Resource Library

Who Are Undergraduates with Dependent Children?

More than 3 million undergraduate students in the United States are parents, representing nearly one in five college students. Supporting student parents promotes their academic achievement and enhances their family well-being, supports college enrollment and completion goals, and can boost state economic health. This brief uses the latest available data to summarize key characteristics of undergraduate students with dependent children.

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The SPARK Collaborative is extremely grateful to all who contributed to this library, especially Erica Hernandez and her team of students at Bowie State, who compiled many of resources in the original Zotero database; the interns at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and their advisor Teresa Bill, who cleaned thousands of resources in summer 2024; and Kimberly Salazar from the Urban Institute for her careful quality review.

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Accommodating Lifes Demands: Childcare Choices for Student Parents in Higher Education

2023 |United States|Journal Article|Public

Affordable, accessible, and quality child care is important for student parents in higher education who are raising children under the age of 5. With a growing student parent population (Noll et al., ...

Barriers and Supports for Student-Parents in Higher Education

2023 |United States|Journal Article|Public

Students who are also parents (student-parents) are unique and often underrepresented in postsecondary settings. Balancing the responsibilities of home life alongside academic pursuits is often challe...

Underwater: Student Mothers and Fathers Struggle to Support Their Families and Pay off College Loans

2023 |United States|Report or Brief|Public

Student parents often face enormous financial barriers to academic success. They report high financial insecurity including issues with food, housing and other basic needs. For students with children,...

State Policy for Student Parent Success: A Landscape Scan of Policy Solutions Enacted at the State Level

2023 |United States|Report or Brief|Public

While promoting student-parent success has mainly been left to institutions of higher education, several states have considered or adopted a range of policy initiatives to support student parents in p...

Key Barriers to University-Enrolled Student Parents Enhanced by the COVID-19 Pandemic

2023 |United States|Dissertation or Thesis|Public

Student parents, both undergraduate and graduate, already face the difficult task of balancing their studies and raising children. The COVID-19 pandemic enhanced already present issues student parents...

Finding Equity for Student Caregivers: The Challenges of Student Caregiving at The University of Michigan

2023 |United States|Report or Brief|Public

This report delves into the often-overlooked realities faced by student caregivers (SCGs) at the University of Michigan (U-M). Despite the acknowledgment of their vulnerability in research, these care...

Roadmap for Change to Support Pregnant and Parenting Students: Putting Student-Parent Families at the Center of Recommendations for Practice, Policy, Research, and Investment (Version 1.0)

Dec 30, 2022

The SPARK Collaborative’s mission and vision grew out of the findings in this report that centers strategic efforts across 11 policy paradigms and outlines a clear roadmap to ensure student parents and their families thrive.

Roadmap for Change to Support Pregnant and Parenting Students

Dec 2022 |United States|Report or Brief|Public

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...

Title IX and the Protection of Pregnant and Parenting College Students: Realities and Challenges

2022 |United States|Book|Registration Required

This book explores the discrepancies among what protections Title IX provides to pregnant and parenting students, what colleges communicate, and what pregnant and parenting students actually experienc...

You Are Seen; You Matter: Applying the Theory of Gendered Organizations to Equity and Inclusion for Motherscholars in Higher Education

2022 |United States|Journal Article|Registration Required

This international study examined how to support equity and inclusion for 18 mothers in academia (motherscholars). Applying Ackers theory of gendered organizations as a framework for the study, we ...
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Join Us for More Resources

SPARK members can annotate and discuss resources across the community, as well as being the first to know when new resources are released!

Sign Up

Submit a Resource

Click the button below to submit a resource for consideration in this library.

Submit
The SPARK Collaborative is extremely grateful to all who contributed to this library, especially Erica Hernandez and her team of students at Bowie State, who compiled many of resources in the original Zotero database; the interns at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and their advisor Teresa Bill, who cleaned thousands of resources in summer 2024; and Kimberly Salazar from the Urban Institute for her careful quality review.
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SPARK is a values-driven, action-oriented, big-tent collaboration. We offer tools and joint spaces for those committed to supporting parents as they pursue their education goals.
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SPARK is a values-driven, action-oriented, big-tent collaboration. We offer tools and joint spaces for those committed to supporting parents as they pursue their education goals.
©2024 SPARK Collaborative, some rights reserved.