Helping parents complete college degrees pays off—for the parents, their children, and taxpayers. The over 4 million student parents, who make up about 1 in 5 undergrads and 1 in 4 graduate students, have high grades but low completion rates.
Student parents face serious challenges meeting basic needs like food, housing, and child care, which jeopardize their ability to graduate and secure family-supporting jobs. Public human service and workforce programs—including food, housing, child care, health care, and cash assistance—are designed to fill these gaps.
This brief highlights the importance of supporting parents in postsecondary education, the barriers student parents face in meeting basic needs, and how stronger partnerships between colleges and agencies that provide public programs can improve access to vital resources. New and renewed efforts in this space can help student parents stay enrolled and succeed.
This is the first in a series of three briefs available on the resource page Meeting Student Parents' Basic Needs.