Running head: RESOURCES FOR STUDENT PARENTS

Access for Student Parents on College and University Campus: Is it Necessary for Student
Success?
Tasha Smith
Northern Illinois University

Abstract: This paper explores the issues and helpful strategies that can assist with the process of
assisting with the academic and social success of student parents while pursuing of their
undergraduate degree. Provided is also a discussion of the resources and support that is needed
and some examples of what can occur if they do not indeed receive the needed support. A
promising practice is included to explain why the need is required for the resources and support
of student parents while in college.

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Access for Student Parents on College and University Campus: Is it Necessary for Student
Success?
Introduction
4.8 Million College students are raising children (Institute for Womens Policy
Research, 2013a.). When thinking about the success of the average college student one thinks
about the student retention or persistence of the student, educational attainment, academic
achievement, student advancement and holistic development (Cuseo, 2011). Imagine this same
thought process but with a student who is not traditional and not non-traditional in the typical 24
plus age group category, however this is a student parent who is younger than the age that would
define her or him as a non-traditional student? How would this student maneuver through their
college process? What support or resources are available to them? Who do they speak with to get
some of these questions answered? Are there other people on campus with similar issues? What
should they expect from the school that they attend, if anything is expected at all? Higher
Education institutions should provide resources for student parents to assist with student
academic and social integration success. Students should feel comfortable with asking about
information about resources and support for student parents on campus. This paper will explore
the different struggles that students have inside the class as well as outside of the classroom as
well as resources that could assist them in making life in all areas a little more bearable while
trying to raise a child as well as receive an education. This paper will also provide a promising
practice that will assist colleges and universities with different alternatives and solutions in
helping students with support and resources for parents who are student while pursuing their
degree.

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Review of the Literature

High school graduation rates and enrollment in college among teen mothers continue to
be lower than for later child bearers, however the perspectives between the parents and the
scholars about this subject prove to have a large gap (SmithBattle, 2007). Some of the disparities
include assuming family responsibility, lack of family support, demands that are placed upon
them, and lack of resources (SmithBattle, 2007). These as well as others are reasons as to why
institutions of higher education need to have an understanding about the student parent and the
resources and support that are required while they are students on campus and could be coming
to campus. Student parents have expectations and requirements that come with applying and
accepting admission into a college or university, however they also have expectations and
requirements that come along with being a parent. The student parent should be able to meet the
demands and requirements of both without having to sacrifice the other.
New Responsibility
With great reward comes great responsibility, this is no different for a student parent.
Educational achievement for students with children benefits the students themselves, and the
families they are raising (Institute for Womens Policy Research, 2013b). Not only does the
student have to be responsible for the life and education of themselves, they also now have the
responsibility for the life and education of their child. Nearly 25 percent of college students in
the U.S., or four million students, have dependent children (Institute for Womens Policy
Research, 2013b). Entry into the college environment represents a stressful event for the
nontraditional female student who is taking on a new role as a learner and interacting with peers
who are often younger and have different values and priorities (Quimby & O'Brien, 2006). While
being a parent one is now also a student. There is a level of responsibility that is placed on the
student while enrolled in course at colleges and universities. Students are expected to become

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positive members of the community in which they are students and expected to engage in
different aspects. High levels of student engagement are necessary for and contribute to
collegiate success was a quote from Korobova, & Starobin (2015), how can a student who is
also a parent meet the needs of the college while trying to meet the needs of being a parent at the
same time? Support and resources would be a great start for students to meet this need. However,
the question is whose responsibility is it to find the resources and support for these students?
Lack of Support
Support is not only required from the household, but from the world around the student
parent. Student parents need support in almost all areas of their lives. One of those areas include
the search for quality child care. However this sometimes may be difficult due to the lack of
child care that is available to them. On-campus child care facilities are becoming less prevalent,
and community colleges have fewer child care facilities than do four-year institutions (Institute
for Womens Policy Research, 2013b). While there are some campus that offer child care for
students, there is sometimes not enough spaces for students due to spaces that are needed for
faculty and staff that work at the institution. There are some reasons behind the fact that there is a
decline in the childcare that is available for student parents varies on the issues that come from
budget constraints and academic culture (White, 2014). Nontraditional students who are parents
are visibly different from their classmates and more often than not have different interest and
these are some of the reasons why they may feel marginalized and excluded from campus life
(Quimby & O'Brien, 2006).
New Demands
As a student as well as a parent there can be quite few new demands that are placed on
students. Students not only have to focus on their studies but they have to also consider the lives
of their children and their new families. Student parents operate under often crushing time

