Student-Parents and Policy in the Context of U.S. Higher Education 1990’s – 2010’s

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Family-, social-, and education-policy conversations often do not explicitly acknowledge parents who are college students, partially due to a lack of systematic student-parent tracking in higher education institutions. This exclusion further marginalizes a vulnerable population of parents; parents who are also students are more likely to be low-income, women, from racially/ethnically minoritized communities, single-parents, work full-time, and first-generation college students compared to students who are not parents (Gault, Noll, & Reichlin, 2016; Miller, 2012). Although women have surpassed men in higher education enrollment rates (Snyder & Dillow, 2012), they still tend to take on more childcare responsibility, put-off education until their children are of school age, enter fields with lower earning potential and leave academia with higher debt (Gonzalez-Arnal & Kilkey, 2009; Michel, 1999; Miller, 2010). Additionally, 80% of single student-parents live in poverty, 75% of whom are student-mothers (Gault, Noll, & Reichlin, 2016). But importantly, mothers who earn a college degree are less likely to continue living in poverty and have improved health and social capital (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013). Unfortunately, few policies in U.S. history have directed efforts toward improving the degree attainment of low-income mothers with young children with many policies having unintended negative consequences on college enrollment and persistence for this group (Shaw, 2004).

Research Aims
This study aims to build an understanding of student-parent trajectories over time in relation to the U.S. policy arena. Specifically, we will examine the characteristics (e.g., household size, marital status, childcare arrangements, receipt of government aid) and outcomes (e.g., academic persistence, employment, and income) of U.S. college students who are also parents and first enrolled in college between the 1990 and 2012. To our knowledge, this study will be the first to conduct a demographic analysis of this population documenting changes in well-being measures over the span of thirty years.

Method
We use data on student-parents from four iterations (cohorts) of the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS; 1990-1994, 1996-2001, 2004-2009, & 2012-2017) that are derived from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS). In this nationally representative study, students in each cohort were surveyed three times; at the end of their first academic year, end of their third year, and the end of their sixth year since entering higher education. Financial data derived from multiple NPSAS sources are also available for intermediating years. These data will allow us to explore if student-parent enrollment patterns and well-being outcomes vary in meaningful ways over time and if these patterns are associated with policy changes. We have begun cleaning and merging data for the 2012-2017 iteration (see Table 1) and will have the remaining data ready for the SRCD 2021 conference.

Conclusion
Postsecondary education and social policies have the potential to positively impact student-parents upward mobility and the well-being of their children. However, we must first fill gaps in our understanding of how student-parents have fared through time in the context of the U.S.

Authors

• Maritza Morales-Gracia, University of California - Irvine
  Presenting Author

• Jade V Marcus Jenkins, University of California - Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rachel B Baker, UC, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author