intervention is available to four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. through our partnership with the Project for Education Research that Scales (PERTS). This online program allows schools to easily deliver a standard version of the Social-Belonging Intervention to incoming first-year students, helping buffer against threats to their sense of belonging in the transition to college.

Social-Belonging for College Students aims to help all students view challenges encountered in the transition to college as normal and improvable so they are more able to remain socially and academically engaged in the face of challenges.

Social-Belonging for College Students is a joint partnership between the College Transition Collaborative (CTC) and PERTS.

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Almost all first-year students experience challenges in the transition to college, such as failing a test or feeling like they aren't making friends. For students who are socially disadvantaged in higher education-including students of color, low income students, and first-generation college students-persistent negative stereotypes and underrepresentation can lead them to wonder if they belong in college, especially when faced with challenges and setbacks. This concern can lead to social and academic withdrawal which, in turn, leads to lower academic achievement and persistence.

Social-Belonging for College Students aims to help all students view challenges encountered in the transition to college as normal and improvable so they are more able to remain socially and academically engaged in the face of challenges. In previous studies, Social-Belonging for College Students has been effective in improving both social and academic engagement on campus as well as GPA and retention among socially disadvantaged students.

Social-Belonging for College Students is a joint partnership between the College Transition Collaborative (CTC) and PERTS.

I don't tell my friends, but I'm nervous for college. I'm nervous I'll feel out of place with kids who go out to eat...or that I'll be in for a big shock when I get what would have been a great assignment at home back with a poor grade. But college is essentially a lot of people, and all of them are different...professors are people, people who care about students and learning. I will feel a little out of my depth at first, but so does every other person there. That's why [my college] has resources to help ease the transition, like advisors...So I'm nervous about the first part, getting through to the security, but I know that's coming, so everything WILL be okay! Student essay from past implementation of Social-Belonging for College Students

One of the things that's really difficult when you're on the ground in an institution is to do this work and know it's working. To know what we're doing has solid research behind it is priceless. Administrator at CTC partner institution

About the Program

Short, easy-to-implement

This 30-minute online program includes reading short essays, a brief reflection exercise, and brief survey questions. Students will read and write short essays designed to emphasize how difficulties in the transition to college are normal and can be overcome with time.

Evidence-based

Rigorously tested in multiple randomized controlled trials with thousands of college students. Findings include:

13 percentage point increase in first-year, full-time enrollment among college-admitted high school seniors at four urban charter schools

4 percentage point increase in first-year, full-time enrollment among Black, Latinx, and first-generation students at a large, public four-year university

.09 increase in cumulative first-year GPA among Black, Latinx, and first-generation students at a selective, private four-year university

Complementary with other student success efforts

Social-Belonging for College Students is typically implemented as one component of new student orientation among other activities. It is meant to complement your institution's existing student success efforts. It can also help provide insights into student experiences at your school, which may inform other institutional programs around student achievement, persistence, and wellbeing.

Free

We're thrilled to bring you Social-Belonging for College Students as an open enrollment program, and we want to involve as many 4-year colleges and universities as possible.

We're offering our programs for free to eligible colleges thanks to our generous funders.

How It Works

1. Learn & Discuss

Download the Program Information Packet to learn how participation works.

2. Sign-up

Create a user account and prepare to participate using our online platform.

3. Participate

Incoming first-year students complete a 30-minute online module independently over the summer or on campus during new student orientation.

4. Track Impact

See which students completed the program, and, if desired, compare with engagement metrics and academic outcomes.

Information Packet

Review the Program Information Packet to learn more about the research and how to run Social-Belonging for College Students at your college.

Have additional questions? Review our FAQ!

Supporting Resources

Ready to get started?

Enter your email - You will receive a link to our online platform where you will be able to sign-up and prepare to participate.

When you sign up, we'll check you're not a bot ( hCaptcha privacy policy).

About PERTS

The Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS) is a nonprofit research and development institute that translates insights from psychological science into cutting-edge tools, measures, and recommendations that educators anywhere can use to foster healthy and equitable academic engagement and success. We are so excited to bring you Social-Belonging for College Students and to make the latest research on social belonging strategies actionable to every college in the United States.

About the CTC

The College Transition Collaborative (CTC) brings together researchers and higher education leaders to create learning environments that produce more equitable post-secondary outcomes. Our work places the student experience at the center of student success initiatives, conveying to all students they are valued, respected, and can excel even in the face of difficulties and setbacks. We work with colleges and universities to ensure that, particularly during moments of challenge, students feel like they are able to persevere and that their school cares about their success.

For More Information

Learn more about our work and how schools can get involved on our website.

Read about our previous work as covered by The New York Times here and here.

Read more about the results of our latest large-scale trials, published in PNAS.

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PERTS : Social-Belonging for College Students

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Almost all first-year students experience challenges in the transition to college, such as failing a test or feeling like they aren't making friends. For students who are socially disadvantaged in higher education-including students of color, low income students, and first-generation college students-persistent negative stereotypes and underrepresentation can lead them to wonder if they belong in college, especially when faced with challenges and setbacks.

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This section describes how to plan and design for the variability present in today's postsecondary classrooms. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that incorporates flexibility into the curriculum from the outset in order to avoid time-consuming retrofitting after the fact. UDL helps faculty members and instructional designers plan their curriculum in ways that reduce barriers to learning and facilitate meaningful participation by all students.

UDL Syllabus

Learning Goals

Emotion and Learning

UDL and Assessment

Executive Functioning in Online Environments

Social Learning

Blended Courses

Case-Based Learning

Working with Industry Partners

Using LMS Data to Inform Course Design

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About This Section

This section describes how to plan and design for the variability present in today's postsecondary classrooms. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that incorporates flexibility into the curriculum from the outset in order to avoid time-consuming retrofitting after the fact. UDL helps faculty members and instructional designers plan their curriculum in ways that reduce barriers to learning and facilitate meaningful participation by all students.

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This section describes how to plan and design for the variability present in today's postsecondary classrooms. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that incorporates flexibility into the curriculum from the outset in order to avoid time-consuming retrofitting after the fact.

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Foundational Practices: Syllabus Revision Module

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Foundational Practices: Syllabus Revision Module

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This online module consists of a number of recorded videos to demonstrate practical tips for developing syllabi, as well as activities that will help you apply these  concepts to your own syllabus. It should take approximately 90 minutes to watch the videos and complete the activities, plus time to revising your syllabus.

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Your Syllabus as a Tool to Promote Promote Student Equity, Belonging, and Growth

Christine Logel

Christine Logel is an Associate Professor of Social Development Studies at Renison University College, affiliated with University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. As a co-founder of the College Transition Collaborative, based at Stanford University, and co-Principal Investigator of the Student Experience Project, funded by the Raikes Foundation, she develops and tests tools that help students approach the challenges in their journey through postsecondary education with the most adaptive mindset, increasing equity in academic outcomes and improving well-being. Dr. Logel earned her PhD in social psychology at University of Waterloo, followed by postdoctoral fellowships at University of Colorado and Stanford University. She received University of Waterloo's 2018 Equity Award for her work promoting women's success in STEM fields. Dr. Logel teaches Introductory Psychology and upper-year online courses.

