Higher Ed Changemakers Prototype Strategies to Support Student-Parent Success

​A growing body of research shows that student-parents are significantly less likely to graduate college than their non-parenting peers. To help address this disparity, ACE organized an Innovation Lab called "Building Institutional Capacity to Facilitate Student-Parent Success and Social and Economic Mobility" Sept. 9-10 in Washington, DC. ACE Innovation Labs use design thinking and appreciative inquiry methods to engage a diverse set of higher education leaders to develop solutions to a broad range of challenges.The lab, sponsored by Imaginable Futures, assembled 34 researchers, educators, higher education leaders, and student-parents to develop ideas for programs and policies that will help close the achievement gap for student-parents by 2035.

"Approximately one in five undergraduate students are also parents. We know that better serving this large, intersectional population is an important aspect of increasing higher ed's capacity to drive social and economic mobility," said Hironao Okahana, assistant vice president and executive director of ACE's Education Futures Lab.

The first day began with a series of activities that underscored key information about student-parent success and highlighted participants' collective expertise on the subject. Attendees then divided into teams as they began to brainstorm ideas to better understand the barriers student-parents face and help them overcome these challenges.

When they reconvened on day two, participants spent much of the day working in groups to hone their ideas and identify the most impactful, feasible, and scalable solutions. They pared down a robust assortment of ideas to six prototypes.

The final prototypes included:

1. State and federal data collection bills: Collect more complete data about the student-parent population's size, composition, and persistence to more accurately represent student-parents' voices and concerns.
2. Resource centers: Set up family resource centers on campuses that have supplies and spaces for parenting students as well as staff who can connect student-parents to additional resources.
3. On-campus childcare/CCAMPIS funding: Establish childcare centers on campuses and double funding for Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) so institutions without these centers can provide students subsidies for childcare.
4. Title III: Amend Title III of the Higher Education Act to designate federal grant funding for institutions that serve student-parents.
5. National student-parent coalition: Unite advocates for student-parents through a national organization with local chapters to facilitate lobbying and activism.
6. Scheduling for student-parent success: Increase flexibility of academic schedules, including offering courses at various times of day and in multiple modalities, reserving preferred registration slots for student-parents, and instituting annual schedules and registration so students don't have to alter their work schedules each semester.

The lab closed with participants coming back together to share how they refined these concepts. They discussed obstacles, necessities, and actions they could take in the immediate future to advance each proposal.

"Student-parents are the light that reveals all the cracks in the system-exposing the inequities and barriers that too many face, not only in higher education, but other systems that shape how families live," said Jenn Clark, venture partner at Imaginable Futures.

Attendees said they left the convening feeling inspired, connected, energized, and motivated by the growing momentum around this issue.

ACE plans to further refine the prototypes that emerged and work with partner organizations to move them forward. This work will also inform the new Carnegie Social and Economic Mobility Classification, which will be released in spring 2025.

In conjunction with this Innovation Lab and National Student Parent Month, ACE released two white papers: one on data about student-parents and one on institutions' roles in supporting student-parents.