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A Case-Study of How Racial and Ethnic Minoritized Community College Student Parents
Make Decisions About College, Careers, and Campus Resources
ABSTRACT
Objective: Community colleges, which can lead to job opportunities and well-paying careers, are
one of the main entry points to higher education for student parents. We use a conceptual
framework that bridges career capital and community cultural wealth to understand student
parents’ college and career trajectories. This study explores a) How do racially and ethnically
minoritized student parents navigate community college? b) How do student parents make
educational and career decisions? c) What, if any, institutional resources do student parents utilize
to learn about career planning and workforce transition resources at their campus? Method: This
qualitative case-study draws from individual and focus group interviews with 67 student parents
to better understand how they utilize their knowledge and lived experiences to navigate college.
Results: Data analysis speaks to a) student parents’ difficulty maneuvering life as a college student
and parent; b) and the importance of their support networks as they seek support and information.
Contributions: We hope these findings will encourage community colleges to think about ways
to tangibly evaluate their current practices (including the implementation of guided pathways),
better communicate services offered to student parents, and create a much more welcoming
environment for students and their families/children.
Keywords.
Student parents; Students of Color; Careers; Decision-making; Community college; Qualitative
methods
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SUGGESTED CITATION:
Huerta, A. H., Rios-Aguilar, C., & Ramirez, D. (in press). A
case study of how racial and ethnic minoritized community
college student parents make decisions about college,
careers, and campus resources.
Community College Review.
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Community College Student Parents 1
A Case-Study of Marginalized Community College Student Parents and their Decisions
about College, Careers, and Campus Resources
Accessing and attaining a college degree or credential is a fundamental tool in gaining the
needed skills and training to achieve social mobility in the United States. For decades, students
have been turning to community college as a means of gaining access to both mid-level jobs and
lucrative careers (Chen, 2019). For example, non-traditional groups of students are enrolling in
postsecondary education at higher rates than in previous decades. This group includes student
parents who account for over one in five of all undergraduates in higher education (3.8 million),
and 42% of all student parents are enrolled in two-year colleges (Cruse et al., 2019). Cruse and
colleagues (2019) with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimate that only 37% of all
student parents complete a degree or certificate within six years, compared with 59% of childless
students. The disparity in degree attainment between student parents and others has profound
equity implications, especially for racially and ethnically minoritized (i.e., Black, Latina/o/x,
Native American, multiracial) student parents who are more likely than students from other
backgrounds to have dependent children while in college. Student parents face deeply rooted
barriers that contribute to disproportionately worse degree and retention outcomes in
postsecondary education than their non-parenting peers (Goldrick-Rab et al., 2020).
Consequently, researchers have examined student parents’ enrollment patterns and the
institutional processes and practices that may contribute to their (in)ability to succeed in college.
Individually and collectively, scholars of student parent experiences help us to understand the
different racial and ethnic groups of student parents and their transitions into higher education.
Past studies illuminate the fact that student parents are quite vulnerable and sensitive, and results
in quick departures from college due to familial obligations, instability with childcare, or
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Community College Student Parents 2
financial pressures. Other researchers have focused on capturing and understanding what student
parents go through while attending college. For instance, we know that in attempting to balance
work, family, and college obligations, student parents may take fewer classes, drop courses, and
might temporarily “take a break” from their coursework due to unforeseen circumstances related
to changes to their employment or family well-being. Each of these micro-decisions ultimately
impact student parents’ experiences navigating college, their persistence and retention, as well as
the types of academic programs and occupational pathways they pursue (Anderson, 2019;
Goldrick-Rab & Sorensen, 2010; Patterson, 2016).
The individual stressors student parents’ experiences are not isolated to their homes.
Goldrick-Rab and colleagues (2020) stress that student parents face substantial financial and time
constraints, and often greater expenses, thus putting them at higher risk for basic needs insecurity
compared to other students. These stresses are then compounded in college where student parents
struggle to navigate college spaces. As mentioned, many student parents are first generation and
low-income, which means many require additional support and direction from counselors and
instructors to understand the processes and formulas to be successful as college students (Estes,
2011; Lanford, 2018; Pizzolato & Olson, 2016; Sallee & Cox, 2019). Other times, college
administrators may be unsure how to align institutional policies to meet student parents’ needs
due to limited resources in two-year institutions (Cox & Sallee, 2018).
While existing scholarship has brought student parents’ outcomes (i.e., enrollment,
persistence, and success) and experiences to the center of many scholarly, policy, and
institutional conversations, there is still a lack of attention on student parents as a subcategory in
institutional, state, and national data sets, meaning most colleges have no data to capture on how
student parents are faring on their campuses (Ascend, 2020; Goldrick-Rab & Sorensen, 2010;
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Community College Student Parents 3
Madden, 2018; Pizzolato & Olson, 2016). Furthermore, in our search, there is no data and
research that concentrates on student parents’ occupational goals, trajectories, and outcomes.
And, as a result, we know very little about their labor market outcomes. Student parents’
academic and occupational success is a serious challenge in community colleges, and it requires
a heightened understanding of how institutions need to be flexible, equitable, and caring while
supporting students’ various educational and career goals. We make these claims knowing that
parenting services and childcare resources do not reach all students who would benefit the most
due to multiple institutional factors (Brown & Nichols, 2013; Lynch, 2008; Yakaboski, 2010).
The institutional challenge for low-income students, including student parents, includes
challenges when advocating for student loan allocations and financial aid resources, as financial
aid counselors place administrative burdens, through income verification and discouragement
(Campbell et al, 2015; Radey & Cheatham, 2013), this results in limited financial aid resources
needed to survive and pay for their basic needs (Brown & Nichols, 2013).
In addition to providing more resources, community colleges across the nation have also
engaged in structural reforms, including guided pathways, to help students navigate the academic
programs and institutional bureaucracy. Guided pathways has been introduced as a national
model to simplify the academic major and career pathways and opportunities for students (Bailey
et al., 2015; Jenkins & Cho, 2013; Jenkins et al. 2017). Some colleges have created meta majors
or academic communities such as health-related science, business, STEM, and others, so that
students can easily choose and understand the career implications of their choice (Baker, 2018).
