From Comprehensive Services to No Support at All: How Institutional Agents Shape Student-Mothers' Academic Success

• In Event: It Takes a Community: The Role of Families, Counselors, Professionals, and Programs

Abstract

Student-mothers constitute 25% of all U.S. undergraduates. However, there is limited literature that examines their challenges and even less scholarship on the supports that institutions provide to address student-mothers’ needs. This comparative case study utilizes data from interviews with 40 student-mothers to compare the experiences of individuals who had access to different types of institutional programs with those who received no formal support. Drawing on Stanton-Salazar’s social capital framework and the concept of institutional agents, we find that those who had access to the most intensive programs reported fewer roadblocks in their academic experience than those with limited (including financial) or no support, suggesting that addressing the barriers that student-parents encounter requires a multi-pronged approach to ensure student success.

Authors

• Margaret W. Sallee, University at Buffalo - SUNY
  Presenting Author

• Danielle Vegas Lewis, SUNY - College at Fredonia
  Presenting Author

• Kristina Collier, University at Buffalo - SUNY
  Presenting Author

• Giambattista Davis, University at Buffalo - SUNY
  Presenting Author