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Your Syllabus as a Tool to Promote Student Equity, Belonging, and Growth

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Your Syllabus as a Tool to Promote Promote Student Equity, Belonging, and Growth Christine Logel Christine Logel is an Associate Professor of Social Development Studies at Renison University College, affiliated with University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

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Structures for Belonging: A Research Synthesis

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Structures for Belonging: A Research Synthesis

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Structures for Belonging: A Research Synthesis

What do we know about creating and sustaining environments that support belonging for each student? To answer this question, Student Experience Research Network developed Structures for Belonging, a research synthesis that illuminates structures – or practices, policies, and norms – related to belonging in four overlapping categories: access to learning environments; relationships with educators, peers, and families; instructional resources and pedagogy; and system-level policies and practices. The synthesis discusses both K-12 and postsecondary educational contexts, and includes research from diverse academic disciplines including social psychology, cultural psychology, sociology, adolescent development, neuroscience, economics, and education.

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Belonging-Supportive Learning Environments - Student Experience Research Network

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Belonging is a vital ingredient for learning and well-being. In every learning environment, students pick up on cues and signals that they use to assess whether and to what extent they belong. When these messages support students' belonging, they can bring their full selves to school and devote their full attention and energy to learning.

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A Belonging Story is a short story about a challenge that a person encountered in their academic or professional career and that made them worry about the extent to which they belonged, or fit in, in a particular context, and how they resolved or lessened that concern over time by using agentic strategies, like connecting with resources, to improve their experience.

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Creating a Belonging Story – The College Transition Collaborative

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Constructs Addressed: Social Belonging Growth Mindset
Social Connectedness Self Efficacy

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Revising Your Syllabi (and Your Courses) with Equity, Belonging and Growth in Mind 

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Revising Your Syllabi (and Your Courses) with Equity, Belonging and Growth in Mind 

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Provide a plan for learning that empowers students to respond proactively and productively to difficulty.

Create flexible policies that acknowledge, and take into account the diversity and complexity of students’ lived experiences.

Encourage students to connect with you, and your instructional team.

Authors:
Kathryn Boucher, PhD, Associate Professor, College of Applied Behavioral Sciences, University of Indianapolis, and Principal Investigator,  College Transition Collaborative

Krysti Ryan, PhD, Director of Research, College Transition Collaborative

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Course syllabi are often written with the intention to set expectations and boundaries for appropriate student conduct, and as tools for holding students accountable for their learning. They often are instructors' first communication with students and, therefore, give students their first impressions about what the course will entail, who you are as an instructor, and whether or not they will succeed in the course. Because syllabi are often updated and revised in response to negative experiences, however, they can become disproportionately punitive, with the policies, practices and messages implicitly communicating to students that the instructor doubts their ability to perform effectively in the course, or assumes that they will act unethically or irresponsibly. This was true before the pandemic, but the switch to different modalities of teaching and greater variability in how and when we are connecting with students have likely brought forth new issues for instructors to consider.

Students tell us that punitive policies and a critical tone can leave them feeling as though they are not valued or respected, and can cause them to doubt whether or not they can be successful in the course. This is particularly true for students from backgrounds that are structurally disadvantaged, negatively stereotyped in society, or underrepresented in higher education, who, because they are aware of cultural stigmas and stereotypes towards their groups, are disproportionately likely to be vigilant for cues that they don't belong. In a challenging year marked by many new and intensified existing sources of strain impacting our campus communities and the way we gather (or don't!) to learn, it's reasonable to assume that nearly all students are returning to school this year under new stressors, and possibly with heightened concerns around their ability to succeed.

As part of the Student Experience Project, we're leveraging learning from social psychology and higher education research to reimagine the task of writing syllabi: to view it as an opportunity to introduce a plan for learning that will support the success of all students, regardless of personal circumstances - one that details ways students can demonstrate their growing mastery of course content, and connects students with the support and resources that will help them thrive.

Over the summer, and led by SEP Lead Scholar and College Transition Collaborative co-founder Christine Logel , we developed a workshop series to help instructors revise their syllabi in this vision, by drawing on messages, policies, and practices designed to promote equity, belonging and growth in their courses. Here, we've outlined three impactful approaches we are using in this process, and share some examples of what we're hearing from students who reviewed the syllabi from these workshops. For examples of how SEP instructors are implementing these ideas in their courses, click here to view the Three Approaches to Revising your Syllabus with Equity, Belonging and Growth in Mind resource.

Provide a plan for learning that empowers students to respond proactively and productively to difficulty. College students may need to "learn how to learn" in order to be successful in college courses, but they might not realize how common of an experience this is. For example, it's not uncommon for students, especially those who are first generation, or who are members or negatively stereotyped social groups, to interpret routine challenges - like difficulty navigating an online learning system, or a poor grade - as signs that they don't belong or can't cut it in college. This experience can lead to a negative recursive cycle where students retreat academically and stop engaging with the resources that would help them succeed, ultimately leading to even worse experiences and outcomes. Thankfully, instructors do not need to be experts in pedagogy to help students break this cycle. By acknowledging and normalizing this experience for students, communicating confidence in students' abilities to learn, sharing tips for how students can overcome these challenges, and point them to resources to support their learning, instructors can help students respond productively and proactively to academic setbacks.

What students are saying about this approach: "I feel that as long as I am able to remain organized and on top of my assignments I will be able to be successful in this class because my instructor has made it clear that they are available to help us if we really need it and they have reminded us about the resources that are available to us."

Create flexible policies that acknowledge, and take into account the diversity and complexity of students' lived experiences. Policies that disallow late work or accommodations under any circumstances are commonly intended to hold students accountable for their work, but they also unintentionally and disproportionately disadvantaged students who are balancing school work with other responsibilities, or those who are facing hardships. The ability to always meet course deadlines should not be more important than the quality of the work turned in. Students can show their learning and mastery even when they require some flexibility for when the work is turned in. For students who are facing significant challenges in pursuing their education - like homelessness or food insecurity, they could be even more likely to excel in courses with flexible policies.

Students tell us that no exception policies can make them feel demoralized, and as though the instructor doesn't understand, or perhaps doesn't care about, what challenges they are facing. Policies that instead that acknowledge challenges students may encounter in meeting course expectations, and provide reasonable flexibility for students while also maintaining expectations for student work and accountability (i.e., not changing the content, but allowing for reasonable flexibility for when all work can be done) communicate care and support to students, while also helping to ensure that students' academic achievement is not undermined by challenges or obstacles outside of students' control. Such policies are likely to be particularly impactful during the pandemic, when students' lives may be especially disrupted.

What students are saying about this approach: "This [policy for quizzes] reflects thoughtfulness on the part of the professor and shows that they care about helping their students learn better and perform better in this class"; "I appreciate the fact that my prof knows STEM textbooks are expensive and is encouraging students to find cheaper options."

