WASHINGTON– Achieving the Dream, an education based non-profit, hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill on Thursday alongside their national partners to discuss the newly-released report of the Government Accountability Office which focuses on student parents.
Their partners include The Aspen Institute; Center for Law and Social Policy; Hope Center for College, Community and Justice; the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and the nonprofit Rise.
Melissa Emrey-Arras, director at GAO, highlighted some of the more prominent results from the study titled, “Higher Education: More Information Could Help Student Parents Access Additional Federal Student Aid.”
She noted that in 2015-2016, an estimated 22 percent of undergraduates were parents. Among them, 55 percent were single parents, 44 percent worked full-time while enrolled in a postsecondary institution and 64 percent attended school part-time.
Many student parents lack the adequate support of child care, financial aid or public benefits. Due to those challenges, they drop out of school at higher rates, she added.
According to the report, 52 percent of student parents left school without a degree compared to 32 percent of students without children.
Emrey-Arras said that finding quality child care can be a challenge, often costing more than in-state tuition at a public university.
