Join the Statewide Conversation on Supporting California Student Parents
Student parents and campus partners across California are invited to join this virtual webinar and conversation sponsored by Ascend at the Aspen Institute. It’s a great opportunity to connect with efforts throughout the state and advocate for student parents.
What: Uplifting California's Student Parents
A webinar to coalesce early childhood and postsecondary leaders across the state of California to discuss student parents
Who: Ascend at the Aspen Institute, Tipping Point Community, The Education Trust—West, California Competes, The Michelson 20MM Foundation, Blue Shield of California Foundation
When: November 15, 2021 from 1pm-2:30pm Pacific
Where: Zoom
REGISTER NOW
Investing in the postsecondary success of parents with young children can increase attainment of quality postsecondary credentials leading to good jobs, better health outcomes and improved family economic security across generations. In addition to the immediate benefits provided to adults, we know that children also reap the benefits of their parents completing postsecondary education, such as access to higher quality learning environments and promotion of later college-going.
In the state of California, it’s estimated that around 20% of undergraduates are student parents. According to recent research fromUC Davis’s Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research, among the 1.5 million California postsecondary students who applied for financial aid in 2018–19, 13.4% were parents. A majority intended to enroll in a California community college, rather than a public four-year or private university, and nearly 1 in 10 students in the state community college system is a parent who applied for financial aid. We know from national research that student parents are majority women of color, are first-generation, skew older than non-parents, and experience food and housing insecurity at higher rates than non-parents, yet have higher on average GPAs while being working learners. These are the students that our postsecondary, early childhood, and human services systems should be built to serve, but instead our systems place significant barriers in their way.