This innovation in community colleges have allowed students to clearly visualize what it takes to
complete their academic goals via program mappers (Baker, 2018). Although the guided
pathways model could help community college students hone their program of study and
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increase their persistence and degree completion (Baker, 2018) some have questioned its ability
to close equity gaps and to provide “non-traditional” students such as part-time students or
students with dependents with the flexibility and procedural knowledge needed to succeed in
college (Rose, 2016). For example, meta majors are intended to simplify the decision and choice
process for community college students, however. not all students are aware, benefit, or
understand how meta majors’ function into future career placement (Baker, 2018; Baker &
Orona, 2020). The implementation of guided pathways could result in additional burdens for
these groups of students, particularly if the model does not recognize marginalized students’
realities and lived experiences (Rios-Aguilar et al., 2018, Rose, 2016; Rose, Neri & Rios-
Aguilar, 2019).
It is in this context that we situate our study. We use a case study research design to
examine the college experiences of 67 Black, Latina/o/x, Asian American, Pacific Islander
student parents enrolled in Coastal City College (CCC) (a pseudonym). This study explores how
they navigate college and prepare for careers, and transition into the labor market. The research
questions guiding this study are:
1. How do racially and ethnically minoritized student parents navigate community college?
2. How do student parents make educational and career decisions?
3. What, if any, institutional resources do student parents utilize to learn about career
planning and workforce transition resources at their campus?
LITERATURE REVIEW
A majority of the scholarship on student parents in postsecondary education concentrates
on individual and environmental challenges (Lovell & Scott, 2020; Moreau & Kerner, 2015;
Pizzolato & Olson, 2016); such as struggles locating social and academic support (Cerven, 2013;
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Sallee & Cox, 2019), financial pressures to support their children (Lynch, 2008; Moreau &
Kerner, 2015; Yakaboski, 2010), securing affordable childcare services (Brown & Nichols,
2013; Cerven, 2013; Estes, 2011; Sallee & Cox, 2019), or the stress and guilt of not providing
“sufficient time” to their children (Lovell & Scott, 2020). While student parents are acutely
aware of the sacrifices (e.g., time and wages) they need to make or order to persist in college, the
goal of earning a college degree is fueled by high aspirations to provide a better and more stable
future for their children upon college degree attainment. Estes (2011) and Haleman (2004) found
that student parents want to share new knowledge about the college process with their children to
improve the next generations’ likelihood of success. However, earning a postecondary credential
or degree is not a simple process for many student parents due to rigid schedules, hostile
classroom and campus policies, and balancing the demands of their families and work
commitments. For example, Wladis, Hachey, and Conway (2018) found that “students with
preschool-aged children dropped out of college at higher rates and accumulated credits at slower
rates than students without children” (pg. 16). Wladis and colleagues used the term “time
poverty” to indicate and quantify that student parents have less leisure time than their childless
peers to sleep, complete coursework, focus on childcare responsibilities, and other household
duties. The time poverty student parents experience is coupled with a mismatch of inflexible
course scheduling and non-family-friendly climates that they must navigate including children’s
school schedules and demands (Brown & Nichols, 2013). The studies we have highlighted focus
on the micro-level moments for student parents; however, there are structural forces and tensions
in community colleges that impact student parents’ ability to persist.
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At the organizational level, student parents are often invisible to college faculty and staff,
but become hyper-visible when campus agents punish them for violating institutional policies
and social norms about bringing children to offices, appointments, classrooms, or other shared
student spaces (Moreau & Kerner, 2015; Wilson & Cox, 2011). Students may also have to bring
children to college classrooms when planned childcare efforts are thwarted. These pressures are
highlighted in the education and gender studies literature as student parents battle social and
racial stigmas of being pregnant while at college, enrolled in single-parent programs, or in
welfare-relief-style-programs to feed their children (Haleman, 2004; Wilson & Cox, 2011).
Student parents feel a need to fight for respeto (Huerta & Fishman, 2018; Kiyama et al., 2016) to
be treated as a “legitimate college student” by faculty and campus staff. In other instances,
campus administrators often face powerlessness in helping student parents due to budget
constraints and limited full-time staffing (Cox & Sallee, 2018).
As we have described here, while existing research examines the student parents’
experiences captures their struggles, very few studies focus on student parents’ career prospects
in postsecondary education. Our study is a step in this new direction to provide insights into how
marginalized student parents make decisions about college and careers. It is important to know
how students gain the information they need to prepare for the labor markets they want to enter
and how they use support networks to manage life circumstances as parents in community
college. To do so, we bring literature on guided pathways and career decision-making relevant to
our inquiry.
Guided Pathways and Careers
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Guided pathways (GP) is a model intended to provide students with clear pathways to
further their education, advance their careers, and complete degree programs with little credit
loss (Bailey et al., 2015, Jenkins & Cho, 2013; Jenkins et al. 2017). Furthermore, GP aims to
provide students with information regarding career pathways upon entering the program and
provide a structure of ongoing guided support for students to achieve their degree goals via
scheduling, feedback, and monitoring by campus agents (e.g., faculty, staff, counselors) (Bailey
at al., 2015). These synchronized efforts to support students might also include exposure to job
training, job search, mock interview skills, and localized career fairs to expedite employment for
community college graduates (Jenkins & Cho, 2013; Van Noy et al., 2016). Guided pathways
efforts have been adopted by many community colleges nationwide; in fact, over 200 colleges
have adopted these reforms (Jenkins et al., 2017).
Despite the popularity and rapid adoption of guided pathways programs in community
colleges, it is still too early to assess these programs’ outcomes, particularly for students of color
and other marginalized student populations (Bragg et al., 2019). Existing evidence suggests that
GP efforts, while well intentioned, have not help colleges center equity in their decision-making
processes and practices. As a result, GP may be exacerbating existing inequities. Furthermore,
Bragg and colleagues (2019) state that racial equity is not a primary focus of guided pathways
programs. Besides, some students do not arrive at community college knowing what career they
want to pursue and require time to explore their interests and options, which may deviate from
rigid set paths (Rose, 2016). As community colleges around the country implement guided
pathways, they should examine students’ multidimensional identities (i.e., race, class, gender,
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sexual orientation, first-generation, student parent, socioeconomic status, and the like) and work
toward equitable student outcomes (Rose et al., 2019).
