Americans have a complicated relationship with higher education. They are angry at its staggering cost, and question its value in a fast-changing economy. But data are clear that college graduates earn significantly more than people with no higher education. Not surprisingly, the share of Americans pursuing higher education has risen 60% since 1970, to about 40%.
But complicating the picture is the 40% of students who start and don’t finish, taking with them debt but no degree (student debt in America stands at a staggering $1.5 trillion). One way to reduce this percentage is to focus on a particular group of students: those who need childcare.
Nearly 4 million students, or 22% of students in two- and four-year colleges in the US, have a dependent child, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. And 53% of student parents leave college without obtaining a degree, significantly higher than non-parents.
Given the demands of parenting, that is perhaps little surprise. But some schools are trying to help. At Endicott College, in Massachusetts, a program called Keys to Degrees offers single students aged 18 to 24 who have one child housing, a dining hall meal plan (children eat for free), childcare, and after-school support. At Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York, student parents who used the on-campus childcare center were nearly three times as likely to graduate or transfer to a four-year college than ones who did not use the center.