Improving Child Care for Student Parents Starts with Better Institutional Data

Parenting students are often referred to as an “invisible population” despite making up one in five undergraduate students. Many colleges lack the capacity or infrastructure to track parenting students’ enrollment or needs consistently. Without comprehensive data, institutions struggle to design and deliver key wraparound services, like childcare, that help student parents stay in school.

In recent years, policymakers at both the federal and state levels have taken steps to improve parenting student data collection through legislation, including introducing the Understanding Student Parent Outcomes Act at the federal level and laws in several states requiring colleges to count student parents. While these efforts lay important groundwork, institutions do not have to wait for legislative mandates to take action. Proactively identifying student parents and understanding their needs can help institutions design more effective supports, boosting retention and completion.

Some colleges, including two community colleges we partnered with, have demonstrated that one of the most effective methods is asking students about their parenting status during admissions or class registration, which would live in their student records. This allows institutions to gather timely, actionable data and respond more effectively to student parents' needs. Ideally, this data collection shouldn’t be limited to just once; students’ caregiving responsibilities can change, and colleges should offer opportunities to update this information regularly, whether each term or annually.

Collecting parenting data during enrollment has its pros and cons. On the one hand, it’s a natural time to gather demographic information, institutions often already have the technical infrastructure to do it, and students are accustomed to providing personal details during this process. On the other hand, requiring students to disclose parenting status early on, especially when they haven’t yet built trust with the institution, can raise privacy concerns or fears about how the information will be used.

To address this, schools can clearly explain the purpose of the question and offer students the option to skip it while encouraging participation. Despite these concerns, early collection remains one of the most effective ways to establish a baseline and connect parenting students to the right services from the start.

Many institutions currently rely on FAFSA data or one-time surveys to identify student parents. While these approaches provide some insight, they often overlook students who do not apply for financial aid or opt out of survey participation. Additionally, recent changes to the FAFSA make it more challenging for a campus to receive a complete picture of student parents using financial aid data.

A more effective approach is integrating a parenting status question into the admissions process or student portal, allowing students to update their caregiving responsibilities and childcare needs at multiple points. Storing this information in student records enables colleges to monitor trends, conduct targeted outreach, and offer tailored support. For example, institutions can connect student parents to child care subsidies, flexible learning options, or even give them priority class registration.

Linking parenting data with academic and demographic information also allows colleges to identify patterns, such as differences in retention between programs, and intervene where needed. Meanwhile, surveys and focus groups remain essential tools for gathering more nuanced insights, like feedback on child-friendly campus spaces or ideal hours for on-campus child care. But the first step is building a foundation of reliable, regularly updated parenting data.

Madison Area Technical College

Madison Area Technical College, a public two-year institution in Wisconsin serving over 26,000 students, has implemented several of these best practices, including asking about parenting status during admissions and integrating the data into student records. Students can indicate their caregiving responsibilities during the admissions process and at any time in their student portal. Madison asks students to select the statements that apply to them from the following list:

• I am a parent or guardian of child(ren) ages: 0-5 years
• I am a parent or guardian of child(ren) ages: 6-12 years
• I am a parent or guardian of child(ren) ages: 13-17 years
• I care for an elderly or disabled adult
• I care for someone not mentioned above
• I prefer not to answer.

This question, introduced in Fall 2024, is optional for the general student population, though it is required for students participating in the college’s CCAMPIS grant program. To encourage broader participation, student success advisors and other staff have been actively supporting student parents in completing the question and understanding how their responses can help connect them to campus resources.

By offering multiple response options, including a “prefer not to answer” choice, the college balances the need for actionable data with respect for student privacy. The format makes it easy to collect rich information in a single question while boosting response rates.

Parenting status data is now integrated into student records, laying the groundwork for more targeted support. Madison has already used this information to conduct email outreach about child-friendly events and available child care resources. Looking ahead, college leadership plans to analyze student success metrics, like retention and completion, by parenting status. A lead data analytics staff member on the student parent task force is currently developing dashboards to provide institutional leaders with deeper insights into student parent outcomes.

Forsyth Technical Community College

Similarly, Forsyth Technical Community College, a two-year institution in North Carolina, has taken a data-driven approach to supporting student parents through its student parent dashboard, which was developed in collaboration with its institutional research office. Unlike Madison, Forsyth does not collect parenting status during enrollment. Instead, it gathers this information during intake sessions with students seeking wraparound support from the school’s Student Parent Advocacy Resource Center (SPARC). The dashboard tracks key academic metrics for these students, including:

• Number of children
• Academic program
• Satisfactory academic progress status
• Enrollment status
• Grade point average
• Academic Advisor

The institutional research office was critical in designing the dashboard, ensuring it was integrated with existing college data systems. This partnership between institutional research and SPARC, a dedicated office providing wraparound support for student parents, underscores Forsyth Tech’s commitment to using data to improve their experiences. As one administrator explained, “We had to have a way to track whether [the supports] we’re providing are working. The goal is to use [this dashboard and the data] and build our case for the campus community to better support our student parents, beyond what we currently offer.”

While Forsyth does not systematically track the uptake of support services, the dashboard allows staff to monitor students' academic performance and intervene when necessary. If a student parent’s grades decline, the SPARC staff can proactively contact students and offer additional support or accommodation.

Colleges that take proactive steps to collect and analyze student parent data are better positioned to meet the needs of student parents, secure funding for child care, and create family-friendly campuses. Institutions like Madison Area Technical College and Forsyth Technical Community College demonstrate that one of the most effective data collection approaches is to:

1. Ask all students about their parenting status during admissions or class registration.
2. Integrate this data into student records to inform student support interventions.

By making student parents visible in institutional data, colleges can drive meaningful change and ensure these students get the resources they need to succeed and graduate.