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Education Dive
A call for ideas to help student parents succeed during and after COVID-19
These learners face challenges at every level. A new competition is
prompting colleges and other groups to find ways to address them.
Louis Soares
May 6, 2020
Right now thousands of college students are scrambling to adjust to
life off-campus and outside of physical classrooms. That in and of
itself is a challenge for any student, but K-12 school closures and
government orders mean that student parents are also home with their
children — disrupting schedules and child care at a time when they may
also be facing uncertainty in employment and economic instability.
Students like Becca Leslie, who told The Seattle Times that she's not
sure how she'll be able to complete her classes while also taking care
of her children. She's concerned about affording rent and child care
and is worried about losing money from her work-study job.
The global pandemic has caused unprecedented uncertainty across our
cities, communities and homes, and student parents are one of the most
impacted groups, as they are feeling the effects of the unfolding
challenges at every level. Their needs have never been more acute. This
will likely extend many months beyond the current crisis, which is why
we need innovative solutions for student parents now more than ever.
Around a quarter of all undergraduate students in the U.S., and
millions more in postsecondary programs, are parents. These
"post-traditional" students do not fit the "traditional" mold of the
18-year-old who is financially dependent on their parents and enrolled
in a four-year college degree program. Student parents are uniquely
motivated — pursuing a better life for themselves and setting an
example for their children.
Alongside their school course loads, student parents are managing child
care obligations, work schedules and other personal or professional
obligations. Consequently, they exhibit a longer, more episodic demand
for higher education on the journey to complete a credential or degree
program. Student parents often face admissions, academic, financial aid
and advising systems not well-suited to meet their needs. Despite these
system limitations, student parents, on average, achieve higher GPAs
than their peers who don't have children. They enrich their classrooms
with new perspectives, ideas and challenges. Too often, however, these
millions of learners are being forced to fit into a postsecondary
education system that wasn't designed for them or the life experiences
and circumstances they bring.
We can do better.
Even as colleges and universities weather this current crisis, higher
education could lay the foundation for a more adaptable and resilient
set of services that can better serve student parents — and perhaps all
postsecondary learners. Services that encompass innovations including:
Rolling admissions with modular, easy-to-access instruction.
Blended academic and occupational curricula.
Stackable credentialing of knowledge and skills.
Integrated financial, academic and career advising.
Policies that reflect the complex task of balancing life, work and education.
As is often the case in higher education, there are models of such
innovations that can be adapted to different settings to better serve
student parents.
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