National Research Highlights Forsyth Tech’s Success In Connecting Student Parents With Child Care

By Sophia Luna

More than 3 cardinal undergraduate students successful nan United States are parents. Over half of those student parents are enrolled astatine organization colleges.

For these students, nan simultaneous demands of work, school, and caregiving often complicate their expertise to decorativeness their studies.

New America’s fall 2023 Community College Enrollment Survey recovered that 59% of caregiving students named kid attraction arsenic a logic for stopping out, and 55% reported challenges balancing coursework pinch caregiving needs.

“It’s barriers, not capability, that makes student parents time off schools,” said Stephanie Baker, elder argumentation head successful New America’s higher acquisition program, during a March 23 webinar hosted by nan Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan deliberation tank.

Screenshot from New America’s ‘Making Child Care Work for Student Parents’ webinar.

The webinar shared insights from New America’s Student Parent Initiative — a squad of researchers that behaviour argumentation study and activity to amended outcomes for parenting students successful higher education.

New America’s investigation surfaced 3 challenges successful entree to kid attraction for student parents:

• High costs of kid care 
• Gaps successful attraction schedule, including a request for evening, weekend, and drop-in care 
• A shortage of section kid care

Campus-based kid attraction is an important strategy successful addressing these challenges. According to Baker, an October 2021 study connected New York’s Monroe Community College recovered that parents who utilized nan college’s field kid attraction halfway were 3 times much apt to postgraduate connected clip than their parenting peers who did not usage nan center. 

EdNC has previously reported that, arsenic of May 2025, 17 of North Carolina’s 58 organization colleges supply on-campus early puerility education. These attraction models see licensed on-campus kid care, drop-in care, after-school care, and Head Start programs. 

At nan aforesaid time, Baker said campus-based kid attraction unsocial will not region each barriers student parents face.

Published successful October 2025, New America’s policy agenda connected improving kid attraction entree for student parents outlines various strategies to reside kid attraction needs.

Federal recommendations include: 

• Increase backing and entree for nan Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). 
• Increase backing and simplify applications for nan Child Care Access Means Parents successful School (CCAMPIS) assistance program.
• Strengthen information postulation connected student parents successful higher education. 
• Strengthen Title IX protections for parenting students.  

At nan authorities level, recommendations include:

• Coordinate kid attraction proviso successful nationalist acquisition astatine nan authorities aliases strategy level.
• Prioritize student parents for CCDF subsidies.
• Offer guidance and licensure elasticity for nationalist colleges and universities. 
• Fund aliases fortify postsecondary kid attraction assistance programs, specified arsenic North Carolina’s ain Community College Child Care Grant program. 
• Fund preschool, pre-K, and after-school programs astatine colleges. 
• Coordinate services pinch Child Care Resources and Referral (CCR&R) organizations, which thief link families and kid attraction providers pinch resources they need.

Forsyth Tech’s section kid attraction partnerships summation readiness for students

Forsyth Technical Community College is 1 of 10 organization colleges crossed nan state that collaborated pinch New America to place successful approaches to providing kid care. The findings from nan Child Care astatine Community College Research Project, including Forsyth Tech’s activity successful North Carolina, informed New America’s argumentation recommendations

For example, Baker said nan successes Forsyth Tech has seen done nan college’s beardown narration pinch their section CCR&R is simply a halfway logic for nan past authorities proposal listed above. North Carolina’s CCR&R strategy is divided into 14 location lead agencies, including nan 1 that serves Forsyth Tech.

Leading nan activity of supporting student parents astatine Forsyth Tech is Shanta Reddick, head of big learner occurrence and Forsyth Tech Cares, nan college’s student support services hub. Reddick was besides a panelist connected nan New America webinar. 

Reddick said nan college’s occurrence originated successful a narration pinch their location child attraction assets center done nan college’s early puerility lab, an on-campus kid attraction installation that prepares early puerility teachers for nan workforce. 

Reddick said nan lab’s capacity of 15 students, coupled pinch challenges brought connected by nan COVID-19 pandemic, made it clear that location was an opportunity to supply much support to nan college’s student parents. 

To link students pinch different kid attraction resources, Reddick said she leveraged nan existing narration pinch nan college’s location CC&R to build a “soft handoff” process. All of nan kid attraction requests that Forsyth Tech Cares receives are passed to nan location kid attraction assets center.

Within 1 to 2 days of nan handoff, students person a consequence from nan section kid attraction assets halfway squad to thief them find affordable and reliable kid care. If each affordable centers are full, Reddick said, nan CCR&R will nonstop students backmost to nan assemblage to link them pinch backing done CCAMPIS, nan organization assemblage kid attraction assistance program, or, previously, pandemic alleviation funds. 

“Even though we don’t person arsenic overmuch backing arsenic we person had successful nan past, nan business is still moving good … immoderate that student genitor needs, they are really, really bully astatine helping america get location and find it,” Reddick said of Forsyth Tech’s CCR&R partnership.

Forsyth Tech besides collaborates pinch KidSpot, a licensed kid attraction supplier located 5 minutes from nan college, to supply elastic drop-in attraction for student parents. 

In 2023, nan assemblage utilized costs from NC Reconnect to create an statement pinch KidSpot that provides free kid attraction to students and bills nan assemblage for services. Reddick said students tin capable retired a form, ideally wrong a time of knowing erstwhile they request kid care, and person arsenic galore arsenic six hours of kid attraction per time depending connected their people schedule.

Today, nan assemblage is utilizing backing from a New America assistance and nan college’s instauration to support nan KidSpot business going.

Shanta Reddick talks astir nan attraction groups she held pinch student parents. Credit: Liz Bell/EdNC

Collecting information connected student parents is ‘very, very important’

Reddick besides emphasized nan value of really being capable to place student parents astatine nan college, 1 of New America’s argumentation schedule items.

Currently, location is nary federally legislated request for comprehensive, institution-level information connected student parents, and North Carolina is not 1 of nan five states that has introduced a request for student genitor information collection. 

The absence of this data, Baker said, makes it difficult for institutions to get a afloat image of nan extent and breadth of support their unsocial student genitor organization mightiness need.

“It’s beautiful difficult to reside kid attraction needs if you don’t really cognize really galore student parents are connected campus, nan ages of their children, and what benignant of kid attraction needs they have,” said Baker.

New America identified Forsyth Tech arsenic 1 institution starring nan measurement successful data-driven student support.

Reddick said nan assemblage has students who sojourn nan Forsyth Tech Cares hub reply questions to find if they’re a genitor and, if so, really galore children they have. From there, nan assemblage creates a database of student parents truthful Reddick tin nonstop them applicable accusation and way whether nan supports nan assemblage provides are working.

To much systemically place student parents, Reddick is besides pushing to adhd a mobility to Forsyth Tech’s enrollment exertion that would place student parents. The purpose, she said, is to alteration nan assemblage to link pinch student parents much quickly.

Her proposal for immoderate assemblage moving to summation student support is to first group up a process to cod information connected really galore student parents they serve. 

“I deliberation that is very, very important arsenic acold arsenic nan first measurement to beryllium capable to cognize who your student parents are, find them connected your campus, and proceed to beryllium capable to support up pinch it arsenic we proceed to do nan work,” Reddick said.

This article first appeared connected EdNC and is republished present nether a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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