Encourage students to connect with you, and your instructional team. We heard in our conversations with students that they very much want to make connections with the faculty who teach their courses, and we know from prior work that developing connections with instructors and TAs can meaningfully impact students' learning and academic success. However, we also know that the professor intimidation factor commonly inhibits students from approaching and engaging with instructors and other members of the instructional team. During the pandemic, without having met the instructor in person before, students may perceive it to be (and may indeed be) harder to make that connection virtually.

While large course sizes can make it difficult to form personal relationships with each student in a class, there are steps that instructors can take to help students feel greater connection to their learning team - even if one-on-one engagement is not possible. Including brief biographies to the syllabus that help students to see the members of the instructional team as real people with lives that extend beyond the classroom, reframing office hours as "drop-in" hours to more clearly communicate that students are welcome during these times, and providing guidance on professional communication norms, are all small examples of ways that instructors can help students overcome the intimidation of connecting with professors, and increase the likelihood that students will reach out when needed.

What students are saying about this approach: "Including a short bio really makes the professor seem easier to talk to!"
Authors: Kathryn Boucher, PhD, Associate Professor, College of Applied Behavioral Sciences, University of Indianapolis, and Principal Investigator, College Transition Collaborative Krysti Ryan, PhD, Director of Research, College Transition Collaborative

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Revising Your Syllabi (and Your Courses) with Equity, Belonging and Growth in Mind - Student Experience Project

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Course syllabi are often written with the intention to set expectations and boundaries for appropriate student conduct, and as tools for holding students accountable for their learning. They often are instructors' first communication with students and, therefore, give students their first impressions about what the course will entail, who you are as an instructor, and whether or not they will succeed in the course.

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Ascend: Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS) 

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Ascend: Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS) 

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The Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS) is a nonprofit research and development institute that translates insights from psychological science into cutting-edge tools, measures, and recommendations that educators anywhere can use to foster healthy and equitable academic engagement and success.

Ascend is a free, data-driven professional learning program that enables college instructors and administrators to learn how their students are experiencing courses and what they can do to make those experiences more equitable, more engaging, and more supportive of student success.

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Equity & Student Experience

In many college courses, students of color and financially stressed students are far less likely to experience identity safety, belonging, or instructors who effectively communicate confidence in their potential. This experience gap contributes to the broader opportunity gap because- as research shows -these affirming experiences are crucial for students to fully engage and successfully persist in college.

What is Ascend?

Ascend is a free, data-driven professional learning program that enables college instructors and administrators to learn how their students are experiencing courses and what they can do to make those experiences more equitable, more engaging, and more supportive of student success.

How does it work?

Educators use a brief, research-based survey to learn how students experience course(s). Once educators can recognize the experience gaps in their own courses, they are better equipped to take action to address them. Educators repeat the process through multiple cycles of inquiry and action in order to systematically create better learning experiences for all of their students.

Eligibility

Any U.S. 4-year or 2-year college or university can use Ascend. Ascend is designed for use by instructors or those who supervise or coach instructors (e.g., department chairs or staff at teaching and learning centers).

Fast

It takes less than 30 minutes from registration to get through your personalized setup and start surveying students. Your confidential, disaggregated survey results are available a few days later-allowing you to take action quickly.

Free or Affordable

Ascend is free to instructors thanks to the Raikes Foundation. Institutional implementations can benefit from additional services, like customized implementation planning and reporting, live demos, and enterprise tech support. Visit our support portal to learn more.

Secure & FERPA Compliant

We keep your information secure, and we have a strict, legally binding privacy policy that is FERPA compliant. Hundreds of schools and colleges around the U.S. have used PERTS services under these legal and technological guarantees.

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In many college courses, students of color and financially stressed students are far less likely to experience identity safety, belonging, or instructors who effectively communicate confidence in their potential. This experience gap contributes to the broader opportunity gap because- as research shows -these affirming experiences are crucial for students to fully engage and successfully persist in college.

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines 

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines 

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Reenvisioning the UDL Guidelines

Because the UDL Guidelines are meant to be informed by feedback from the field as well as new research, they have been updated several times in the past. We are in the process of updating the Guidelines once again in our UDL Rising to Equity initiative.

This update will focus specifically on addressing systemic barriers that result in inequitable learning opportunities and outcomes. CAST aims to develop a transparent, inclusive, and community-driven process. If you are interested in collaborating and staying updated on our progress, we invite you to complete a brief survey.

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

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Student-Parent Families at the Center (SPARK Collaborative)

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Student-Parent Families at the Center (SPARK Collaborative)

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The Student-Parent Families at the Center Framework intends to provide a comprehensive map of the intersecting systems affecting student-parent families and the programs and issues within each. The details of the Framework and a series of fact sheets annotating these policy areas appear on the Systems, Policies, and Programs page. A detailed diagram is available for download. We have developed the Student-Parent Families at the Center Roadmap for Change to highlight opportunities to ease systems, policies, and practices—with the support of research and investment—so parenting students and their families can meet their educational goals.

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Every year, millions of parents pursue further education or training. Student parents make up nearly a quarter of undergraduate students and nearly a third of graduate students, but parenting students complete college at a much lower rate than other students, even though they earn comparable course…

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New recommendations to help policymakers and leaders in higher education understand the growing disconnect between current federal policy and the needs of today’s students and how federal policy can offer solutions.

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Today's students are more diverse than any previous generation of college students: they're diverse in age, race, and income level. They're more mobile and may not live on campus. Most participate in the workforce, either full-time or part-time. Work and family responsibilities beyond the classroom-whether that is on-campus or online-often compete with the educational goals of today's students. Younger workers are changing jobs as many as four times by age 32, so lifelong learning and continuing education have quickly become the norm for most adults.

It's time to put the realities of these students at the center of federal higher education policy. But many existing federal postsecondary education and workforce policies date back to a time when most students went immediately from high school to a four-year university or a trade school upon graduation. Higher Learning Advocates is re-releasing our Policy Toolkit for Today's Students with new recommendations to help policymakers and leaders in higher education understand the growing disconnect between current federal policy and the needs of today's students and how federal policy can offer solutions.

Learn more about our proposal and download the toolkit here or the one-page summary here.

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Policy Toolkit 3.0 - Higher Learning Advocates

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Today's students are more diverse than any previous generation of college students: they're diverse in age, race, and income level. They're more mobile and may not live on campus. Most participate in the workforce, either full-time or part-time. Work and family responsibilities beyond the classroom-whether that is on-campus or online-often compete with the educational goals of today's students.

