\n<\/p>\n
Student parents are facing the ripple effects of a volatile federal policy landscape.<\/p>\n
Photo illustration by Justin Morrison\/Inside Higher Ed | RichVintage\/E+\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Cuts to federal funding that supported students of color and undocumented students dominated headlines in the first year of the Trump administration. But advocates for student parents say the administration has gutted benefit programs these students rely on, leaving a fifth of the country\u2019s college students vulnerable to financial hardship or even at risk of stopping out. <\/p>\n
Federal funds for programs providing a critical element of support for student parents, childcare, could be frozen or canceled. In a recent example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze billions of dollars in childcare and family assistance funds to five Democrat-led states, citing fraud concerns. About $2.4\u00a0billion in Childcare and Development Fund grants and $7.35\u00a0billion in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds are on the line.<\/p>\n
The Education Department also nixed grants for on-campus childcare at more than a dozen colleges this summer; ED officials claimed the institutions didn\u2019t hire childcare staff based on merit or hired staff who taught gender identity and racial justice to children. Funding for the federal grant program Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) was already uncertain after Trump recommended axing it in his proposed budget for 2026.<\/p>\n
Childcare \u201cis a lifeline for parenting college students,\u201d said Nicole Lynn Lewis, a former parenting student and founder and CEO of Generation Hope, a nonprofit that supports student parents. \u201cTo have that support significantly reduced, frozen, taken away, attacked, threatened\u2014that is a major blow to families\u2019 ability to excel and to be able to experience economic mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n
In their efforts to close the Department of Education, officials also shuffled responsibility for CCAMPIS over to HHS. The move risks adding new layers of confusion and bureaucracy to a program that already only reaches a small fraction of parenting students, Lewis said. Parents make up a fifth of the tens of millions of college students across the country, and CCAMPIS serves about 11,000 of them.<\/p>\n
But childcare isn\u2019t the only worry. Advocates say recent cuts to public benefits are also a major concern for parenting students.<\/p>\n
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will reduce funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, by about $186\u00a0billion over 10\u00a0years. The legislation also made some of SNAP\u2019s work requirements more restrictive. While parents with dependent children are still exempt from certain work requirements, a dependent is now defined as below age\u00a014, instead of 18, meaning more parents will now need to work 80\u00a0hours per month to qualify for benefits long term. OBBBA will also slash $990\u00a0billion from Medicaid over the course of a decade and make its requirements more restrictive.<\/p>\n
Mark Huelsman, director of policy and advocacy at the Hope Center for Student Basic Needs, emphasized that parenting students are more likely than other students to participate in these public benefit programs because of financial hardship and because parenting young children or participating in TANF helps them gain SNAP eligibility. About 30\u00a0percent of parenting students are estimated to be on Medicaid or SNAP. But that also means these students are bound to be disproportionately affected when public benefits take a beating.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the goal of any administration or policymakers that care about student success should be to provide as comprehensive supports as possible for this population,\u201d Huelsman said, noting parents already face barriers to graduating. \u201cI think we\u2019ve seen the exact opposite over the past year.\u201d<\/p>\n
State higher education budgets might also take a hit as states try to make up for cuts to Medicaid, leaving institutions with fewer resources to support parenting students, said Carrie Welton, a former parenting student and senior policy strategist at Trellis Strategies, an education consulting firm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen states are looking for ways to cut costs, [higher ed] is one of the first things on the chopping block,\u201d Welton said.<\/p>\n
She also worries that a general sense of political and economic uncertainty may drive parents to disenroll.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though their economic circumstances may not have changed drastically with the new administration, people feel more uncertain and\u00a0\u2026less confident about the economy and about their future,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen that affect consumer spending, and I think that\u2019s going to affect people\u2019s perspectives about enrolling and persisting in a college credential program,” Welton said. Especially when they have children to worry about, parents\u2019 instinct might be to \u201chunker down\u201d and save their money. <\/p>\n
The Trump administration\u2019s proposed limits on graduate student borrowing for programs not classified as \u201cprofessional\u201d could also hurt parenting students\u2019 career aspirations, Lewis, of Generation Hope, said. Of the roughly 200 students with children in her organization\u2019s Hope Scholars program, two-thirds of them are studying in fields that don\u2019t qualify for higher professional loan caps, such as nursing, social work and teaching. <\/p>\n
Those students now face an extra barrier to \u201cunlock the earning potential that comes with an advanced degree, unlock the promotion potential that comes with being able to pursue graduate school,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n
Former parenting students and advocates say one of the ways colleges can help parenting students is by ensuring they have accurate information about recent policy changes.<\/p>\n
Huelsman said parenting students\u2019 confusion around policy changes is understandable given the speed of the change and misinformation online. <\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone might see a headline that federal childcare funding has been frozen, but it might not apply to their state or their school. They might see that the administration is proposing zeroing out funding for something, but they haven\u2019t done it yet,\u201d Huelsman said. \u201cOutreach is genuinely vital, probably now more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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