Kevin Miller

Child Care: A Critical Campus Resource for Students with Children
By Kevin Miller, senior research associate at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research

Until the moment when disrupted child care forces a student to bring his or her child to class, there is no sure way to tell a student parent from a student who does not have dependent children. Yet student parents are more prevalent than many in higher education may assume. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) has estimated that nearly one-quarter of undergraduate students enrolled in US postsecondary institutions—about four million students—are parents of dependent children. In this article, I draw from IWPR’s recent report Improving Child Care Access to Promote Postsecondary Success Among Low-Income Student Parents (Miller, Gault, and Thorman 2011) to describe these students and the programs higher education can provide to ensure their success.

Student parents tend to differ from traditional students in a variety of ways. They span a wider age range than traditional students, are more likely to have low family incomes (below 200 percent of the federal poverty level), are less likely to have parents of their own with a college degree, and are more likely to be working full time while enrolled. Of parents enrolled in postsecondary institutions, half are married and half are single. Student parents are more likely than traditional students to be people of color, and 71 percent of student parents are women. Across backgrounds and life circumstances, these students share a critical need for institutional support when it comes to caring for their children.

The High Costs of Child Care

The majority of enrolled student parents report spending over thirty hours a week providing child care. Many student parents who are able to work and obtain education at the same time rely on family members, spouses, friends, and neighbors to care for their children. But thousands of student parents across the country must rely on care obtained through an organized child care provider.

Subsidized or reduced-cost child care is a necessity for most student parents, especially those who are low-income. In 2010, the average cost for a year of child care in United States was about $7,000 for a four-year-old and $9,000 for an infant—costs that are much higher in some geographical areas and in higher-quality settings. For someone working a full-time job for $8 an hour, the cost of full-time, full-price child care can easily consume 40 percent of pre-tax income. In those circumstances, it would be nearly impossible for a student to cover tuition out-of-pocket. Indeed, more than two in five student parents attending community colleges said that responsibilities for dependent care were likely to result in their withdrawing from college, and over half said that they may have to withdraw due to a lack of financial resources.

Supply and Demand

Many postsecondary institutions help student parents meet these challenges by providing high quality, affordable child care. Over one thousand postsecondary institutions in the United States (mostly public four-year colleges or universities or community colleges) provide on-campus child care for the children of students. But the proportion of institutions providing care has been decreasing: Between 2007 and 2009, thirty-two of the 572 community colleges that previously provided care stopped offering the service, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that some centers that remain open have reduced services or raised fees as a result of recession-related budget cuts.

Most college campuses with child care centers that serve students offer some form of subsidy or cost reduction based on students’ income or demonstrated financial need. This is possible thanks to a variety of funding sources, including student fees, general institution funds, government child care subsidies, and charitable donations. The Child Care Access Means Parents in Schools (CCAMPIS) program, housed in the US Department of Education, provides campuses with about $16 million annually to subsidize child care for low-income students. This funding provides full-time, year-round child care for about 2,300 children. This may seem like a large number, but it represents only one-tenth of one percent of low-income student parent families.

In other words, the supply of on-campus child care is far below the demand for care among student parents. This isn’t surprising, given the high cost of care and limited funding. About 90 percent of on-campus centers have waiting lists, and the average waiting list has ninety names. While currently enrolled student parents need about 1.1 million full-time “slots” to meet their child care needs, on-campus centers currently provide about fifty-four thousand full-time slots, or about 5 percent of needed care. While many student parents may prefer informal care provided by family, friends, neighbors, or off-campus centers, it’s clear that the supply of formal on-campus child care remains a challenge.

Promising Practices

As part of the broader university or college community, on-campus child care centers can provide parents with more than just child care. Many centers also function, formally or informally, as sources of peer support, personal and academic counseling, or material aid gathered through clothing or food banks. Campus center staff can become a student parent’s closest link to the campus community, helping connect parents to resources located elsewhere on campus such as tutoring programs, the financial aid office, or the campus women’s center (if one exists).

In addition to center-based child care, many campuses provide additional or alternative child care services of some kind in order to assist student parents. For instance, some college campuses host child care resource and referral (CCR&R) services, which provide parents with information about community resources and child care centers. Campuses that lack a physical, on-campus CCR&R center may contract with off-campus centers or assist student parents in obtaining subsidies or vouchers for off-campus care. Some campuses maintain lists of family care homes or babysitters that serve students. In one case, at Oregon State University, the campus maintains space and staff at its library to provide informal supervision for children whose parents are using the library.

Of course, student parents face extraordinary challenges beyond child care. Student parents, especially single parents, may struggle to repay student loans after graduating or leaving school, particularly since they are disproportionately enrolled at expensive for-profit colleges. Moreover, student parents take longer to complete academic programs and are less likely to complete bachelor’s degrees, opting instead for less lengthy credentials and associate’s degree programs. This trend suggests that colleges and universities may be able to improve prospects for student parents by offering either accelerated or part-time degree programs.

Expanded Opportunity

When student parents complete postsecondary degrees, they are not only improving quality of life for their families, but also encouraging educational achievement in their children. Advocates, researchers, and college staff and faculty are aware of the opportunity that education represents for student parents and their families and are striving to meet their needs. Organizations like the Higher Education Alliance of Advocates for Students with Children and projects like IWPR’s Student Parent Success Initiative are working to expand the ranks of administrators and policy makers who recognize the importance of programs and policies like child care. This greater awareness among decision makers is essential to improving substantive support for students who face challenges to completing their academic programs.

To download Improving Child Care Access to Promote Postsecondary Success Among Low-Income Student Parents, visit www.iwpr.org.

Reference

Miller, Kevin, Barbara Gault, and Abby Thorman. 2011. Improving Child Care Access to Promote Postsecondary Success Among Low-Income Student Parents. Institute for Women’s Policy Research: Washington, DC.