Grant Money to go to Child Care for Students
By Keyon Gardner | Published May 3, 2023
Kean University has been awarded a $2.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education in order to provide free child care for children of low-income students at the University’s Child Care and Development Center.
“The grant was brought to our attention that this was a Department of Education grant that was available to support children of students at universities. We thought this would be perfect for our students who have children that have childcare concerns but also want to be students,” Dean of the College of Education Barbara R. Ridener, Ph.D. said. “So what this does is allows a student who is well eligible to get free child care at the child care center for their children.”
The age demographic of college students does not only pertain to young adults who are fresh out of high school and are looking to get a higher education, but it also includes adults in their mid 20’s or older who are seeking a higher education that they passed up on because of other obligations or financial difficulties.
It is important that we recognize the fallacy that being a college student means partying every weekend. While some choose to spend their weekends out with friends, some are working multiple jobs to help fund their education and/or provide for themselves, and others are full-time parents all year round.
“There’s a lot of stigma associated with being a student parent, and colleges have not done enough to remove that stigma,” David Croom, assistant director of postsecondary achievement and innovation of Ascend at the Aspen Institute said.
An analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, and Institutional Characteristics Surveys reported that more than 1 in 5 college students are raising children while attending school, with 53% raising a child under age 6, according to a 2021 Institute of Women’s Policy Research.
Not only is the number of student-parent attendees undisclosed as a major issue among college graduation rates, but according to the Institutes for Women’s Policy Research, there are high dropout rates for student-parents.
Kean University Child Care & Developmental Center and the U.S. The Department of Education has made sure that student parents are receiving as much help necessary as they can to support their children while fulfilling their academic endeavors.
Dave Achin, an associate and staff member at Kean University’s Child Care and Developmental Center said, “we are quite unique to many of our students. We are known for word of mouth from other parents, so our reputation has preceded us many times. Individuals are then interested in having their children placed at the child care center.”
The Child Care & Developmental Center Has done an extraordinary job in emphasizing the importance of student parents’ needs while they attend school.
Lashae Jones, a junior and transfer student at Kean majoring in Elementary Education with a concentration in Earth Science said, “Having the ability to have one less child at home just so I can focus more on my studies as opposed to having to worry about two kids at home and then juggling school as well I think is really helpful for a lot of parents trying to get into the spirit of attending school.”
Most student parents are mothers,70 % and 43 % of all student parents are single mothers. A majority of student parents are students of color (53%), with Black and Indigenous women in college being particularly likely to be parenting compared with other women and men in college according to Institute for Women’s Policy Research and Ascend at the Aspen Institute.
“Knowing that I can attend school while having that taken care of and then one of my kids can also go to school and get taken care of as well, that’s less stress I have to worry about as far as child care goes for one of my children,” Jones said.
You must be logged in to post a comment.