Other challenges for community college attempting to infuse career information and
exploration to their academic offerings is that they do not consider the local labor markets that
students face not only after college but while they are pursuing their degrees (Deil-Amen &
DeLuca, 2010; Reyes et al., 2019). Deil-Amen and DeLuca emphasize that community college
students often earn degrees and certificates for careers that do not align with regional labor
market needs and these institutional decisions directly impact students’ ability to quickly secure
employment. All this to say, geography matters in academic opportunities and career decision-
making for community college students (Reyes et al., 2019). However, many community college
students do not have regular access to a “point of contact” who can serve as a guide and inform
their career decisions and exploration processes (Karp, 2013). Other times, CTE programs are
not designed to center or acknowledge the lived experiences of current students nor students’
motivations for wanting to enter into specific career fields (Neri, 2020).
Knowing what and when to study to secure employment is a critical component to being
a successful community college student. As Bahr (2019) stressed that community college
students can earn immediate economic returns due to credits earned in some academic programs,
however, the most lucrative programs are engineering and information technology, but only
marginal returns for health, human services, nursing, and child development – traditional
academic pathways for some returning student parents. However, building and sustaining
networks into the labor market is not a universal practice for all career-focused community
college programs and depends on the faculty, program advisory boards, and local and national
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accreditation models that require and structured career preparation into academic programs. This
is reaffirmed by scholars (Bragg & Krismer, 2016; Jenkins & Cho, 2013) who stress that career
pathways for students can only thrive when “inside and outside” partnerships between
community colleges and local employers collaborate. We know that many students return to
community college to build the necessary skills and training to enter the labor market, yet
questions remain about how student parents facilitate and conceptualize their networks and
opportunities of support to gain access to new careers and pathways or to their desired
employment.
Lastly, Jenkin and Cho (2013) stress the value and impact of guided pathways programs
for students and the multiple benefits and individual attention gained from faculty and counselor-
program coordinators. While guided pathways inform career conversations for students in
community college, a holistic understanding of student parents is needed to comprehend how
they make strategic decisions about their postsecondary education and occupational choices and
how these relate to the local labor markets that students are situated in.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
This study utilizes D’Amico et al.’s (2019) adapted career capital framework for
community colleges and Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth framework to examine the
career choices and academic experiences of marginalized student parents in community colleges.
Together, these frameworks help understand how marginalized student parents in a community
college setting make decisions regarding their education and careers while navigating oppressive
structures and environments. The choices community college student parents make and the
knowledge base from which those choices generate, align with what they hope to achieve is
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framed in a conceptualization of career capital (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1994; Inkson & Arthur,
2001). More specifically, we rely on D’Amico et al.’s (2019) adapted version of the career
framework for the community college sector which explicitly recognizes the realities and
challenges that students in this particular postsecondary system face in navigating their
educational and occupational trajectories. This conceptual framework allows us to examine how
college and career development is informed by knowledge and access points to knowing why (via
aspirations), knowing how (via knowledge and skills), and knowing whom (via sources of
information).
In D’Amico et al.’s (2019) career capital framework, knowing why refers to students’
purpose in seeking a higher education degree or credential via their aspirations. Whether students
aspire to attain an associate’s degree, transfer, or earn a certificate largely depends on their career
objectives. Though, student parents, particularly those who are first-generation college students,
may not arrive at community college with clear knowledge of how to achieve their educational
and career goals. It is also possible that they have work experiences that colleges are not aware
of and could draw from on their current job experiences and skills to access other types of new
jobs and careers. Knowing how refers to the ways students acquire skills to navigate their
community college education. Indeed, as students decide to attend college, they also make
choices to enroll in certain institutions and programs. In our study, we explore why student
parents enrolled in a community college, given their education and career aspirations. We pay
particular attention to the ways their aspirations have changed throughout their higher education
journey and what, if any, experiences have influenced those decisions. In addition to navigating
their curricular decisions, students must also navigate the financial aspect of attending a
community college. Thus, students’ “financial know-how” refers to the ways they gain the skills
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to navigate bureaucracies and processes to pay for their schooling and other expenses (D’Amico
et al., 2019). Knowing the steps to gain financial aid, jobs, and financial resources on campus are
crucial to student success. Finally, knowing who refers to the sources of knowledge that students
tap into to navigate their community college and occupational trajectories, such as institutional
agents. Fifty percent of community college students are people of color and 29 percent of all
community college students are first in their family to pursue higher education, respectively
(American Association of Community Colleges, 2020), they may not arrive at college knowing
whom to contact for information regarding career paths, internships, or other academic needs
(Vega, 2018).
As our study is about marginalized student parents’ experiences and choices, we also use
Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth (CCW) framework to highlight the assets students,
families, and communities of color use to navigate educational systems. Based in critical race
theory, CCW is the experiential knowledge of communities of color through an anti-deficit lens.
Specifically, CCW argues that students of color bring various forms of cultural knowledge that
are markedly different from those of “traditional” (i.e., white, dominant socioeconomic class)
students, yet are important to their success. These six forms of capital—linguistic, familial,
social, navigational, aspirational, and resistant—make up the CCW framework, though we only
focus on the latter five in this study. Linguistic capital is a form of storytelling and advice
cultivated within communities of color that offer specific navigational goals to challenge [or
resist] oppressive structures and conditions. Familial capital refers to the knowledge that comes
from family units such as social support and labor histories that inform one’s sense of identity.
Social capital is the source(s) of knowledge based in an individual or community’s social
networks. These sources of knowledge may provide knowledge of job opportunities, advice, and
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mentorship. Navigational capital manifests in the way students seek information and resources.
As previously mentioned, student parents require resources not only for them but for their
children as well. Navigating community college as student parents may be challenging as
colleges have historically been unwelcoming to children in general. As student parents maneuver
these hostile institutions, they exhibit resistant capital by challenging the status quo and often
racialized and gendered spaces. Finally, aspirational capital refers to students’ abilities to
maintain hope in the face of multiple levels of adversity on and off college campuses.
Together, career capital and community cultural wealth help us examine marginalized
student parents’ navigational experiences in community college. We argue that marginalized
student parents must navigate highly dynamic and complex labor markets. The career capital
they have acquired and developed through their individual, familial, and community labor
histories is fundamental to achieving their academic and occupational goals. Specifically, our
conceptual framework helps us understand the types of information and sources students seek to
navigate college as well as the lived experiences that contribute to their career and degree
aspirations.
