부산대학교 도서관

In this report, the authors tally the cost of child care and the price of attending a public four-year college--including tuition and fees, housing, food, books, and transportation--to determine a student parent's actual annual cost of pursuing a degree. That number is used to calculate the "student parent affordability gap," that is, the estimated amount a student parent from a low-income background must come up with--after grants, scholarships, and earnings from working 10 hours per week at the state minimum wage have been taken into account--to cover the cost of child care and the full cost of attending a four-year college. Key findings show: (1) There is no state in which a student parent can work 10 hours per week at the minimum wage and afford both tuition and child care at a public college or university; (2) Many states that look affordable based on their reported net price actually have a wider affordability gap for student parents when one factors in the cost of child care; (3) The out-of-pocket cost of attending a public college is 2 to 5 times higher for student parents than for their other low-income peers without children; (4) A student parent would need to work 52 hours per week, on average, to cover child care and tuition costs at a four-year public college or university in the U.S; and (5) Net price alone is not a good indicator of college affordability for student parents; because child care access and costs vary widely; the number of hours a student parent must work to afford college and child care will also depend on their state minimum wage. [This report was written in partnership with Generation Hope.]