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Busy with Purpose: Lessons for Education and Policy Leaders from Returning Student Parents

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Busy with Purpose: Lessons for Education and Policy Leaders from Returning Student Parents

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Busy with Purpose: Lessons for Education and Policy Leaders from Returning Student Parents

Contreras-Mendez, Susana; Cruse, Lindsey Reichlin

Institute for Women's Policy Research

Postsecondary attainment is widely recognized as key to accessing living-wage careers--in addition to fulfilling workforce demands and elevating the United States' standing on the world stage. While much of the work to increase attainment rates has recognized the role of reengaging adults who have some college credit, but no degree or certificate, less attention has been paid to the salience of parenthood in adults' postsecondary experiences. This report draws from Institute for Women's Policy Research analysis of national postsecondary data describing first-time enrolled students with children who left college before completing a degree or certificate and a series of 11 interviews with student parents who have taken prolonged breaks from postsecondary enrollment. The report describes common challenges to persistence and college reentry faced by adult students with children, factors that allow them to go back to school, and, in student parents' own words, tangible actions that policy and education leaders should take to better support their success.

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Bipartisan Advocates for Today’s Students
https://higherlearningadvocates.org/

Higher Learning Advocates is a bipartisan non-profit organization that advocates for solutions to break down systemic barriers and support the success of today’s students in their pursuit of education and skills development beyond high school. We advance federal policies that create transparent pathways to success, incentivize innovation, protect students and taxpayers, and improve student outcomes.

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Postsecondary Success for Parents Initiative (Aspen) 

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Postsecondary Success for Parents Initiative (Aspen) 

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Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s Postsecondary Success for Parents (PSP) initiative raises awareness of and shares recommendations to better support the one in five students enrolled in college who are parents. We work with systems, institutions, and students who are parents to ensure families have access to the resources necessary to achieve their educational goals, ultimately advancing their family’s economic mobility and well-being.

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ABOUT THE POSTSECONDARY SUCCESS FOR PARENTS INITIATIVE

This initiative is guided by Ascend's comprehensive two-generation (2Gen) approaches that build family well-being by intentionally and simultaneously working with children and the adults in their lives together.

Since 2018, the Postsecondary Success for Parents Initiative (PSP) has been a key driver in building a student parent movement - an expansive, nationally-coordinated effort to advance the development of innovative solutions that provide greater postsecondary access, affordability, and success for parents. We focus on the more than four million student parents enrolled in postsecondary pathways - a group that should inform and strengthen higher education's equity agenda.

Undergraduate student parents...

Represent one in five college students

Are likely to attend community college

Are more likely to be students of color than White

Are older than nonparents

Are likely to have children who are preschool-aged or younger

Have nearly twice the student loan debt of students overall

Have higher GPAs than students who are not parents

Our Community

To make postsecondary systems more accessible to student parents, Ascend taps into the power of partnership to build a sphere of influential champions that affect positive change for parenting students.

Parent Advisors

The Ascend Parent Advisors are a group of parents who understand first-hand how to improve policies and programs for student parents. Their lived experiences inform Ascend's strategies and affect our advocacy around systems change.

National Advisors

The Ascend National Advisors are a group of leaders from higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations that provide transformational support on strategies and recommendations to guide the Postsecondary Success for Parents Initiative and its progress for student parents.

Postsecondary Leadership Circle for Parents

The Postsecondary Leadership Circle for Parents includes leaders of postsecondary institutions that are spearheading innovative practices and family-friendly strategies on their campuses that advance postsecondary success for student parents across the country.

PSP Initiative's Change Strategies

Black and Native Family Futures Fund

Ascend at the Aspen Institute's Black and Native Family Futures Fund is a new capacity-building fund that will provide financial support and expert technical assistance to selected Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) campuses that are committed to improving the success of their student parents.

Policy Acceleration Partnerships

The Aspen Policy Acceleration Partnerships is an effort by six public entities representing various cities, counties, and states as strategic partners and field innovators to increase economic mobility and well-being for students who are parents.

Parent-Powered Solutions Fund

The Aspen Parent Powered Solutions Fund is the first student parent-led fund dedicated to advancing the work of organizations and initiatives that support student parents' postsecondary success.

The inaugural awardees, selected by Ascend Parent Advisors, included six organizations that pursue a host of issues - from creating student parent advisory councils and offering mental health counseling support, to providing emergency financial resources and compensating parents for their expertise.

PSP Initiative's Publications

Thank you to our philanthropic partners

We sincerely appreciate the generosity and partnership of ECMC Foundation, Imaginable Futures, the Liz Blake Giving Fund, and Lumina Foundation for their ongoing support of and contributions to the Postsecondary Success for Parents initiative.

Contact the Postsecondary Success for Parents Team

To learn more about ways you can support student parent success, please contact our Associate Director of Postsecondary Success for Parents, David Croom, or our Program Manager, Jennifer Pocai, at ascendpsp@aspeninstitute.org.

For press or media inquiries related to Postsecondary Success partners or products, please contact our Communications Manager, Brendan Creamer ( brendan.creamer@aspeninstitute.org).

Stories from Postsecondary Success for Parents

In an op-ed for Philanthropy News Digest, Ascend founder and executive director Anne Mosle highlights the power and potential in listening to and honoring the ...

In an article for Lumina Foundation's summer 2022 Focus magazine, Ascend's David Croom offers insight into the power of student parents' commitment to success for ...

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Postsecondary Success for Parents - Ascend at the Aspen Institute

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Postsecondary Success for Parents Initiative Ascend at the Aspen Institute's Postsecondary Success for Parents (PSP) initiative raises awareness of and shares recommendations to better support the one in five students enrolled in college who are parents. We work with systems, institutions, and students who are parents to ensure families have access to the resources necessary ...

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Mindset Kit: Belonging for Educators 13 Lessons (~45 minutes)

When students feel like they belong in school, they are more motivated, engaged, and ultimately show higher performance. In this course, you will learn about belonging, why it's important, and belonging strategies for your classroom.

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Mindset Kit - Belonging for Educators Course

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When students feel like they belong in school, they are more motivated, engaged, and ultimately show higher performance. In this course, you will learn about belonging, why it’s important, and belonging strategies for your classroom.

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Family-Centered Coaching Toolkit (August 2017)

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Family-Centered Coaching Toolkit (August 2017)

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The Prosperity Agenda offers this learning journey to support staff as they steward their organization through the successful adoption of FCC. Through a comprehensive series of learning experiences, we support you from an initial organizational assessment and all the way through the launch of a continuous improvement process.

Adoption of FCC will look unique in each individual organization. The FCC learning journey, however, consistently offers these outcomes:

Deepens how organizations center on the experience of families/participants

Fosters a shared language that supports collaboration

Builds greater empathy within teams and throughout various levels of the organization

Breaks down organizational silos

Increases the sense of purpose among staff

Honors families as they report that they are making progress on their goals

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IAMAS March 2023 Pedagogical Practices for Equity & Access

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IAMAS March 2023 Pedagogical Practices for Equity & Access

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Learning Outcomes

Center voices and experiences of student parents

Build compassion and knowledge of the complexity of parenting student lives.

Identify pedagogical practices to create more accessible courses

Discuss practices to promote equity (i.e., syllabus review, policy review, growth mindset, wise feedback framing, identity safety)

Build a culture of belonging and connections

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Study examines how universities can accommodate student parents

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Study examines how universities can accommodate student parents

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CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy

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Over a quarter of college students have children, but institutions of higher education often function without consideration of the varied needs and competing demands of student parents.

