Join us for IWPR’s 2026 Power+ Summit, The Power Grid: Driving Gender Equity Forward, taking place September 28–29 in Detroit, MI.
Together, we will spark bold ideas, share breakthroughs, and shape the future of gender equity.
As Mother’s Day approaches, the 3.4 million mothers in college are performing a complicated balancing act.
[i]
According to new IWPR analysis, availability of on-campus child care continued to decline in 2014, with just half of public four-year institutions providing on-campus child care services, down from a high of 55 percent in 2003-05 (Figure 1). At community colleges, where the largest share of parents are enrolled, only 45 percent report having an on-campus center, down from over half (53 percent) in 2003-04 (Figure 1).
[ii]
Given the importance of a higher education to a family’s economic security and their children’s future success, ensuring that student mothers have access to affordable, quality care must be a priority for educational institutions, higher education advocates, and policymakers.
[i]
Barbara Gault, Lindsey Reichlin, Elizabeth Reynolds, and Meghan Froehner. 2014. “4.8 Million College Students are Raising Children.” Fact Sheet, IWPR #C424, Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
[ii]
Barbara Gault, Lindsey Reichlin, Elizabeth Reynolds, and Meghan Froehner. 2014. “Campus Child Care Declining Even as Growing Numbers of Parents Attend College.” Fact Sheet, IWPR #C425, Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research.