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demands, with more than 40% working full time or more, and over half spending 30 hours per
week on care-giving activities (Institute for Womens Policy Research, 2013b). Students are
trying to balance the needs of the household as well as the needs of the classroom.
The definition of student academic achievement can differ depending on from where or
who the definition came from. It can be defined as the extent to which students are achieving
their education goals, and it is often measured by assessment (Korobova, & Starobin, 2015).
Some students are taking classes part-time, where as other students are taking courses full-time
and employed full or part-time as well. They have to make sure that they are staying on top of
their classes as well as the demands that come with being a parent.
Lack of Resources
While enrolled in college there are resources that even the tradition student that is
enrolled may need, however when thinking of the life of a student parent that list of resources
required or needed is different and maybe longer than a traditional list of resources for college
students. Student parents, and especially single parents, have far lower expected family
contributions (EFCs) than their peers (Institute for Womens Policy Research, 2013b). Students
who are parents need resources on information such as childcare, housing, food, employment,
legal services and others. Some students become parents while in school and are unsure of what
and where their next steps should be taken. Some students are often embarrassed to ask for
assistance from the university because it does not seem of the norm or welcomed. When one
searches resources for student parents the search engine often gives out information for parents
who have students enrolled in college versus information or resources for students who are
parents that are enrolled in college.

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Given the research provided above, student parents need resources and assistance from
higher education institutions as well as family and friends to resolve some of the issues and
problems that they face while navigating through their collegiate experience while being a parent
at the same time. College and universities need to have the understanding that the population and
the needs are growing for the student parents that enter inside of the classes at their institutions.
Discussion
The success of student parents is important due to the fact that student parents succeeding
in college not only benefits the student but the entire family as well. After researching material
on student parents and student career success in institutions of higher education, it has come to
light that in order for students who are enrolled in college while being a parent to succeed, they
should have resources provided by their institution to assist with academic and social success.
Cuseo (2011) mentioned that student success should be looked at from a holistic approach, so
why not the same for student parent, however with a thought process added into the equation due
to the dynamics of the students life. With the thought of student success, institutions of higher
education should give student parents the confidence that they need as a student as well as a
parent to allow them to feel good not only about themselves, but about the things that they have
accomplished as well (Quimby & O'Brien, 2006).
Without support and resources for student parents, there are several things that one must
consider. One of these considerations include the lack thereof financial stability that comes along
with one pursuing a college degree. Students who are parents usually leave school without a
degree than those who do not have children, with leaving school with no degree, one now has not
only the financial pressures of their household, but those that come from not completing their
degree (Institute for Womens Policy Research, 2013b). Debt is something that student parents

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have to worry about if they are successful in completing their educational goal of completing
their degree. Students with children also have much higher levels of debt after graduation than
their nonparent counterparts (Institute for Womens Policy Research, 2013a).
In institutions of higher education there is and always will be groups on campus that need
and require more services, support and understanding, relating to student parents falls into this
category as well. There are some institutions of higher education that have recognized the needs
of the student parents on campus and now have provided resources, programs and scholarships
that provided assists to them (Institute for Womens Policy Research, 2013b). Some intuitions
have paced on-campus childcare facilities to assist with the daily routines for parents, this
allowed for less time spent commuting from home to class or work and back, and also gave a
sense of security to those parents by having their children in close proximity just in case of an
emergency (White, 2014).
There is research that provides strategies for people who work in institutions of higher
education when it comes to assisting students who have children. Some of those strategies
include, assessing the students level of secure attachment of the students that they come in
contact with, educating parents about the potential stresses that come with being a student and a
parent as well. Employees can encourage students to join support groups or start support groups
to assist other students who are dealing with the stressors that come along with being a parent.
Therapy and counseling services are also some strategies that can be used when trying to provide
support to student parents on college campuses (Quimby & O'Brien, 2006).
Visibility is something that is also very imperative when speaking about the resources
and support for student parents. More often than not, there are more students who are parents