In a study published in the Community College Journal of Research and Policy, CUNY SPH Assistant Professor Meredith Manze and three former CUNY SPH students sought to understand barriers and facilitators to academic engagement and well-being among community college student parents and to identify areas of needed support from institutions and their faculty and staff.

The team interviewed 49 student parents, faculty, and staff at six community colleges within the City University of New York and found that parents were expected to repeatedly self-advocate and request accommodations such as for extended childcare hours, food subsidies, and assignment deadlines. According to respondents, this burden was either constrained or relieved by student parents' strengths and strategies, campus structures and groups operating collectively or in silos, and the way faculty, staff, and campus programs responded to student parents' needs.

The authors recommend that faculty and staff present clear policies of what is allowable and the accommodations they can offer, without retribution or judgement; expanding on-campus, quality child care; creating a centralized structure for comprehensive benefits; and systematically capturing those who identify as student parents to help streamline such resources directly.

"Community colleges can reduce the burden on students to request accommodations by presenting clear policies, streamlining resources to student parents directly, and normalizing their use," says Manze. "This can facilitate student parent engagement and retention, while promoting social and economic equity."
Meredith Manze, Dana Watnick, Lauren Rauh & Polly Smith-Faust (2022) The Expectation of Student Parents to Self-Advocate: "The Ones Who are Successful are the Ones Who Keep Asking", Community College Journal of Research and Practice, DOI: 10.1080/10668926.2022.2097964

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Study examines how universities can accommodate student parents - CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy

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Over a quarter of college students have children, but institutions of higher education often function without consideration of the varied needs and competing demands of student parents.

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How Faculty Can Help Student Parents Succeed

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How Faculty Can Help Student Parents Succeed

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Larissa M. Mercado-López offers advice for how faculty members can better support student who are parents as well as those who are caregivers in other ways.

"If we truly want to make the claim that we support all our students, we need to think more critically about who our students are. Not only would our efforts directly benefit the student, but they would vastly improve opportunity and outcomes for generations to come. Supporting student parents is one of the best ways that we can help shape more prosperous and liberatory futures."

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According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, 26 percent of undergraduate students in the United States have dependents under the age of 18, and students of color are even more likely to be parents (30 percent). As many as 70 percent of student parents are women, and the data indicates that their population is steadily growing. Many student parents are single.

Parents who did not have the opportunity to attend college before, who served in the military immediately after high school or who have discovered that a college degree is necessary to improve their quality of life are entering community colleges and four-year undergraduate institutions in search of diplomas and opportunities. But many campuses fail to recognize student parents in their institutional narratives and outreach and retention efforts. While much of the language of college students emphasizes getting prospective students "college ready," we should prepare institutions, particularly their faculty, to be student-parent ready.

Universities are slowly improving to acknowledge and better serve this significant student population. But while policy researchers have provided general statistics on student parents, individual institutions rarely formally collect data on those students. That's partly because of the hegemonic narrative about "the" path to a degree. This traditional narrative perpetuates the stigmas of pregnancy and parenthood, making the struggles of pregnant and parenting students invisible.

In a 2016 survey that I administered to student parents on my campus, students said that they felt "judged" by their peers and were "made to feel incompetent," particularly when revealing pregnancies to professors. Students I speak to -- in addition to my own personal experience as a three-time student parent -- reveal contradictory feelings of shame and pride, powerlessness and empowerment, as they navigate the terrain of the university and their own family lives.

In my survey, feelings of empowerment correlated with knowledge of pregnancy rights under Title IX. Those who were not knowledgeable about Title IX were more likely to receive lower grades if they were absent due to pregnancy and delivery, which are excused under Title IX. That suggests several things: 1) students who are knowledgeable about their rights are better advocates for themselves, and 2) faculty members who are not knowledgeable about pregnancy rights are more likely to violate them.

The problem with Title IX also lies in its limitations: while pregnancy is a protected status, parenting is not. Parents -- many of whom enter the university with children or who become pregnant or assume custody of children during school -- are largely not excused from class when their child is sick, their babysitter falls through or they experience any other childcare-related crisis. Many student parents of all genders struggle with lack of regular (and affordable) childcare, housing security and transportation, all of which can affect their attendance. Neither Title IX nor most campus resources are prepared for the ways in which student parents experience some of these struggles. For example, while my university provides emergency housing for students who experience sudden homelessness, the campus housing facilities cannot accommodate minors. While universities claim that their resources and services are for all students, not all students can fully benefit from them.

So what can faculty members do to better support their student parents as well as students who are caregivers in other ways?

First, it's important that these students are visible. Faculty members can urge their institutions to collect data on students with dependents. Beginning this coming spring, students at my campus will be able to voluntarily submit their dependent information through their student portal. Data fields include birth dates, relationship to the dependents, the percentage of care provided and the percentage of financial responsibility. This information will help our institution understand the time and financial constraints that student parents experience, and the dependents' ages will inform the support programs we create in response to our students' perceived needs.

Within the classroom, and without singling anyone out, faculty members can acknowledge that parenting students exist as part of the campus community. They can help dispel myths that student parents are not serious and not reliable, which would encourage understanding and community building. While these students experience challenges that might hinder their academic progress and performance, many feel strongly connected to their education. In fact, my survey revealed that over 80 percent of student parents believed that being a parent made them a better student.

Visibility can also be achieved in the syllabus. Depending on the institution's policies, faculty members can welcome children into the classroom. My syllabus allows for students to bring their child(ren) to class if their childcare falls through or if they are exclusively nursing, and I trust that students will use their best judgment when making this decision. Students rarely take up the offer, as the stress related to bringing a child to class weighs far more heavily on the student than on the professor or classmates. If faculty members are concerned that the presence of a child somehow makes the space less "scholarly," as I have heard they are, then they need to reassess how they determine who gets to be a scholar.

A no-questions-asked three-absence policy also gives student parents opportunities to stay home with their children without consequences. Just as I work with nonparenting students whose absences go beyond the three in emergency situations, I work with student parents whose child-related emergencies demand more time.

Additionally, faculty members can include Title IX statements on their syllabi that are inclusive of pregnancy rights. Prior to 2018, there was no language explicitly about pregnancy on my campus's Title IX webpage, which focused almost exclusively on sexual assault. Including the information can help students feel seen and can empower them to be proactive about their education if they are pregnant or become pregnant.

Finally, faculty members can advocate for their university to be more considerate of student parent needs in campus efforts to promote "student success." Reframing the language around pregnancy and parenthood -- much of which is couched in the language of "liability" and framed as something that needs to be "avoided" or "prevented" -- is vital for creating a climate for student parents that is welcoming and promotes an understanding of how their identities and experiences enrich campus life and learning. Faculty members can ask for family student rooms, an institutional commitment to creating a family-friendly campus, visibility of student parents in marketing materials and campus tours specifically for student parents.

