Program evaluation shows investing in whole-family success makes an impact
Parenting students are nearly twice as likely to leave school for preventable reasons: lack of child care, conflicting course and work schedules, and even convenient transportation*. Today, 1 in 5 college students in the US are parents **. Without adequate support, they face higher risks of financial insecurity, reduced quality of life due to time constraints or “time poverty,” and discontinuing college courses.
Over the last four years, The Parenting Students Project (PSP) pilot program provided comprehensive support for a group of these students. The program set out to improve academic outcomes and financial stability for the families. The results proved organization and institutional collaboration is a key combination: We partnered with Austin Community College to undergo this pilot program. We also partnered with Trellis Strategies to evaluate its impact. Trellis evaluated 91 students in the program and released their evaluation results in a report earlier this year.
The report highlights the value and impact that the Parenting Students Project resources had on students. The resources included:
- $500 monthly stipend
- Peer networking/engagement
- Leadership and advocacy opportunities
- Academic counseling
- Other wrap-around services, such as child care stipends
Report Highlights:
- 88% of students who had ever participated in the PSP had either graduated or were still enrolled at ACC in Spring 2024, compared to 54% of parenting students who had never participated.
- 95% of students who participated in the PSP in a given term were retained into the following long semester.
- On average, a student who participated in the PSP during a given semester had a 64% chance of successfully completing nine credit hours, compared to just 36% for a student not participating in the PSP in a given term.
- Students in the PSP borrowed an average of $1,052 less per semester, and required less emergency funding during the terms they participated in the PSP as compared to students who did not participate in the PSP.
Outcomes of the program proved that when parenting students are supported with a monthly stipend, a peer support network, and academic counseling, the whole family benefits. The evaluation found that many student parents see their own academic success as directly related to a better future for their children.
Parenting students and their children attend an outing to The Thinkery.
“With support, it is possible for every family in our community to achieve financial stability, and this study demonstrates how far that support can go when institutions and organizations are aligned in the vision of a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive,” said Aaron DeLaO, Vice President of Impact at United Way for Greater Austin. “This program not only changed families’ lives, but it also serves as a blueprint for advancing economic opportunity more broadly.”
One parenting student said, “I was able to just spend normal time with [my kids]. I definitely was still busy, [but] I was able to work less and not have them be in [evening] aftercare… I think their well-being and their overall health and happiness and everything — their quality of life was better because I was able to be home and be with them and not be completely burnt out.”
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*Government Accountability Office, 2019
**The Aspen Institute, https://ascend.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2019-Parents-in-College_By-the-Numbers-Ascend_IWPR.pdf