Legacy college admissions — the practice of selective institutions giving preference to children and relatives of alumni — is under intense scrutiny today. Originally established to exclude certain populations of students, legacy admissions provides a significant boost to children of ultrawealthy families who apply to elite institutions.
Legacy admissions has an even more corrosive influence: It widens equity gaps in higher education. The well-to-do college students who have benefited from the generational impact of their parents or grandparents have inherited immense cultural capital that makes it more likely they will attend and graduate from college and become even wealthier. These college legacies won’t move the needle on national concerns of college attainment, degree completion and economic mobility.
Jaye Fenderson
There is, however, another group of children who have received much less consideration in higher education but will have a profound impact on its future: the children of student-parents.
Nearly one-fourth of all college undergraduates — roughly 3.8 million students — are parents of dependent children. These parenting students are more likely to be students of color, in their 30s or older and caring for children who are preschool age or younger. Though student-parents typically boast higher GPAs than students without children, just 37% graduate in six years — a rate more than 20 points below that of nonparents.
Children of currently enrolled college students are witnesses in real time to how institutions support or fail their parents. They see if their parents have enough money to pay rent, buy food and clothes and put gas in their cars. They notice when mom or dad is absent because they’re commuting long distances to class. They can tell if a college has child care centers or other campus spaces that are welcoming to children. They know if mom or dad finishes with a degree — or walks away from the experience deeper in debt and no closer to their goals.
I know these things because I was a child of student-parents.
I spent the bulk of my childhood watching my parents work toward bachelor’s degrees, and their individual journeys came with great difficulty and cost to our family. We experienced it all: student loan debt, lack of affordable housing, mental health issues, child care challenges and underwhelming job prospects after graduation.
