Nearly 4 million of today’s students are raising children in addition to earning their degrees or credentials. Parenting students are uniquely motivated to succeed in higher education, despite being faced with many challenges, including lack of affordable child care, balancing work responsibilities and school work, and more. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, student parents have overcome often insurmountable challenges. On average, student parents have higher grade point averages than their non-parenting peers. But due to structural barriers and lack of support, they are ten times less likely than students without children to complete a bachelor’s degree within five years.
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