Single moms in college need more assistance, report finds
Catherine Monsalvo was taking a handful of college courses at West Chester University last year, working part time as a personal care assistant, and raising her elementary-school-age daughter.
There were times she couldn’t find or afford a babysitter, she said, and professors allowed her to bring her daughter to class.
“She would do her homework or play on her phone,” said Monsalvo, 26.
There are a lot of single moms, like Monsalvo, across the country, striving to earn a degree and run a household, says a recent report by the Washingtonbased Institute for Women’s Policy Research. And they aren’t getting nearly enough support to complete their education, leading many to leave school.
There are 1.7 million single moms enrolled as undergraduates nationwide, the institute estimated. When adding single fathers and those who are married, student parents actually make up about 22%, or 4.3 million, of the undergraduate population, about 55% of whom are single parents, according to an August report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). About half of them leave without a degree, the report said, compared with about a third of students without children.
“The composition of the student body is rapidly changing these days,” said Jessica Milli, the institute’s study director. “What we’ve been calling nontraditional students are now making up significant portions of the student body, and institutions are really going to have to start rethinking their programs and strategies to better meet the needs of that population.”
The policy ramifications are huge, the institute says, noting that enrolled single mothers expected to earn a bachelor’s degree would pay $6.6 billion more in taxes over their lives than single mothers with only a high school diploma.
Yet, the institute said, only 8% of single mothers earn their associate’s or bachelor’s within six years, compared with 49% of women in college who are not mothers.
Milli said fewer colleges are offering child care on campus even though the demand is there; the report recommends schools look at helping with affordable campus-based child care.
Sara Goldrick-Rab, an education policy professor at Temple University, said many colleges that serve single parents don’t have the resources to fund all the support that’s needed and government programs that provide help are underfunded.
“This is not a situation where colleges just don’t get it,” said Goldrick-Rab, whose work has focused on low-income college students, many of whom are hungry and homeless.
According to the GAO report, nearly half of student parents said they paid for child care, with a monthly average of about $490. Federal aid that is available to help singleparent students pay for child care isn’t publicized well enough or widely known, the report said.
The institute’s report recommends that colleges do a better job letting students know about the aid, pay closer attention to how many student parents they enroll, and remove obstacles to their studies, such as allowing makeups for absences due to a child’s illness.
Federal and state policymakers should make more funding available, the report said
One good model, Goldrick-Rab said, is the “family scholar house” in Kentucky, which combines affordable housing and child care near campus.
Monsalvo, a senior majoring in social work, said she’s glad the institute study highlighted challenges she’s seen firsthand as a single parent, raising her daughter, Lilly, 8, and getting her education.
“It’s a lot to juggle,” said Monsalvo, a first-generation college student. “My plate is beyond full.”
She is grateful for the support from her professors, who encouraged her to bring Lilly to class when she had a child care problem. She said she would love to help get subsidized day care started at the university’s city campus.