Cultivating a Safe and Inclusive Space for Pregnant and Parenting Students
Student Parent Month Blog Spotlight
Blog Post
Illustration by Mandy Dean
Sept. 19, 2023
Sade Johnson is a recent master’s graduate in Higher Education Administration and Leadership from California State University, Fresno. Sade became a mother during both her undergraduate and graduate school journeys, which contributed to her becoming a vocal advocate for the creation of higher education policy from the lens of pregnant and parenting students.
As part of New America’s ongoing Student Parent Spotlight blog series, we sat down with Sade to discuss the importance of creating safe and inclusive spaces for pregnant and parenting students to thrive on college campuses and achieve their academic goals.
In celebration of Student Parent Month, we are rereleasing this blog, originally published in May 2023, with additional content from the interviewee.
Sade Johnson and family at her master graduation ceremony.
New America: Could you tell us more about yourself, your work, and your higher education journey?
Sade Johnson: I am the 10th of 11 children. I am from a small town in the central valley, Madera, California. I am also a wife and a mom to a six and a three-year-old. I work as a graduate assistant at Fresno State’s case management service, Project HOPE, which provides resources for students facing barriers to completing school. I started my undergraduate journey straight out of high school in 2012 at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis). I stopped out in 2015, transferred to a California community college, and found out later that I was pregnant. I had my son in 2016 and went to school part-time from 2017 to 2019 while working full-time. I returned to UC Davis in 2019 and discovered I was pregnant shortly thereafter. I had my daughter in 2020, a day before the federal COVID-19 mask mandate. I graduated in 2021 and started my master’s program in Higher Education Administration and Leadership (HEAL), which I just completed last May.
New America: What resources, supports, or programs have helped support you as a student parent or pregnant student? What resources, supports, or programs did you wish were available?
Sade Johnson: As a student parent, I had access to various resources. Childcare grants or subsidies supported me by allowing me to pay others I trusted with my kids and ensuring I did not have to send them to overcrowded childcare centers. The Women’s Resource and Research Center (WRRC) at UC Davis provided me with free diapers and overnight potty training pants. A farmer’s market came to family housing and provided free fresh produce. Student cupboards were helpful for food and gift cards to buy groceries at good-quality stores. You were encouraged to bring your kids to late study halls, creating a family-friendly environment. It also helped to have an on-campus student parent support specialist so I could directly communicate my needs and get the necessary help for my family. The Lactation Support Program helped support breastfeeding and pumping. The community programs allowed me to access midwives; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); and other food pantries.
I wish institutions could better connect the student parent community with campus resources. I feel like no one understands the experience of Black pregnant students on campus. I also could have benefitted from a student parent grant, a scholarship from the UC system, or an expanded financial aid package because I would reach my cost of attendance reasonably quickly. I also wish there was more inclusion in major programs and lecture halls, normalizing the presence of children on campus. Certain majors practice inclusivity, but it is lacking in STEM major programs. I only felt included in women’s centers, which placed limits on where I felt safe.
New America: What should be a top priority for policymakers to better support student parents and pregnant students in achieving postsecondary success?
Sade Johnson: Priority registration for student parents and more social and financial support programs should be top priorities for campus leaders and policymakers. For example, California’s AB 2881, also known as the Students with Dependent Children Law, requires colleges and universities in California to provide priority registration for student parents and to notify them of resources and supports critical to their postsecondary success. However, more work still needs to be done. Schools should be required to update their websites with campus and community resources. Policymakers should also advocate for student parent centers, where applicable, and family-friendly policies and campuses.
I want policies that reflect the value of investing in parenting students and their children. Most of the time, student parents are investing in their future, and because many live in poverty, they have fewer resources to invest in their children. We want a community of student parents, but this is currently an invisible population. It is time to mandate data collection to help us identify and better serve student parents on each campus. In addition, childcare for student parents—either on campus or in the community—should be free.
New America: What is most important to advancing equity for student parents and pregnant students?
Sade Johnson: The most important thing to advancing equity for pregnant and parenting students is holistically supporting them. When you support pregnant and parenting students, it is not solely about the student but also inclusive of their children. When practitioners, policymakers, faculty, and staff consider the family unit when making decisions about this population, there is a chance to have twice the impact. Pregnant and parenting students should have reliable resources like child care, healthcare, wellness benefits, affordable housing, access to healthy food, a means of transportation, and other supports.
New America: In honor of Student Parent Month, what is something you’d like others to know?
Sade Johnson: It is time to change how we talk about pregnant and parenting students. We often talk about pregnant and parenting students in the aggregate, but it is essential to look at individual experiences. For example, Black fetal and maternal death rates are on the rise, even for student parents. Thus, institutions must train practitioners to include equity in their caregiving practices. In addition, Black pregnant and parenting students have higher rates of food and housing insecurity, tend to live in poorer neighborhoods (which means their kids more often attend poorly funded schools), endure environmental and institutional racism, and face police brutality (and are overpoliced) at alarming rates.
To advance this field, we need to ensure Black students and bodies are valued. The conversation must start within the college institutions because that is where future leaders are being cultivated; changing the narrative, prioritizing equity, and effectively serving pregnant and parenting students on campus is a critical step toward shifting the climate.
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