Student Parent Success InitiativeAdministrator2023-09-28T09:43:54-05:00

Student Parent Success Initiative

Earning a postsecondary credential is more important than ever for families to achieve economic security and mobility. For the roughly four million college students who are parents of children under 18—70 percent of whom are mothers—earning a degree or certificate is a pathway to a better life for themselves and their families. These student parents, however, are often overlooked on college campuses and in the broader system of higher education, and lack access to the supports, such as affordable, high-quality child care, that they need to successfully graduate.

IWPR’s Student Parent Success Initiative conducts research and policy analysis, provides technical expertise and assistance, and communicates its research and builds partnerships to lift up the voices of students with children and increase equity in higher education for student parents and other underserved student populations.

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Improving Success in Higher Education through Increased Access to Reproductive Health Services

Pregnancy and childbearing have implications for a number of economic and social outcomes, including educational attainment (Sonfield et al. 2013). Yet young people are often left without the knowledge and tools to make informed reproductive health decisions. The majority of adolescents and young adults are sexually active but many hold incorrect or limited information about how to effectively avoid unintended pregnancies.

By Anna Bernstein and Lindsey Reichlin Cruse|January 31, 2020|

Investing in Single Mothers’ Higher Education

Earning a higher education is increasingly necessary for achieving family economic security. For single mothers, who are more likely to live in poverty than other women, earning postsecondary credentials can bring substantial benefits, from increased lifetime earnings and employment rates to better health outcomes and chances of success for their children.

Head Start-College Partnerships as a Strategy for Promoting Family Economic Success: A Study of Benefits, Challenges, and Promising Programs

DOWNLOAD REPORT Introduction and Summary Improving family economic security in the United States requires new strategies to support parents while they develop skills and attain education to prepare them for well-paid jobs. Postsecondary education brings a range of benefits to graduates and their [...]

By Barbara Gault, Lindsey Reichlin Cruse, Tessa Holtzman and Susana Contreras-Mendez|October 30, 2019|

Head Start-College Partnerships as a Strategy for Promoting Family Economic Success: A Study of Benefits, Challenges, and Promising Programs duplicate

Introduction and Summary   Improving family economic security in the United States requires new strategies to support parents while they develop skills and attain education to prepare them for well-paid jobs. Postsecondary education brings a range of benefits to graduates and their families, including enhanced [...]

By Administrator|October 30, 2019|

Making “Free College” Programs Work for College Students with Children

DOWNLOAD REPORT Making “Free College” Programs Work for College Students with Children College is one of the most reliable routes to economic security for parents and their children. College credentials are linked to increased earnings, higher rates of employment, lower poverty rates, and [...]

By Tessa Holtzman, Lindsey Reichlin Cruse and Barbara Gault|June 25, 2019|

Parents in College By the Numbers

DOWNLOAD REPORT Two-generation (2Gen) programs and policies create opportunities that allow adults and the children in their lives to build on each other’s successes. Ensuring that both parents and children have access to affordable, high-quality educational opportunities, for example, is a core component [...]

By Lindsey Reichlin Cruse, Tessa Holtzman, Barbara Gault, David Croom and Portia Polk|April 11, 2019|