ERIC Number: ED622827
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Aug
Pages: 32
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
For Student Parents, the Biggest Hurdles to a Higher Education Are Cost and Finding Child Care
Williams, Brittani; Bitar, Jinann; Polk, Portia; Nguyen, Andre; Montague, Gabriel; Gillispie, Carrie; Waller, Antoinette; Tadesse, Azeb; Elliott, Kayla C.
Education Trust
In this report, the authors tally the cost of child care and the price of attending a public four-year college--including tuition and fees, housing, food, books, and transportation--to determine a student parent's actual annual cost of pursuing a degree. That number is used to calculate the "student parent affordability gap," that is, the estimated amount a student parent from a low-income background must come up with--after grants, scholarships, and earnings from working 10 hours per week at the state minimum wage have been taken into account--to cover the cost of child care and the full cost of attending a four-year college. Key findings show: (1) There is no state in which a student parent can work 10 hours per week at the minimum wage and afford both tuition and child care at a public college or university; (2) Many states that look affordable based on their reported net price actually have a wider affordability gap for student parents when one factors in the cost of child care; (3) The out-of-pocket cost of attending a public college is 2 to 5 times higher for student parents than for their other low-income peers without children; (4) A student parent would need to work 52 hours per week, on average, to cover child care and tuition costs at a four-year public college or university in the U.S; and (5) Net price alone is not a good indicator of college affordability for student parents; because child care access and costs vary widely; the number of hours a student parent must work to afford college and child care will also depend on their state minimum wage. [This report was written in partnership with Generation Hope.]
Descriptors: College Students, Child Rearing, Barriers, Higher Education, Costs, Child Care, Low Income Students, Paying for College, Public Colleges, Geographic Location, Student Characteristics, Student Employment, Parents, Private Colleges, Employment Level, Federal Government, State Government, Government Role, College Role
Education Trust. 1250 H Street NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005. Tel: 202-293-1217; Fax: 202-293-2605; Web site: https://edtrust.org/
Publication Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Imaginable Futures
Authoring Institution: Education Trust
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A