METHODOLOGY
Site Selection
Using a case study methodology (Yin, 2013), we draw from individual and focus-group
semi-structured interviews of 67 enrolled student parents at Coastal City College (CCC). Coastal
City College is a pseudonym for an institution located in an urban area in Southern California
and has two local campuses. Coastal City College was selected as the research site because of its
student population characteristics and its administration’s commitment to serve student parents
better. Currently, CCC enrolls almost 25,000 students, with 60% self-identifying as Latinx or
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Hispanic, 11% Black, African, or African American, 11% Asian American Pacific Islanders,
13% white, and 5% either not reporting or identifying with two or more races. Two-thirds of
currently enrolled students attend part-time, and the majority of students (70%) are under the age
of 24. Most importantly, one-third of students at CCC are student parents. CCC provides a
childcare center, counseling and career services, a transfer center, a welfare-to-work program for
eligible students.
Sample and Recruitment
Student parents from both CCC campuses were invited to participate in the study. We
requested contact information and lists of students involved in various CCC programs and
services such as the childcare center and first-generation low-income student programs. It is
important to highlight that not all students participate in on-campus services, as some students
were not eligible based on their past postsecondary education attendance, annual income,
childcare center wait-list time, and other policy factors. Various campus agents (teaching-faculty,
counseling-faculty, staff, administration, etc.) also provided the names of student parents who
were not formally involved in on-campus programs or services that may benefit from sharing
their experiences as a CCC student. To be eligible for the study, participants had to be a student
parent and identify with one or more of the following racial or ethnic groups: Black, Latina/o/x
or Hispanic, Asian American or Pacific Islander. Over 145 student parents were contacted via
email and telephone calls, which resulted in 78 registrations to participate. Of those 78 students,
67 participated in either a focus group or individual interview.
INSERT TABLE 1 HERE
Data Collection
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The qualitative data collection consisted of semi-structured individual and focus group
interviews with student parents from both CCC campuses during the 2018-2019 academic year.
Recruitment flyers were posted on advertisement boards around both CCC campuses with
participant eligibility information and contact information for interview scheduling. Over a three-
month period beginning in April to July, a team of seven researchers conducted the interviews
and focus groups that ranged in their duration of 45 to 120 minutes. Sample questions included:
“What’s one thing that CCC can do differently to help you be successful?”, “What motivated you
to balance these various commitments (e.g., college classes, family commitment, and work-
related experiences?”, and “When you seek advice about career planning, whom do you talk to
on-campus?” Based on students’ availability, we presented the option to participate in on-
campus or telephone interviews to provide flexibility with their work and family schedules.
Lechuga (2012) found that telephone interviews also provided researchers access to “ample and
detailed textual data...thorough examination of the values, perceptions, beliefs, and norms” from
interviewees (pg. 255). Participants who completed in-person focus group interviews were
provided a $20.00 gift card. Those who completed individual in-person or telephone interviews
were provided a $30.00 gift card as compensation for their time. Each interview and focus group
were audio-recorded to ensure accurate representations of the students’ experiences. A third-
party transcription service transcribed interviews to ensure accurate analysis of the data.
Coding and Analysis
After the first few two weeks of data collection, the research team met over the telephone
to discuss and revise the wording of the interview protocols. Our team debriefed the emerging
trends and challenges student parents experienced (Creswell & Miller, 2000). This moment
allowed us to reflect on the current literature on student parents and our personal experiences as
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parents (as three research team members are parents to young children). The research team
developed a codebook related to college and workforce information, parent responsibilities, and
institutional resources in subsequent meetings. We also included codes related to the career
capital and community cultural wealth frameworks. Initially, all team members participated in
the deductive coding process by reading the data line by line and applying the a priori codes to
the data (Saldaña, 2015). We also discussed emerging themes that we had not initially designated
in our codebook with the academic leaders of CCC, including the Vice President of Student
Services, Dean of Students, Director of Financial Aid, and the Director of the Childcare Center
to triangulate our analysis (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). As such, subsequent rounds of coding
utilized inductive analyses and ground-level feedback from community college professionals,
which allowed us to understand nuances in student parents’ experiences in this institutional
setting (Miles et al., 2016).
Positionality
It is important to note that as authors, we feel connected and understand student parent
participants’ struggles in this research study. As the first and second authors are scholar-parents,
we have a unique connection to this study population. We share a form of cultural intuition that
allows us to see and understand the nuances of people's lives as we intersect through culture,
traditions, and struggles (Bernal, 1998). As authors, we also negotiate with the complex demands
of parenthood and family obligations that may interrupt work, research, and other personal
obligations. Granted, we also benefit from middle-incomes that can help provide stability. As
Peshkin (1988) helps us to understand our positionality, he comments that the “self and subject
became joined” (pg. 17). As we cannot easily divorce our lived realities away from the
participants, but instead we “[see] people doing something that I realized that I do myself, and I
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value it.” (pg. 20). These moments shared by student parents “doing something” heightens our
appreciation of their experiences and challenges. The third author of this study is not a student
parent but comes to the work as a Latina community college alumni and scholar-practitioner with
a deep sense of duty for improving the lives of students in the community college system. As
Milner (2007) comments, research positionality reminds us that we are not studying “othering,”
but we are also the others as we can center race, ethnicity, gender, marginalization, and lived
experiences into our views and interpretations of this research data.
FINDINGS
Knowing Why: College Enrollment and Career Aspirations
Interviews with student parents revealed several educational trajectories and career
aspirations. Several of the student parents in this study enrolled in college directly after high
school graduation but took breaks in between, like Jessica, a Latina mother of one, explained:
In 2001 and 2000 I was going to CCC, taking some summer school classes and fall
classes, and then I became pregnant with my first son. And I wasn't really liking the way
I felt and how the [faculty] were treating me on campus because I was a young pregnant
lady. So, I just stopped going to school and then I recently started going back.