Recognizing the implications of diaper needs and continued eligibility for federal welfare benefits, a colleague on my campus recently established a diaper bank that provides free diapers to our parents of very young children. Whether faculty are creating new resources or simply including information about existing resources in their syllabi, there many, many ways in which we can support student parent achievement.

It is painful to hear story after story of students who have lost entire semesters of credit because their Title IX rights were violated, they received fewer points because of unresponsive or unreasonably rigid professors, or they lacked knowledge about existing resources. Student parents who need help are not undisciplined or bad at making choices; in fact, the research shows that while student parents have less discretionary time, they use that time more productively and efficiently than their nonparenting peers. Other studies indicate they most likely started at a community college and make up one-third of first-generation students. Indeed, those who persist at four-year institutions are among the most dedicated, determined and disciplined.

If we truly want to make the claim that we support all our students, we need to think more critically about who our students are. Not only would our efforts directly benefit the student, but they would vastly improve opportunity and outcomes for generations to come. Supporting student parents is one of the best ways that we can help shape more prosperous and liberatory futures.

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Advice for supporting student parents and other caregivers (opinion)

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According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, 26 percent of undergraduate students in the United States have dependents under the age of 18, and students of color are even more likely to be parents (30 percent). As many as 70 percent of student parents are women, and the data indicates that their population is steadily growing.

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The Expectation of Student Parents to Self-Advocate: “The Ones Who are Successful are the Ones Who Keep Asking

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The Expectation of Student Parents to Self-Advocate: “The Ones Who are Successful are the Ones Who Keep Asking

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ABSTRACT
We sought to understand barriers and facilitators to academic engagement among student parents at six community colleges, through in-depth interviews with student parents, staff, and faculty members ( n  = 49). Using a grounded theory approach, we found parents were expected to repeatedly self-advocate and request accommodations such as for extended childcare hours, food subsidies, and assignment deadlines. This burden was either constrained or relieved by 1) student parents' strengths and strategies, 2) campus structures and groups operating collectively or in silos, and 3) the way faculty, staff, and campus programs responded to student parents' needs. Community colleges can reduce the burden on students to request accommodations by presenting clear policies, streamlining resources to student parents directly, and normalizing their use.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the City University of New York [80210-0225].

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The Expectation of Student Parents to Self-Advocate: "The Ones Who are Successful are the Ones Who Keep Asking"

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ABSTRACT We sought to understand barriers and facilitators to academic engagement among student parents at six community colleges, through in-depth interviews with student parents, staff, and faculty members ( n  = 49). Using a grounded theory approach, we found parents were expected to repeatedly self-advocate and request accommodations such as for extended childcare hours, food subsidies, and assignment deadlines.

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Pedagogy of student parenting: Strategies for teaching busy, working-class students

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Pedagogy of student parenting: Strategies for teaching busy, working-class students

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STUDENT VOICE: Higher education can — and should — help nontraditional students like me

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STUDENT VOICE: Higher education can — and should — help nontraditional students like me

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I grew up knowing I wanted to graduate high school and pursue a college degree. I aspired to be a chemical engineer and had big dreams of curing cancer and AIDS.

However, I was raised in a chaotic household that left me unprepared, both financially and emotionally, for managing college life. That deprived me of achieving those goals, at least for several decades.

My parents divorced when I was only 3. My mother had a difficult time caring for me and my brother, so we were placed in foster care.

My grandparents gained custody, but that living situation presented its own set of challenges. They were old-fashioned, and because of my structured and strict upbringing, I was naive about the realities a traditional college setting would present.

Despite getting good grades in high school, I struggled during my first year at Clarkson University in New York and found myself unable to balance both my schoolwork and social life.

Those challenges increased tenfold when my parents were unable to support me financially as they had promised while I pursued my bachelor's degree. As a result, I relied on student loans to pay for college.

After my first year, I dropped out of Clarkson and worked as a receptionist for a year while I saved enough money to go back. I returned to my local SUNY campus with hopes of getting my grades up, but I continued to struggle and soon withdrew.

After dropping out of college a second time, I reentered the workforce and started at Macy's as a cashier and sales associate. Over the course of 11 years, I was promoted regularly. I also got married and eventually became pregnant.

Soon after I became pregnant, my husband passed away and I learned that my son, James, had a congenital condition that caused him to have a hole in his diaphragm. I had an emergency caesarean section a month early at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I quit my career and spent 31 days by his bedside seriously considering what I wanted to do next.

I had a lingering feeling that my talent was being wasted, and I kept coming back to my dream of becoming a chemical engineer. I decided then and there - at 39 years old and 19 years since I was last in college - to return to school.
Related: STUDENT VOICE: 'I never imagined that I'd attend a four-year college, especially not while raising and supporting a son'
Historically, the college student demographic within the U.S. has largely consisted of students fresh out of high school with middle- or higher-income backgrounds. In the past decade, there has been a notable shift. Recent studies have found that nearly 75 percent of college students are "nontraditional," defined as over 25, often with full-time jobs (59 percent) and children of their own.

Students like me.

My decision to return to school, though a terrifying prospect at my age, wasn't my only challenge. As a single mother, I sought out additional support and services to help me balance my work/life schedule, finance my college education and purchase the necessary course materials. I was also looking for the confidence I needed to succeed.

My decision to return to school, though a terrifying prospect at my age, wasn't my only challenge.

I started at Onondaga Community College (OCC) in Syracuse, and did well upon my return, with the help of opportunity programs like the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program and Onondaga's Box of Books program. The latter is a partnership with Barnes & Noble College's First Day Complete program, which made the cost of textbooks more affordable and ensured that I had access to course materials before the first day of class .

During my first semester, my grandparents covered private preschool costs for my son, but when Covid hit during my second semester, it became unsustainable. However, I found that OCC had a preschool program, and I was able to arrange my class schedule around preschool availability and qualify for grants that made it possible for me to afford the fees.

After two years at OCC, I was accepted to Syracuse University's College of Engineering and Computer Science. I am currently working toward a master of science degree in chemical engineering, while interning as an undergraduate researcher with Brookhaven National Laboratory (funded by the U.S. Department of Energy). I am studying the dynamic behavior of insulin and hope to secure a full-time job postgraduation.

Now James is in kindergarten, and I am able to work my school schedule around bus pick-up and drop-off times. My professors are more than understanding if I need to log on virtually or have James come to class with me.
Related: Largely unseen and unsupported, huge numbers of student fathers are quitting college
My story makes clear the many challenges nontraditional students face. Higher education institutions need to acknowledge these difficulties and invest in academic, financial and social support programs to foster greater equity by providing:

transition advisors to help students acclimate to new learning environments

financial aid specialists to help students find and get available aid

inclusive programs to ensure all students have access to necessary learning materials on or before the first day of class

connections to social support programs to enhance students' college experiences.

