But Reichlin Cruse said data collected from individual institutions shows campus childcare helped to double and even triple student parents' degree-attainment rates. The government has not released data on CCAMPIS programs since 2012.

“More than other students, it’s hard for them to persist because of all the different financial demands they experience,” said Lindsey Reichlin Cruse, a senior research associate with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. New federal student aid data released last year showed that half of student parents who took out a federal loan when they began college in the 2003-04 academic year had defaulted within 12 years. And they typically take out higher volumes of student loan debt than do student borrowers without children. Those students are older: the median age of student parents is 30, compared to 22 for low-income students without children. Young Invincibles and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimate the new CCAMPIS funding could mean an additional 7,600 student caregivers are served.ĭemographic data on students who participate in the program isn’t available from the federal government, but advocates say the group likely resembles low-income student parents over all. The program serves about 5,000 student parents at campuses nationwide. Department of Education awarded grants to 86 institutions, ranging from $14,000 at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania to $427,000 at the University of New Mexico. Many also provide coaching on parenting to students and require they meet academic and income requirements to remain in the program. “The higher education system does not look like it did when, quite frankly, a lot of folks in Congress were in college,” said Reid Setzer, government affairs director at Young Invincibles, which advocates for policies to make higher education more accessible.ĬCAMPIS provides grant awards on four-year cycles to colleges that support childcare on campus. But advocates for the program, who have pushed for boosting CCAMPIS for years, hope the new funding is a signal that Congress is taking seriously the challenges faced by students who care for children while they pursue a degree. The spending increase - from $15 million to $50 million - was among a slate of new funding for college access and student aid programs. The omnibus spending package passed last month reversed that, marking the first new federal investment in student parents since Congress authorized the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program (CCAMPIS) in 1998. Before this year, funding for the sole federal program dedicated to assisting them had remained basically flat for a decade and a half. That latter group now comprises one in four college students.īut support from the federal government for low-income student parents has lagged, even as their numbers have grown. Among federal policy makers, it's almost banal to acknowledge that traditional first-time, full-time college students no longer make up the bulk of today's undergraduates: older students, transfers, veterans and student parents make up a growing proportion of the college-going population.

Federal register 2017 ccampis awards