부산대학교 도서관

Community colleges serve as the primary entry point for many nontraditional student populations. Over 3.8 million students in higher education are student parents (e.g., college students with dependents), and 42% of student parents are enrolled in community colleges across the country. In this report, we center the voices and experiences of student parents as well as the resources needed to better support them in two-year colleges. We have developed this report based on content analysis and interviews with 100+ student parents and five community college staff members who work in student-parent specific programs (i.e., student-parent initiatives, CARE, CalWORKS). We provide recommendations for improved institutional and system-wide practices, and detail student parent programs and resources available at 30+ community colleges. The goal of this report is to illuminate opportunities for community college leaders, staff, and faculty to address the specific needs of student parents that can impact policies and practices that increase degree and certificate completion. Enhanced support systems are needed for student parents as this group is relatively invisible and underserved at community colleges due to inaccurate reporting of their enrollment, persistence, and degree completion. [Funding for this report was provided by the Leonetti/O'Connell Family Foundation.]