Michaela Martin began a two-year degree at a community college in Oregon as a single mom to a young son. But to go to class, she needed someone to help watch her son, so she went to the childcare center on campus to sign him up.
Except there was a two-year waiting list. Her degree program would be finished by then.
“I sat on the curb and cried that day. I didn’t know what to do,” says Martin.
She asked the college for help, but administrators told her that they needed data on how many students had dependents in need of childcare before they could add more spots. Martin did not understand how no one had been counting student parents.
Michaela Martin
Six years ago, as an Oregon State University transfer student, Martin got to work on a bill to help count student parents on annual forms to public universities and community colleges. Senate Bill 564 became law in Oregon in June.
“This started because I felt really alone. The data was a way for me to point to a number and make me feel less alone. That’s all I wanted,” she says.
