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Cuts to Child Care Aid Threaten Student-Parents Already Struggling to Pay for College
New EdTrust report shows student-parents at community colleges are at risk of being pushed out of higher education

WASHINGTON – Following devastating attacks on federal child care and safety-net programs, a new EdTrust report warns that student-parents at community colleges are being pushed further to the margins of higher education. Cuts to the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program and changes to SNAP and Medicaid threaten to deepen affordability gaps that already force parenting students to pay, on average, $13,000 more each year than their peers. Student-parents make up nearly 1 in 5 college students, and almost half attend community colleges.

The report, Closing the Gap: Making College Affordable for Student-Parents at Public Two-Year Colleges, finds that student-parents at community colleges face affordability gaps over five times larger than those of non-parenting students. Covering tuition, housing, child care, transportation, and other basic needs would require parenting students to work 40 to 80 hours per week — an impossible burden for anyone seeking a degree, let alone someone with a child. Infant care now costs more than public college tuition in 38 states — one of the report’s striking data points.

“Student-parents are doing everything we say we want from college students — they’re working hard, raising families, caring for aging parents, and pursuing degrees to create better futures,” said Jinann Bitar, director of higher education research and data analytics at EdTrust. “But the math just doesn’t add up. No one can realistically work that many hours a week and still finish college. Without real federal and financial support, we’re setting them up to fail.”

Rising costs and dwindling supports are shutting student-parents out of higher education. These actions have consequences not just for their families, but for the nation’s economy. To help address this crisis, we need better data and stronger policies that reflect the realities of today’s students. Alongside the report, EdTrust has launched an interactive dashboard with state- and institution-level affordability data for student-parents and their peers. This tool gives policymakers, advocates, and higher education leaders a clear picture of the affordability gap and actionable insights to close it.

Closing the Gap offers promising policies and practices that can reduce barriers, including:

• Targeted financial aid
• Child-care assistance
• Flexible scheduling

Ensuring student-parents can complete their degrees is not only a matter of fairness; it’s a necessity for building stronger families, communities, and a more robust economy.

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