Like Jessica, women participants experienced negative faculty interactions and hostile
environments when pregnant, which led to their subsequent leaves. Most participants in this
study took more than a five-year break between high school and college. During their breaks
from college, student parents shared that they worked several jobs and experienced other life
changes. For example, Liz, a Latina mother of a 5-year-old daughter, started taking classes at
CCC after graduating from high school in 2010 and attended three semesters before dropping out
and returning many years later. During the eight-year break, Liz experienced hardship: her
mother was deported to Mexico, she was in an abusive relationship, lost her stepfather, became
addicted to drugs, and had a child. When Liz decided to get help with therapy and medication,
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she was introduced to CalWORKS, a statewide welfare-to-work program, and GAIN. This
program helps CalWORKs students find employment-opportunities, which helped her find a
temporary job. Since re-enrolling at CCC in 2018, Liz has been enrolled full-time to obtain an
A.A. in Human Services with a concentration on Addiction and Substance Studies so that she
can work as soon as possible. Liz shared: I fell in love with school when I came back. I don’t
want to stop. That’s why I’ve been taking so many classes right now that I can. Liz’s immediate
goal is to graduate with her A.A. in hopes that this degree will better financially provide for her
daughter. In the future, she hopes to return and get a B.A. and a master’s degree. Liz’s
connection with on and off-campus resources and agents provided her information on re-
enrolling and planning for a career. Liz’s story exemplifies how students’ experiences, good or
bad, contribute to their aspirations.
Like Liz, most student parents’ lived experiences influenced their career and education
aspirations. For example, Danielle, a Black mother of three (ages 10, 5, 1) shared:
I have three kids, two of the three had gestational diabetes. And I would always meet
with a nutritionist who I felt helped me tremendously…So it was just a field that I
thought that I would like to go and share my experiences …my goal is to work with
pregnant moms who are having issues.
Although Danielle had not previously attended college, her experience in and out of hospital
settings and caring for her children inspired her to study nutrition. Both Liz and Danielle’s
knowing why (i.e., career aspiration) stemmed directly from tehir lived experiences and
contributed to their career capital.
Since completing the prerequisite courses for the nutrition major, mostly science courses,
Danielle has considered pursuing a nursing degree. Miranda, a mother of three, began
community college immediately after graduating high school but left school to work at a
children’s nursery school before returning to CCC several years later. She explained:
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I started with general ed and then some of the child development classes… later they
[employer] offered me a full-time job at the nursery school and so I quit going to school
and I was actually in a classroom for seven years.
After those seven years, she was laid off when she got pregnant with her first child. She returned
to school in 2014 and has since been studying to obtain an A.A. in Early Childhood Education
and transferring to a four-year university. Like Miranda, participants noted that increased career
opportunities, financial capital, and job stability motivated them to complete a college degree.
Participants’ education and career aspirations differed, yet most expressed gaining a sense of
motivation to go back to school and complete a college degree after becoming parents. As noted
by Ariana, a Latina mother of one:
My son is what motivates me to get him a better future. So that way he can see that,
‘okay, well, mommy went to college. So, I want to go to college too to get a better degree
to get a better job.’
Comments such as Ariana’s exemplify how aspirational and resistant capital motivates student
parents’ persistence in college and challenge the belief that Latinas do not complete college.
Even more, their motivation to succeed is driven by their identities as parents knowing that their
education will inform their children’s aspirations.
Knowing How: Navigating Community College as Student Parents
Student parents noted aspirations that motivated them to pursue higher education, yet
they expressed difficulties navigating college. Overwhelmingly, students noted not having
enough time in the day to complete their responsibilities as parents and college students, as they
had to plan courses around the needs of their children. A lack of flexibility with their schedules
resulted in student parents having less freedom in the total number of units they could take, and
the time of day or types of classes they could enroll. Also, student parents experienced financial
hardships and difficulty accessing resources to help them reach their educational goals.
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Overwhelmingly their knowing how to navigate college depended on the help of institutional
agents, communities and family units, and resources such as internet and transportation.
Balancing Responsibilities & Time Challenges as a Student Parent
Student parents reported balancing multiple on and off-campus commitments related to
their classwork, employment, personal and children’s homework, and other household duties.
For example, Evelyn, a mother of three studying early child development, noted: “It’s like, how
do you say, like a juggler. You have to try to juggle school, work, the kids, a little alone time, a
lot of study time, a lot of homework time.” Evelyn explained that she is responsible for
chauffeuring her children in public transportation, completing college homework in a local
public library due to inability to afford Internet services at home, and squeezing studying
between cooking dinner for her children. Parents, in general, shared sentiments of feeling
overwhelmed by childcare duties and an inability to have moments to themselves, as captured in
Debra’s statement: “I don’t have time for me...So if I am not sleeping or eating, I am studying.”
Several student parents commented that they only slept an average of five hours a night to study
or complete homework after their children went to sleep in the late evening hours. These
sentiments, and familial capital, are further reaffirmed by Brandi, a Black mother of two, who
plans to transfer to get a B.A. in Human Services shared:
The biggest challenge is really just trying to make time because I don’t want to have to
put my kids, you know like, “Oh stop, Mommy’s trying to do homework.” So, it’s just
like if I just had more time to study or to finish an assignment that didn’t cut into our
family time, that would be a struggle. But I know too if my sister wasn’t able to take my
daughter then that would be definitely even harder to get her to school on time, my son to
school on time, and then me on time.
As Brandi commented, if she did not have daily support from her sister, she would have to
navigate three different school schedules. Brandi highlights how familial capital is essential
source of support to have free moments to study and prepare for her college classes. Therefore,
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when on-campus support services are difficult to access for student parents, it can create
additional hardships. An online-only student and mother of one, Katia, shared the following
comment about the services that she uses at CCC:
I obviously don’t even use the services on-campus as much, I just use the counselors if I
need something on employment and admissions records, [just the] basics. I feel like I’ll
go crazy if I even try to get to know other places here [on-campus], unless I need them.
Cause I don’t have the time…
Katia is enrolled full-time in online courses to avoid “wasting” time driving and parking at the
CCC campus. Her toddler son has special needs, which creates additional hurdles to complete
her coursework on time between multiple doctors’ appointments as a single mother.
Students commented on the perceived challenges that various CCC offices do not
communicate resources or strategies on supporting students and student parents in general with
on-campus resources and services. Specifically, several student parents commented about the
perceived disjointed information-sharing between offices that confused their navigating
resources. As captured in this comment from Mary, a single mother of two, studying psychology,
That’s the reason why I actually go and try to look for the direct sources [of information],
because the financial [aid office] they send you one thing, admission [office] sends you
another.
