Boosting the Rising Tide of Change for Student Parents in California

California is home to the

in the country, with more than 280 public and private higher education institutions that serve the most diverse student body in the US, including a sizable number of students with children. The success of student parents is a prerequisite for meeting the state’s higher education equity and attainment goals, yet few institutions in California know how many parents they enroll, let alone how student parents are faring in their education journeys.

To fill this awareness gap and channel burgeoning state policy momentum, a new coalition has formed to galvanize change for California’s student parents, providing potential inspiration for other states that are interested in supercharging progress on postsecondary education goals.

Representing one in five students in the state, more than 200,000 California college students are parents. Student parents have limited time and financial resources and, despite their large numbers, they remain invisible on most campuses with their needs unmet. These students often juggle multiple responsibilities, such as childcare, school, jobs and more; and they have shared that they feel isolated and unwelcome on campuses that aren’t designed for their success. As a result, most student parents, more than half of whom are students of color, do not complete their degrees.

Against this backdrop, a group of diverse stakeholders are stepping up—and coming together—to secure overdue recognition and change for student parents.

The California Alliance for Student Parent Success is a joint effort led by two organizations, The Education Trust-West and California Competes: Higher Education for Strong Economy, to bring stakeholders together, who despite their diverse backgrounds and different gamut of interests have a shared stake in student parent success. Membership will be open to organizations and leaders in research, philanthropy, innovation, advocacy, education, policy, business and more.

With these two organizations coordinating the coalition, we know that the complex work of building statewide infrastructure to accelerate progress on student parent success will be guided by their deep content expertise about California’s vast and wide education system, and trusted relationships that can bring together stakeholders across policy, practice, research, coalition building, communications and more.

“The fact remains that within the education equity space, parenting students are far too often viewed as a special population. This is a misnomer that separates out policy and practice conversations about parenting students,” Dr. Christopher Nellum, Executive Director of The Education Trust–West and son of a former student parent shared in a recent blog post. Parenting students are an equity imperative, Nellum says: “Student parents are and always have been present in postsecondary education and they are often students of color.”

With a mission that brings together research, policy, advocacy, capacity building, and community engagement to support the postsecondary success and comprehensive well-being of California’s student parents and their families, the Alliance will be responsible for creating coalition structures for shared ownership of common goals; facilitating networking and peer support; and supporting the pooling of resources and expertise.

The launch of the Alliance comes at a time of a rising tide of change for parenting students. Last summer, a first-of-its kind statewide convening brought together diverse stakeholders who discussed their shared goals on helping student parents succeed—many who are eager to continue the work. In addition, a new law (AB 2881) passed last year mandated that campuses provide priority class registration for student parents and make known resources available to them.

We invested in the California Alliance for Student Parent Success because we know that policy wins like AB 2881 are just the beginning. WIth this fresh and growing energy around student parents, there is a window of opportunity to build this momentum into sustainable change.

With The Education Trust-West and California Competes coordinating the coalition, we know that the complex work of building statewide infrastructure to accelerate progress on student parent success will be guided by these two organizations’ deep content expertise about California’s vast and wide education system, and trusted relationships that can bring together stakeholders across policy, practice, research, coalition building, communications and more.

And like Nellum, the mission behind the coalition is personal for California Competes’s CEO Su Jin Jez. “The benefits of higher education profoundly impacted my life,” she told us. “As a first-generation college student, woman of color, and daughter of an immigrant, California provided me the opportunity to grow as a person, scholar, and community member… I want all Californians to have this opportunity to reach their potential, regardless of their background or what life throws at them.”

Our investment in the Alliance also represents an important moment for the broader student parent movement that we support across the US, where growing national attention can translate into state action that can transform our local communities for the better.

A college degree still remains one of the surest ways out of poverty for students and their families, changing the trajectory of generations to come. We also know that when student parents succeed, everyone succeeds. When more student parents graduate, higher education institutions have higher graduation rates, helping their bottom line. Businesses and organizations have access to a larger pool of talent and the incredible strengths that student parents bring. We have a stronger economy, ultimately helping all of us in a society that is intricately interconnected.

We look forward to riding this tide of change, alongside our partners and student parents in California and beyond.