Want to make change for student parents? Education Design Lab is building a design community with student parents, higher ed practitioners, institutional teams, and nonprofits. Here’s how to get involved early.
By Dr. Rebecka Ramos, Senior Education Designer, Education Design Lab
One in five students is a student parent. These students grapple with unrealistic attendance policies, financial aid processes, and course schedules. And as we learned through our previous work with single moms, many faculty, staff, and administrators want to support student parents, but either aren’t sure where to start or feel that the work is too overwhelming.
College is a designed system, and it can be redesigned. The Lab’s student parent success team is harnessing the power of community and a human-centered design approach to build design capacity and community support for anyone working in higher education who wants to make change for student parents.
Over the next few months, we will engage with student parents, higher ed practitioners, institutional teams, and nonprofit organizations to define the values, infrastructure, and learning experiences in order to build and launch the community by March 2025.
Meet our student parent success team
Breanna: I am a senior at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., and a mother to a 2-year-old daughter. Throughout my college journey, I have faced the challenges of balancing parenthood with academic responsibilities. During my freshman year, becoming a mom prompted me to question my future plans and how to achieve them.
Our student parent success project is designed to support parents like me who are navigating the complexities of college life. I am extremely excited to be part of this initiative.
Every individual’s situation is unique, and regardless of whether you have support or not, managing parenthood, school, and work is a significant challenge. I believe that my experiences can help others who are in similar situations, and I am committed to making a meaningful impact through this project.
Kamille: I am a single parent learner as well as an enthusiastic community co-designer. The moment I became pregnant in school, my daughter gave me a new future. To me, being a single parent learner is fighting against all odds and doing everything in your power to give your child the best life possible, while still striving to accomplish your goals.
I joined the student parent success team because I understand the difficulties us single moms face and believe it is important to be in community with those who have a shared experience.
I know it takes a village, and I am excited to be a part of a supportive community whose children have a front-row seat to watching their parents achieve their dreams!
Rebecka: I breastfed my son while reading my first syllabi for my PhD coursework. I vividly remember balancing a laptop and a hungry baby in a rocking chair. That balancing act continued as I became a solo student parent, continued working full time, and earned my doctorate.
While completing my coursework, I was also a full-time faculty member. One of my students met me outside of my office with a stroller. Her 6-month-old baby was happily napping while mom panicked; her childcare had fallen through for the day, and we had a quiz. I remember one mom was late to class because her son with autism had a really difficult drop-off at school. She showed up ragged, apologetic, and worried about him — not paper drafts. Parents are left to figure it out.
I’m excited to be a part of a community of parents and parent allies who are working to “figure out” how colleges can do a better job supporting families.
Join our team
If you would like to get updates on our student parent success project, write content, share your story, design the community, join our advisory council, or be a part of upcoming webinars, fill out this form to let us know and our team will reach out soon.