While students utilize their navigational skills to seek information, they are oftentimes left with
inaccurate or conflicting messages from campus agents who are supposed to show them the steps
(i.e., “knowhow”) to access the services they need. CCC employees’ decisions to silo
information causes further challenges to students with limited time to search for the correct and
accurate information. Often, community college students will forgo searching for information or
enrolling in courses altogether when they cannot retrieve the basic information needed to make
informed decisions (Anderson, 2019). Additionally, parents struggled with the schedule of
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courses offered. As expressed by Nayeli, a mother of one, whose goal is to get into the licensed
vocational nursing (LVN) program at CCC:
I need to take a math class and then I want to get into anatomy [class] already so I could
be able to join the LVN program, but they’re always so booked already when it’s my turn
to choose classes.
In addition to not being able to enroll in courses before they reach enrollment capacity, some
student parents noted not being able to enroll in courses because of the time of day they are
offered. Depending on the student parents’ childcare situation and the time courses are offered,
the time to degree may be prolonged past their anticipated timeline. The combination of
institutional hurdles for student parents means they must decide to either forgo locating help
from CCC employees or sacrificing academic plans to appease their children’s schedules. This
situation can only exacerbate the challenges and time poverty student parents must experience to
pursue a college degree or credential. Such bureaucratic hurdles hinder students’ access to
accurate information, course scheduling, and childcare. Yet, despite these challenges, their
aspirational and resistant capital encourages them to persist.
Financial Challenges
In addition to experiencing time challenges, student parents shared stories of struggles to
pay for monthly rent, childcare, food and clothing, and other basic needs such as the Internet.
Miranda, a mother of two whose goal is to be a social worker shared,
Because I am a low-income family, I’m a single mother, I can’t afford the Internet. So,
that’s another challenge for me. I try to work with what I have. Like when I pick up my
daughter from kindergarten, I have two hours free. I usually [work] those two hours; we
usually go to the library because I only have one kid with me and she’s older.
Similarly, Evelyn shared that she goes to the library to access the Internet and computer as she
does not have those resources at home, she explained: “it’s a struggle trying to do our classwork
or meet deadlines and stuff.” Low-income student parents often depend on on-campus resources
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to complete their assignments and having children to care for poses an additional navigational
challenge.
Jose, a father to a three-year-old, shared that he only works part-time and is enrolled in
three courses as he and his wife are both enrolled in CCC at the same time. Collectively, they
must navigate work, class, and childcare schedules each week. The familial capital used to juggle
competing schedules and childcare demands is important for Jesus and other student parents at
home and while enrolled in CCC. Jesus comments, “And I had to work because I had nobody
that can pay my bills so, I just had to – Just so that I can get by.” He is actively searching for
full-time employment and states,
I just need full-time work somewhere else, but something that can also allow me to come
to school … I would go from part-time to full-time [work] and I would have a set
schedule, set pay, and that means if I can’t [physically] come to school to take classes
within the school, I can at least take [my] online classes. So, it would make it a bit easier
for me, too.
Many low-income student parents depend on the support of after-school programs in their local
K-12 schools to provide childcare services until the early evening hours. For the student parents
without close friends or family members in their local community, this school-based option
allows student parents to have a dependable and low-cost support system as additional financial
concerns impact their ability to complete their credentials and associate degrees in a timely
manner. The ability to locate and use various low-cost services is a testament to how students
utilize their social and navigational capital to support themselves and their children.
Some student parents expressed challenges accessing the on-campus childcare center that
services only toddlers between the ages of two and five, operates between “working hours” on
weekdays, and is closed during weekends and semester breaks. For student parents employed in
federal work-study positions on the CCC campus, this means a potential loss of income during
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semester breaks due to no childcare support from the childcare center. The CCC childcare
center’s schedule poses challenges to students who are enrolled in evening or weekend courses
and need childcare services for children outside the structured age range as not all schools
provide after-school programs. Many low-income families are unable to access or afford high-
quality childcare centers in the community and the childcare center on the CCC campus is
similarly difficult to access. We found that high-quality and licensed childcare near the CCC
campus costs over $1200 a month per child. As commented by a female student parent, Ariana, a
Latina mother of one:
Trust me I get the fact that there’s a lot of people in need, but...single parents...that go to
CCC...We all need a place for them (our children). I mean, it’s really hard outside of
school, so why should it be harder inside school? Why should we be on a two-year
waiting list [for the childcare center]?
The challenges of being low-income are not only felt at home with pressures to pay bills and
other basic needs, but also by depending on free or subsidized services through local K-12
afterschool or wraparound programs to care for their children or accessing Internet services at
public libraries. When students cannot access the Internet at home it impacts their ability to
enroll in evening or weekend classes to advance their course-taking. Navigating community
college as student parents poses a particularly difficult challenge yet students in this study shared
a deep sense of aspirational capital and navigational skills to do what they must to remain in
school.
Knowing Whom: Sources of Information
Accessing Campus Resources
As previously noted, student parents are often first-generation college-goers, which means they
cannot easily inquire with their parents or guardians for advice on how to navigate higher
education. As Mary, single mother, shared, “My parents didn't go to college, so I knew that me
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being a single mom, I had to figure it out.” The concentration of resources in one office space or
building can help alleviate unnecessary confusion for student parents. For example, student
parents often complained of the need to search throughout the campus to locate resources.
Below, Mary shared her frustration over her inability to request “emergency funds” from CCC.
I know that the [CCC] provides emergency funds for students and I still haven't gotten
the answer [on how to request and use it]. I go to different people...to the Deans. I've
walked all the way to the end of the campus. They don't have the answer. But I think
that's the only thing that sucks. Sometimes the resources are out there, but we don't know
who exactly…[is] providing the resources.
When resources are difficult to locate, they cannot be utilized by those who need them. Those
who are tasked with supporting all students including student parents should clearly and
effectively bridge resources. The challenge of finding resources on campus was repeated by
various participants, such as Katia, who shared her frustration with having to “bounce around” to
find answers, especially as she has limited time. As previously mentioned, student parents
experience time poverty which restricts their available time and abilities to search for help and
support on-campus. Granted, some student parents are involved with EOPS, CARE, and
CalWORKS which can help them access some resources as structured components that require
advising sessions with counselors. Brandi, a Black mother of two shared her experience with
CalWORKS:
[CalWORKS] helped me pay for the parking passes or if I need extra supplies for the
science class lab that I'm in, so then that's money…I'm glad they were able to give me
that because I needed three different books and I was able to afford them without taking
away from anything that I needed to get for my kids.