My path has been anything but traditional, yet my story is not unique. The resources and tools made available to me when I returned to college were instrumental to my current success and will be similarly critical to the continued success of future nontraditional students.
Alexis Riccardo is a 46-year-old mom and senior at Syracuse University. She is also an undergraduate researcher with the Brookhaven National Laboratory, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, studying the dynamic behavior of insulin. This story about nontraditional students was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger's newsletter.

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STUDENT VOICE: Higher education can - and should - help nontraditional students like me

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I grew up knowing I wanted to graduate high school and pursue a college degree. I aspired to be a chemical engineer and had big dreams of curing cancer and AIDS. However, I was raised in a chaotic household that left me unprepared, both financially and emotionally, for managing college life.

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https://www.generationhope.org/our-model

Generation Hope: Mission

To ensure all student parents have the opportunities to succeed and experience economic mobility, Generation Hope engages education and policy partners to drive systemic change and provides direct support to teen parents in college as well as their children through holistic, two-generation programming.

Vision

All teen parents and student parents, and their children, have every opportunity to succeed and are empowered to create a better future for themselves, our community, and our world.

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The True Cost Of Inadequate Child Care For Student Parents Pursuing Higher Education

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The True Cost Of Inadequate Child Care For Student Parents Pursuing Higher Education

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The True Cost Of Inadequate Child Care For Student Parents Pursuing Higher Education

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Generation Hope scholar Bryony Hearn details how lack of access to affordable, flexible child care is perhaps the biggest hurdle for student parents.

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The ACCESS Collaborative Program is an academic and social support program for parenting students who are pursuing a college education at The Ohio State University. While the program strives to increase the retention rates of parenting students, special attention is given to the unique circumstances of students from diverse social groups. By minimizing the barriers that may prevent their full participation, the ACCESS Collaborative Program works to create a campus climate that is inclusive for all.

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Office of Diversity and Inclusion, The Ohio State University

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Breaking the cycle of poverty in parenting-student families one degree at a time, ACCESS is an academic and social support program assisting parenting students who are pursuing a college education at The Ohio State University.

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The policy directory below includes family-responsive policies at colleges and universities, including parental leave and accommodations.

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National Student Parent Support Symposium

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National Student Parent Support Symposium

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This nationally-acclaimed symposium brings together students, community and higher education professionals to discuss best practices, policies, research, program models, and community collaboration when supporting post-secondary parenting students and their families. The focus is on how to empower this unique college population while assisting them with overcoming barriers that may keep them from graduating.

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Office of Diversity and Inclusion, The Ohio State University

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Sign up for updates below .

This nationally-acclaimed symposium brings together students, community and higher education professionals to discuss best practices, policies, research, program models, and community collaboration when supporting post-secondary parenting students and their families. The focus is on how to empower this unique college population while assisting them with overcoming barriers that may keep them from graduating.

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National Student Parent Support Symposium

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Sign up for updates below . This nationally-acclaimed symposium brings together students, community and higher education professionals to discuss best practices, policies, research, program models, and community collaboration when supporting post-secondary parenting students and their families. The focus is on how to empower this unique college population while assisting them with overcoming barriers that may keep them from graduating.

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The National Coalition for Campus Children's Centers (N4C)

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The National Coalition for Campus Children's Centers (N4C)

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The National Coalition for Campus Children's Centers (N4C) is a nonprofit educational membership organization supporting excellence in programs for young children in communities of higher learning by providing opportunities for leadership, professional development, research, networking, and advocacy.

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The National Coalition for Campus Children's Centers (N4C) is a nonprofit educational membership organization supporting excellence in programs for young children in communities of higher learning by providing opportunities for leadership, professional development, research, networking, and advocacy.

Our members are faculty, directors, administrators, and teachers from centers with diverse organizational, funding, and program structures at university and college campuses from across the United States and Canada.

Center Directors Connect and Consult with peers across the USA via the active listserv.

Faculty Stay Connected to practitioners and current topics in campus programs.

Become Better Leadersthrough live events and on-line documents and resources.

Associates Develop and Train to become the future leaders in campus Childcare and administration.

Ensure the Circle of Successwith the support of a strong national network of professionals that are invested in the quality and access of education provided to students, student parents and children alike.

Benefits of N4C Membership

N4C members receive discounts on conference attendance and products offered by our corporate sponsors.

Unlimited access to the N4C listserv which provides a forum for asking questions and sharing information.

As an early childhood professional stay informed about early childhood grants, awards and legislation affecting early childhood care and education.

Receive a complimentary subscription to Child Care Information Exchange. N4C's preferred method of payment is credit card.

Conferences

N4C's annual spring conference affords opportunities for professional development, leadership recognition, networking, and resource sharing through a wide range of workshops, presentations and keynote addresses by researchers, authors and practitioners in early childhood care and education.

2020 Program of the Year

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The National Coalition for Campus Children's Centers (N4C) is a nonprofit educational membership organization supporting excellence in programs for young children in communities of higher learning by providing opportunities for leadership, professional development, research, networking, and advocacy.

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The Pregnant Scholar team is excited to share toolkits for faculty, administrators, and students. Each toolkit contains best practice exemplars and sample language that you can use in your everyday practice and advocacy.

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The Adult Learner and Students with Children (ALSC) KC increases awareness, disseminates information, identifies resources and tracks academic and demographic trends concerning these typically under-represented but growing, and frequently intersecting, populations of students. All of our efforts are ultimately focused on increasing the recruitment, admission, retention and graduation of this demographic.

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Adult Learners and Students with Children

The Adult Learner and Students with Children (ALSC) KC increases awareness, disseminates information, identifies resources and tracks academic and demographic trends concerning these typically under-represented but growing, and frequently intersecting, populations of students. All of our efforts are ultimately focused on increasing the recruitment, admission, retention and graduation of this demographic.

As a Knowledge Community we find recognition of Outstanding Programs to be one of our most important missions. Each year our community offers three awards to recognize the amazing work done by our colleagues in the field.

If you have a program at your University, College or Community College that supports that retention and successful graduation of Adult Learners or Students with Children, we urge you to apply for our awards. For more information and to see who has won in the past, please view the information at the bottom of this page. The Deadline to receive an award at NASPA 2021 is Oct. 20th 2020.

The ALSC KC proudly presents a Learning Module for college personnel interested in supporting Adult Learners and Student Parents at their universities. "Advocating for Pregnant and Parenting Students: How to be Proactive not Reactive" is available for only $49 to NASPA members or free for ALSC KC members. If you are a ALSC KC member, write to Martha Harper [email protected] for an access code.

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Adult Learners and Students with Children

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Adult Learners and Students with Children The Adult Learner and Students with Children (ALSC) KC increases awareness, disseminates information, identifies resources and tracks academic and demographic trends concerning these typically under-represented but growing, and frequently intersecting, populations of students. All of our efforts are ultimately focused on increasing the recruitment, admission, retention and graduation of this demographic.