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inside of college classrooms than one would realize. Without the lovely ice breakers that are
done in the beginning of class, how would one know that their classmate has children unless they
saw them or heard them speak of their children? Do students reveal in their interesting facts
about them that they are student parents or that they have children? Are students with children
seen on campus with their children at events? Are they welcomed at events? Are the events even
child friendly? There needs to be a way for universities to realize that because they are not seen,
that does not mean that they are not there.
Realizing that student parents are a part of a marginalized group of people. According to
Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (Adams, Blumenfeld, Castaneda, Hackaman, Peters, &
Zuniga, 2013), in the United States, a large proportion of the population is marginalized,
including single mothers and their children. These people can often be seen as being oppressed
and will suffer because of it. When it comes to student parents, they can feel this way while in
school, because they are the minority and not the majority the wants and needs of the group may
go unnoticed due to lack of concern, or knowledge that there should be concern, and lack of
funds. Institutions of higher education must realize that these student do to make up a portion of
their enrollment numbers and can be very detrimental to the numbers when it comes to
graduation rates.
Promising Practices
There are several steps or strategies that can assist with the student success in all areas
while enrolled as college students as well as parents. The role of parenthood in postsecondary
outcomes needs greater focus from the higher education reform community (Institute for
Womens Policy Research, 2013b). Research has shown that the vast majority of students who
leave college do so for reasons other than academic performance, and that most students are in

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good academic standing when they leave (Cueso, 2011). With that being said what can be done
to support the student parents that are enrolled in college?
Institutions of higher education should provide more understanding, support and
resources for student parents that are currently enrolled as well as the students who are parents
that are looking for institutions to attend in the future. This will not only assist with student
parent academic success and social success among peers as well as graduation rates for multiple
generations in ones family. Considering the amount of time, energy and money that one spends
while enrolled in courses at colleges and universities, one would think that student satisfaction is
something that is considered by institutions of higher education. Student satisfaction with the
college environment is vital as it covers the students subjective experience during the college
years and perceptions of the value of educational experience (Korobova, & Starobin, 2015).
There should be resources in the form of offices, support staff, transportation services,
referral services, clubs, groups, and organizations for student parents. Students should be able to
research resources on their campus on the universities page and get assistance with what they are
looking for. Students should feel welcomed on the campus, there should be visual acceptance of
student parents on the campus. There should be quality child care facilities on campus that
students have access to. Family bathrooms should be placed on campuses to allow for easier
bathroom changes to take place for families. There should be programs that are child friendly
and some that highlight that there are students in your classes that have children. Universities
should have some resources in their health services for students who find out that they are with
child while enrolled in school. There should be seminars for faculty and staff on campuses to
allow them to receive information that there are student parents on campus that may have a
different set of needs and should be treated as such. There is so much that schools can do,

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10

however there is so much that is not being done. What message is this sending to student parents
on campus?
Conclusion
While reading the information that was provided in the research as well as personally
understanding the hardships that are placed upon college students who happen to be parents as
well, it seems imperative that institutions of higher education have an understanding that they
serve a variety of students with different needs and that the meeting of those needs are key to
academic as well as social success as a student. This goes for students who are parents as well.
While it is a challenging time in a persons life to be a parent, but it is even more challenging to
try to make sure that you are making a better life for you as well as another person while being
enrolled as a student in college. Like other marginalized groups that are on college campuses,
student parents need the resources and support as well. There needs to be information provided
on websites and offices for students to go into to get their questions answered. Students should
have support systems that provide them with ideas, information and tools that they need to get
the best college experience while also enjoying the experience of being a parent at the same time.
College parents need resources while attending school and it is the role of the higher education
institution to provide some resources to let this group of students understand that they are too
important and matter in the eyes of their school. Students should be able to research and find
some of the resources that they need, however so the university should be able to provide some
resources and support as well.

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References
Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W.J., Castaneda, C., Hackaman, H.W., Peters, M.L., & Zuniga, X
(2013). Readings for diversity and social justice, 3rd edition. New York: Routledge. Pp.38-39.

Cuseo, J. 2011. Student success: Definition, outcomes, principles and practices. The Big Picture.
National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, University of
South Carolina.

Korobova, N., & Starobin, S. S. (2015). A Comparative Study of Student Engagement,

Satisfaction, and Academic Success among International and American Students. Journal Of
International Students, 5(1), 72-85.

Institute for Womens Policy Research. (2013a). Fact Sheet. National Center for Education
Statistics, U.S. Department of Education.

Institute for Womens Policy Research. (2013b). College students with children are common and
face many challenges in completing higher education. National Center for Education Statistics,
U.S. Department of Education.
Quimby, J. L., & O'Brien, K. M. (2006). Predictors of Well-Being among Nontraditional Female
Students with Children. Journal of Counseling & Development, 84(4), 451-460.
SmithBattle, L. (2007).I wanna have a good future: Teen mothers' rise in educational aspirations,
competing demands, and limited school support Youth & Society March 2007 38: 348-371.
Retrieved from http://www.ulib.niu.edu:2634/content/38/3/348.full.pdf+html

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White, G. (2014). The quiet struggle of college students with kids. The Atlantic. Retrieved from:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/12/the-quiet-struggle-of-college-studentswith-kids/383636/
.