Disaggregate: Student parenting status
Definition
Whether an individual enrolled in postsecondary education or training is responsible at least 50 percent of the time for providing for a dependent child with no age limitation (for example, including care for an adult child with a disability). The postsecondary student could be a biological parent, stepparent, adoptive parent, foster parent, unmarried partner in a relationship, grandparent, extended family, or sibling.
Why it matters
About one in five undergraduate students are parents. Students who are parenting face unique challenges as they navigate child care duties and costs while completing their studies. Research shows that although student parents tend to earn higher grade point averages than nonparenting students, parenting students are less likely to complete their postsecondary education. Less than 40 percent of students who are parenting complete their postsecondary education, compared to about 60 percent of nonparenting students. Parenting students also make up a disproportionately high share of students attending private for-profit postsecondary institutions. Nearly half of all students enrolled at private for-profit institutions are parents, compared to under one-quarter of all postsecondary students (regardless of institution type, including public two-year, private nonprofit four-year, public four-year, and other/more than one type). Research by the Postsecondary Value Commission shows that private for-profit institutions are less likely to deliver a minimum economic return for students than their public and private nonprofit counterparts. Across institution types, data on student parenting status can help institutions better support these students.
What to know about measurement
As of spring 2024, data on student parenting status are not currently collected at the federal level, as IPEDS does not require data collection or reporting on parenting status. However, federal legislation introduced in 2023 would require data collection on pregnant students, student parents, and student caregivers. If passed, the bill would require IPEDS to collect data on students’ parenting status and report enrollment rates, retention rates, completion rates, net attendance price, marital status, and median income for those students within two years of the legislation being enacted.
There is also growing momentum among states as state postsecondary systems increasingly require data collection on parenting status: California, Illinois, Oregon, and Texas have passed statewide legislation requiring that institutions collect data on parenting status, and other state agencies such as the Technical College System of Georgia also collect similar data. Some institutions without statewide data collection mechanisms collect data at the institution level. For example, Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York surveys students to understand whether they have or are expecting children and, if so, what ages. Monroe Community College has used student parent data to evaluate the effectiveness of on-campus supports for student parents.
We adapted the proposed definition for this disaggregate from the Urban Institute’s definition of parenting student, but as it notes, the field lacks consensus on how to consistently define parenting status. Some definitions consider whether students are parents of children of any age, whereas others ask whether students are parents of children younger than 18. Some data collection efforts ask students to report whether the dependent or child lives in their household. We encourage E-W systems to align on a shared definition of “student parent” to support coherence and common understanding in the field.
References
The framework's recommendations are based on syntheses of existing research. Please see the framework report for a list of works cited.