UC Davis researchers assembled a unique statewide data set that captures the most comprehensive portrait yet of California college and university students who are parenting and who applied for financial aid. The vast majority of these student parents (72%) intended to enroll in the California Community Colleges, where 1 in 10 students who sought financial aid are parents.

A Portrait of Student Parents in the California Community Colleges: A New Analysis of Financial Aid Seekers with Dependent Children includes details about how student parents differ from their non-parenting peers in their demographics, their course taking patterns, and their performance and degree completion. Download brief #1.

Link to the story in EdSource

Link to the article in Community College Daily

Link to the op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle

Link to the radio spot from the Public News Service 

Link to the story in EdSource 

A companion brief by scholars from USC, UCLA and Long Beach City College, Like a Juggler: The Experiences of Racially Minoritized Student Parents in a California Community College, vividly details the experience of student parents of color at an anonymized community college. 

Download brief #2. 

Both briefs seek to build broader understanding of the challenges student parents face as they work toward greater economic security for themselves and their families. They are acting upon what research affirms: Educational attainment is the strongest predictor of their own prosperity, and that of their children.

View other Wheelhouse research here.