Other students may not be eligible for on-campus services due to different factors, as shared by
Liz:
I am receiving the California Waiver to pay for the credits for the units [but] I don't
receive financial aid just because back when I dropped out [of college], I didn't take
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school seriously… so financial aid doesn't trust me right now. So, I have to prove to
them…I’m working towards that.
As Liz works on her A.A., she works part-time delivering food with Postmates because she is
unable to find stable employment. As such, over the upcoming summer, Liz plans to attend CCC
online because she needs to find a stable job to support her child. Although she would like to
work on campus, because she had previously exhausted her financial aid she is unable to enroll
in a work-study program. Students like Liz could benefit from knowledge and access to other on-
campus resources that could help her find a job. Knowing who to contact and what questions to
ask is a key component in developing a career capital yet, without the structures in place to
provide accessible information, student parents are disadvantaged.
As exemplified in the findings shown, student parents are resilient in their attempts to
navigate college, yet they face struggles in accessing resources. Besides, when student parents
are able to see and connect with counseling-faculty at CCC they at times met with unwelcoming
messages via institutional policies. As shared by Evelyn: “[there are] signs around admissions
[offices] saying that no children are allowed on campus.” This can be deflating for student
parents who are trying to gain necessary college advising information, as shared by Jose:
And we know that we can't bring our son to the campus because counselors can't see you
when you have a kid with you - they won't see you. They'll just immediately tell you;
they can't see you so you’ll have to reschedule, you have to get somebody to watch [your
children] or whatever.
Such policies send a message to student parents that their children do not belong and serve as a
distraction to campus agents. Student parents utilize their navigational capital to seek resources
and information to make important career and educational decisions, yet they are met with
institutional policies that hinder their abilities to make accurate and informed decisions. Even
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further, these policies do not honor students parents and their children’s identities and sense of
belonging on campus.
Career Counseling & Faculty Interactions
As noted in the previous section, student parents seek resources on campus though they
are sometimes difficult to find. Regarding their career choices, student parents often enter
college with an idea of what they want to pursue, whether it is nutrition, child development, or
nursing. Still, as many are first-generation college students, sometimes their education
aspirations do not match their career goals. To gain information about career pathways, student
parents look to institutional agents, including workers in offices such as CalWORKS,
counseling, as well as teaching faculty, but many campus agents are unaware of all available
campus resources for student parents. Although some students experienced stigmas and
inflexibility by staff, some also experienced positive faculty interactions. Some even gained
career advice from teaching faculty members. For example, Liz shared:
One of my professors is the one that guides me when I need help on my career choice or
classes to take. Sometimes the counselors don't have the right answers to some of our
questions because they're not in the career of my choice. So, going to a professor that's
been there and done that has been helpful.
Other students cited the counselors at CalWORKs as informing their major/career choices. For
example, counselors often suggested majors that would be “quicker” to graduate from based on
their prior coursework or suggested careers based on results from a career test. The information
gained and relationships made with faculty and counselors in CalWORKs highlights the
importance of utilizing social and navigational capital for future professional advancement.
Although CCC has a Career Center, most students revealed not understanding the purpose of the
center, never visiting the center, and therefore never utilized it to talk with counselors about
possible career or internship trajectories related to their majors. Kathy, a mother to one child
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(14), who is studying vocational nursing commented that she “went to the Counseling Center and
they told me to go the [Career Center], but I was trying to get directions from a career counselor
and they wouldn't give it to me either.” In this same focus group, Thomas who is studying
Culinary Arts and father to two children (4, 9): “I just... I don't know … I haven't spoken to a
counselor about it (career advice)” and Catherine mother to three children (2, 4, 9), who is
studying psychology stated, “No. I've never used [any campus services].” Similarly, when Jude,
a Filipino military veteran and father to two children (3, 1), was asked who he seeks out for
career advice he responded, “Not really. That's what my wife's for (to provide advice) … She's
the one that researched more on the educational portion ... from the military side.” Jude’s wife
helped him to navigate his GI Bill benefits. But when Jude does seek support from a Veterans
counselor at CCC to update his educational plan. Due to a previous accident, he has access to
disability services and being a first-generation college-goer, has access to EOPS.
Traditionally, career centers provide students the “hidden curriculum” of how to prepare
for interviews and communicate their skills to future employers (Hora et al., 2018). Diana, a
mother to two children (9, 11) shared that she did not return to college until her children were
settled into school and after her husband was in a serious car accident that prevented him from
working. When she was asked if she had visited the Career Center, she comments:
I never visited the Career Center. I didn't know about it until after, I think I met with the
counselor from CalWORKs and he spoke about it to me. But, I'm like well I'm in there
already, I have too many units, how should I balance it out? I'll just go with the flow and
then just drop it [from RN program] to the LVN program and see how I handle that
situation.
Diana receives career and academic advice from the CalWORKs counselor. As shared by the
participants in this section, most have not used or are aware of the benefits of the CCC Career
Center to receive additional advice about career pathways. When students do seek advice, it is
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from non-career counselors and faculty members in their fields who have more hands-on
perspective of courses and career fields. The limited use of the Career Center may limit students’
exposure to knowledge of labor markets, and education needed to participate in the workforce.
DISCUSSION
Through this case study, we provide ample evidence that marginalized student parents in
this community college face significant challenges while pursuing their academic and career
goals. Our study corroborates existing scholarship on this particular group of students: Chilling
climates, incoherent institutional practices, lack of affordable campus-based child-care, struggles
navigating or being aware of all offices, programs, and services, and meager and
counterproductive financial aid policies combined with other social factors which make earning a
credential or degree difficult if not impossible for student parents (Goldrick-Rab & Sorensen,
2011). Furthermore, our case-study illustrates that institutional strategies and supports for student
parents to obtain career information to help ease their decision-making are severely lacking. That
is, student parents rely, sporadically, on a handful of faculty members and counselors to gain
access to critical career information and job-related opportunities, and also information for
campus-based resources that promote persistence. Although, we recognize the need to have
singular and dedicated offices for financial aid, advising, career centers, what we find is the need
for centralized services and resources for student parents in order to be better served by the
college.