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Ohio State Office of Diversity and Inclusion: Access Collaborative

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Ohio State Office of Diversity and Inclusion: Access Collaborative

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ACCESS Collaborative monthly chats focus on supporting parenting students, national network of higher education professionals (Faculty, Staff, Administrators, Students)

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Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education Title IX at 50: Pregnant & Parenting Students

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National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education Title IX at 50: Pregnant & Parenting Students

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National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education Title IX at 50 https://nwlc.org/resource/ncwge-title-ix-at-50/

In June 1972, Congress passed a federal civil rights law, Title IX, to prohibit sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funding. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, NWLC and our partners in the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education present Title IX at 50, a report that celebrates the significant progress made toward ending sex discrimination in schools while recognizing that much work remains to be done.

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In early 2015, Professors Mary Ann Mason (University of California, Berkeley) and Joan C. Williams (University of California, Hastings College of the Law), with support from the National Science Foundation, launched this project to boost the support and protections for pregnant and parenting students and postdocs. By providing resources to educate and empower university communities, this project seeks to ensure the effective implementation of Title IX’s protections for pregnant women and parents and help mend the critical leak in the STEM pipeline. In recent years, under the leadership of Williams and Jessica Lee, the Initiative’s Director, the Pregnant Scholar Initiative has grown to support the needs of students across higher education. The Initiative is now housed at the Center for WorkLife Law at the UC Hastings College of the Law, and serves as a hub of legal and technical assistance for all fields and all levels of higher education–from vocational school to graduate school.

The Pregnant Scholar’s team regularly provides technical assistance to college/university administrators, training on Title IX’s pregnancy-related protections, and assistance implementing best practice policies to support pregnant and parenting students. We also operate a student helpline for pregnant and parenting students nationwide who want to learn more about their rights. Most of our services are provided free of charge.

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"So, What's Your Complaint"  Mothering, Caretaking & Surviving in the Academy: Workshop prepared & delievered for Medical University South Carolina (MUSC) BIPOC Series, Feb. 2023

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"So, What's Your Complaint"  Mothering, Caretaking & Surviving in the Academy: Workshop prepared & delievered for Medical University South Carolina (MUSC) BIPOC Series, Feb. 2023

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Description: Mothering & caretaking have a position in U.S. society that is wholly informed by the subordinate nature of “women’s work.” However, the outsized role of women in the work of mothering & caretaking is an inherent part of the experiences of women in academia. In this interactive workshop, Dr. Jessica Leveto, founder of Ph.D. Mamas will discuss how mothering/caretaking specifically affects the work of women of color in academe & positive strategies for the care & keeping of self while in academe.

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2023 Regional and National Policy Agenda: Generation Hope

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2023 Regional and National Policy Agenda: Generation Hope

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Explore Our Policy & Advocacy Agenda — Generation Hope

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Explore our policy and advocacy agenda for student parent success in higher education.

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Beam's flexible cloud-based platform increases equitable and fast delivery of critical public benefits and safety net programs to our most vulnerable communities.

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Check out the latest news on cash assistance and public benefits administration, read stories from clients, get to know Beam employees, and more.

Government

Our partnerships with government agencies ensure citizens receive the aid they need fast. Read stories from clients and check out the latest news about government aid programs.

"I am currently living in a domestic violence transitional home with my two children. My oldest is 1-year old and my youngest is 9 months. I have full-custody of both of my children due to the domestic violence. By receiving this emergency funding, not only will [it] help out my family and I but it will also allow me to buy the supplies I need to further my education."

Community organizations
& philanthropy

Non-profits not only rely upon Beam for quick distribution of funds, but to build repeatable programs across communities. Learn how non-profits have used Beam to support communities with targeted support.

"Going to college meant that I need to commute 2 hours each day, and having the grant assisted with the gas bill each week. It was a small encouragement that making the effort towards college was something worth it because someone believed in my abilities to succeed."

Education

Educational institutions from P-12 distrists to higher education institutions across the nation-and, perhaps more importantly, students in need-have benefited from Beam's services. Read their stories and how we're improving graduation rates and basic needs support for students.

"I wanted to thank you for the emergency funds I received. I was able to get my dryer and shower fixed. I also paid my electric and water bill. I bought food and water. I thought it would be nice to thank all of you at Beam, formerly Edquity, for your hard work and compassion in these trying times."

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Beam's Resource Hub | Stories of Emergency Aid Delivered Fast

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Check out the latest news on cash assistance and public benefits administration, read stories from clients, get to know Beam employees, and more. Our partnerships with government agencies ensure citizens receive the aid they need fast. Read stories from clients and check out the latest news about government aid programs. "I am currently living in a domestic violence transitional home with my two children.

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What is the Affordable Connectivity Program?

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a U.S. government program run by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to help low-income households pay for internet service and connected devices like a laptop or tablet.

You are likely eligible if your household’s income is below 200% of the Federal Poverty Line, or if you or someone you live with currently receives a government benefit like SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, WIC, Pell Grant, or Free and Reduced-Price Lunc

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ACP - Universal Service Administrative Company

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Home - ACP - Universal Service Administrative Company

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Affordable Connectivity Program ACP - Universal Service Administrative Company

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College Degree Completion Linked to Upward Economic Mobility for Young Parents and Families

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College Degree Completion Linked to Upward Economic Mobility for Young Parents and Families

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Report: College Degree Completion Linked to Upward Economic Mobility for Young Parents and Families

The report, “Higher Together: The Impact of a College Degree for Young Parents,” highlights how a degree influences creating better economic outcomes for young families.The report surveyed Generation Hope’s alumni, who were teen parents working toward degrees, for their post-college experiences.

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A college degree will lead to upward economic mobility for young parents and families, according to a new report from nonprofit Generation Hope.

The report, " Higher Together: The Impact of a College Degree for Young Parents,"highlights how a degree influences creating better economic outcomes for young families.The report surveyed Generation Hope's alumni, who were teen parents working toward degrees, for their post-college experiences.

Key findings reveal that the average annual earnings for teen parents more than doubled after degree completion and that nearly one-third of graduates proceeded to advanced degrees.

Another finding was that systemic oppression remained, such as employment discrimination, lack of generational wealth, and pay disparities.

"When it comes to earning a college degree, young parents face significant hurdles that stem from being systematically excluded from educational opportunities," said Nicole Lynn Lewis, Founder and CEO of Generation Hope. "Like all student parents, without intentional supports to alleviate these financial, logistical, mental and emotional challenges, they will continue to face slim odds of earning a college degree. This report not only clearly demonstrates the impact a degree can have on broadening economic possibilities for young families, it also shows how important it is for parenting students to have advocates and champions in their corner committed to helping them shape better futures for themselves and their children."

The report also includes recommendations for teen parent higher ed access and success.

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Report: College Degree Completion Linked to Upward Economic Mobility for Young Parents and Families

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A college degree will lead to upward economic mobility for young parents and families, according to a new report from nonprofit Generation Hope. The report, " Higher Together: The Impact of a College Degree for Young Parents,"highlights how a degree influences creating better economic outcomes for young families.The report surveyed Generation Hope's alumni, who were teen parents working toward degrees, for their post-college experiences.