Supports for Student Parents Must Extend Beyond On-Campus Child Care

Many student parents with young children do not use on-campus child care. This is likely a consequence of limited supply: most colleges do not have a center, some centers have limited slots and long waitlists, and others do not prioritize serving student parents. In addition (and as a result of limited access), for many student parents, on-campus centers may be unaffordable or other care arrangements may better meet their needs. For instance, students who work full time, as many student parents do, might find off-campus care options near home or work more convenient. Others rely on formal or informal arrangements with family, friends, and neighbors.

Accessible, affordable, and high-quality on-campus child care is an important part of a comprehensive approach that colleges can use to serve student parents. In addition, colleges and public agencies must build family-friendly campuses and support student parents’ care needs in other ways.

Colleges can provide information about and facilitate access to off-campus child care options. For example, child care resource and referral organizations are information and resource hubs that serve families, child care professionals, and other community members. For parents, they can provide referrals to local child care providers, information on subsidies, and assistance with payment. Some colleges host child care resource and referral organizations on-campus, either in partnership with state agencies or simply as a public service; others may provide additional services to parents affiliated with the college.

Campus resource centers can also help student parents find care arrangements affiliated with federal programs like Head Start, which offers qualifying families free child care. There are more than 20,000 Head Start classrooms nationwide, far exceeding the number of colleges with on-campus care for the children of students. (A small number of Head Start classrooms are located on college campuses, and the Association of Community College Trustees and the National Head Start Association recently announced a partnership to increase Head Start programs at community colleges.)

Likewise, college resource centers can help students apply for subsidies from state and federal programs—like the Child Care and Development Block Grant, the budget for which is nearly 100 times that of the college-specific Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program—that offer low-cost child care to low-income community members, including student parents.

Colleges can utilize CCAMPIS grants and other resources to provide financial assistance to student parents when they enroll their children in off-campus care and to off-campus care programs. The University of Michigan operates its Campus Child Care Homes Network to facilitate access to off-campus care through a network of child care providers that offer some prioritization of families affiliated with the university. Johns Hopkins University and Purdue University have programs that graduate student parents can use to offset child care costs at providers of their choice. (In some cases, campuses offer graduate students, faculty, and staff resources that exclude undergraduates.)

Colleges can support access to informal arrangements that may not meet full-day or regular-schedule care needs, but which can nonetheless provide valuable support for student parents. For example, schools can facilitate access to babysitters via online registries or apps. They can also build groups and networks of parents who can help one another with care work and share advice and knowledge. These networks might be arranged online or in connection to a campus child care or student resource center. The University of Michigan’s Kids Kare at Home service provides backup child care in parents’ homes when their regular child care arrangements fall through.

Colleges can help student parents meet other academic and nonacademic needs. Many student parents are low-income and eligible for basic needs assistance through state and federal programs. Colleges can support these student parents as well as others with few resources by facilitating access to information about state and federal programs that can assist them with child care costs, cash assistance, and food and housing security.

This information can be provided—sometimes along with direct support from benefits navigators hired by colleges—through child care providers, student resource centers, women’s resource centers, and financial aid offices. (In fact, as mentioned in an earlier blog in this series, institutions may use FAFSA data to help inform students about, and in some cases help facilitate access to, public benefits programs.) These entities can also offer other assistance relevant to student parents such as on-campus or referrals to tutoring programs and counseling services. Providing these services in one campus location or office (a “one-stop” or “single-stop” model) can make it easier for students to access public benefits and services and improve outcomes especially for older and independent students—many of whom are student parents.

Providing welcoming settings in campus buildings—such as family-friendly spaces and access to lactation rooms—can make it clear that student parents belong and also help them meet their academic goals. The University of Maryland and Boise State University have family study rooms, and Oregon State University has a student parent study room, in their main libraries.

Student parents are not a monolith. Many benefit greatly from access to on-campus, center-based child care—and colleges and policymakers should work to make on-campus care available to more student parents. But institutions must also make sure a range of family-friendly supports, including a diversity of models for care, are available, easily accessible, and provide the resources student parents need to succeed on campus and graduate.