As California aims to center equity efforts throughout the community college system, it is
important to recognize the unique needs and challenges for student parents. In many ways, the
findings of this study demonstrate the need for a GP approach that, first and foremost, recognizes
the wealths and assets that student parents bring to campuses (Bragg et al, 2019). For example, if
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community college counselors were able to provide appropriate support for ethnic minority
students, students could benefit from meta majors and the understand the implications from their
major decision choices (Baker, 2018; Baker & Orona, 2020). Second, colleges could utilize
students’ wealths, particularly their labor histories to help student parents explore several career
options and pathways in order not to create additional hurdles to reach success (Rose, Neri &
Rios-Aguilar, 2019).
As discussed earlier in this paper, there is a need to move beyond a single and
straightforward “career capital” model that does not account for the nuances of student parents’
lives, including their navigational and aspirational capitals that are embedded in their past and
current labor histories. We present multiple instances where students utilize their social,
navigational, and resistant capital and still they were hindered by bureaucratic policies (e.g., no
children allowed in counseling appointments). Our conceptual approach and findings remind
scholars, campus leaders, and practitioners that structural solutions (e.g., services such as having
a child development center on campus, access to a career center, and extended/weekend hours)
need to be grounded in a contextual understanding of students' lived realities and cultural wealth.
Our work builds on the scholarship of others who argue higher education must empower
campus advisors to share knowledge and resources to student parents to be successful (Brown &
Nichols, 2013; Cerven, 2013; Sallee & Cox, 2019). We advance the understanding of student
parents in community colleges by highlighting their personal motivations to return and be
successful in college, but also how they garner, or not, support to consider future careers and
how facilitates that information to them. Overall, many student parents return to higher education
to prepare for new and stable careers, albeit, without the direct support or intentional investment
from the career center, and this disconnection warrants further investigation to understand why
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student parents are aware or choosing not to use those services. The limited connection to the
career center is a missing opportunity to foster social and navigational capitals with students.
Community colleges should tap into the resources and labor market conditions that exist within
the local context and that student parents themselves bring to their courses and campus, and the
aspirations that they hold for future. Specifically, colleges must look into providing work-based
learning opportunities and partnerships with local businesses and services to ensure student
parents have opportunities to succeed both academically and occupationally.
Recommendations for Practice and Policy
If marginalized student parents complete their certificates and degrees, both they and
their children and families could expect improved social, economic, and health outcomes
(Goldrick-Rab, Welton & Coca, 2020). As such, institutional practices and policy reforms could
significantly enhance the extent to which the benefits of postsecondary education accrue to
marginalized student parents and ensure that those benefits are distributed equitably. Here, we
discuss possible institutional reforms that could improve student parents' college experiences and
decision-making processes as they pursue their academic and occupational goals.
Identification: Need to develop a series of strategies to identify student parents in
internal databases and to understand their specific academic needs and their career
aspirations/goals (Aspen, 2019). Institutions must bring together various data sources, in
admissions, through the financial aid process, and through specific academic programs and
services offered on-campus. Failing to identify student parents and their experiences and needs
will result in more unnecessary obstacles in gaining access to institutional supports and local,
state, or federal services and programs that they are benefit eligible (Emrey-Arras, 2019).
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Bundling services in a single-stop location can provide the following services: financial
aid advisor, counseling-faculty, career, and job-related information, wellness, and other services
should be located in a designated office focused on student parents and their children (Broton &
Goldrick-Rab, 2016). This relocation of services can reduce the amount of time and offices that
student parents must visit to complete college-related tasks and promote a heightened sense of
connection and belonging (Wladis et al., 2018).
Revise institutional policies to create a family-friendly campus: Engage in an
institutional process to revise all academic and student affairs and building policies that intersect
with student parents’ college experiences and career goals. For example, making sure that
children are allowed on-campus (in classes and appointments with counseling-faculty). Another
concrete recommendation is to provide spaces across campus where student parents can “hang
out” with their kids and other family members (e.g., library, cafeteria, etc.) and offer free age and
developmentally appropriate activities and resources.
Secure funds to assess institutional efforts: State policies, including guided pathways,
the California college promise, and the student-centered funding formula are vital resources for
helping student parents. These resources should be utilized more strategically to provide more
support to student parents financially and academically. Additionally, institutions can make sure
they apply to grant funding that the U.S. Department of Education has available to increase and
improve the services offered to student parents (Emrey-Arras, 2019). Finally, we encourage
colleges to partner with local foundations, businesses, and research teams to monitor and assess
the effectiveness of the implemented strategies to support student parents across campus and in
the local community.
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Each of the recommendations described here has the potential to enhance persistence and degree
completion rates among marginalized student parents. For all of the reasons we have described in
this paper, making postsecondary education a more successful experience for more parents
should be an essential part of any family-friendly agenda in local community colleges.
CONCLUSION
Our study finds that community colleges must do more for student parents, particularly for
racially and ethnically minoritized students. Attention to these parents’ needs and to their lived
experiences in the institutional habits, practices, and processes is also lacking. Student parents
are resilient and are showing up on our campuses and in classrooms despite the difficulty in
accessing resources and opportunities and in navigating institutions. We know that the benefit of
obtaining a postsecondary degree and/or credential has a tremendous impact on the lives of
student parents themselves and that of their children. For instance, it is estimated that a single
mother who earns an associate degree will earn about $256,000 more over a lifetime than a
single mother who only finished high school (Cruse et al., 2019). The time to provide them with
the many resources they need to succeed in college and beyond is now.
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Table 1. Demographics of the Student Sample.
Demographic Characteristic
# of students out of 67
Race/Ethnicity
Black/African American: 10
Hispanic/Latinx: 24
Asian American/Pacific Islanders: 4
Mixed Race or Ethnicities: 8
Egyptian: 2
Did not disclose: 19
Gender
Men: 3
Women: 59
Did not disclose: 5
Number of Children
Five children: 1
Four children: 4
Three children: 18
Two children: 15
One child: 24
Did not disclose: 5
Ages of Children
1 to 23 months: 11
2 to 4: 35
5 to 8: 30
9 to 11: 20
12 to 18: 23
19+: 3
Pregnant: 1
Did not disclose: 7
Relationship Status
Married: 8
Single: 23
Partnered/Engaged: 18
Divorced/Separated: 5
Did not disclose: 13
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