For college students raising children, the challenge of earning a degree often extends far beyond the classroom. Finding affordable child care, juggling work schedules and managing school vacations can determine whether a student makes it to class — or is forced to put an education on hold.
Quinsigamond Community College is hoping to ease those pressures with a new federal grant of more than $1.9 million that will help student parents access child care and other services designed to keep them enrolled and on track to graduation.
The college announced Thursday, Oct. 29, that it received the four-year funding through the federal Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program. The money will support a new initiative, Parent Success at QCC, which will provide child care subsidies and coordinated support services to eligible students.
The investment addresses a significant need at the Worcester college, where more than 30% of students are parents, according to QCC President Luis Pedraja. Many are also balancing full- or part-time employment.
“At QCC, over 30% of students are parents, many of whom work full-time and part-time jobs,” Pedraja said in the college’s announcement. “Due to the high cost of living and low availability of childcare, these students are often in the difficult position of missing classes to take care of family responsibilities.”
For some students, those competing responsibilities can make even the most carefully planned schedules nearly impossible to manage.
“Having to be in two places at the same time has been difficult,” one QCC student said in a survey cited by the college. “…I have to drop my child off at school and be at clinical during my nursing rotation at nearly the same time.”
The new program will bring together several existing college resources, including Parenting Student Support Services and The Children’s School, QCC’s early childhood education lab school. It will also partner with licensed child care providers in the community to subsidize care for eligible students.
But the initiative is intended to do more than cover child care costs.
Through a case management approach, participating students will receive help connecting with community resources, developing peer support networks and attending workshops on subjects ranging from child development to time management.
Michelle Brennan, QCC’s associate director of Parenting Student Support, said the program will follow a “whole-family” model, recognizing that a parent’s educational success is closely connected to the well-being and stability of their children.
Rather than treating child care as a separate issue, the approach will incorporate programming for both generations, with activities designed to reinforce lessons across the family.
“When we run a workshop on a topic such as financial literacy, children will have a parallel activity and then come back together for a family conversation on the topic. We’re helping them build the skills to plan for their families together,” Brennan said in the announcement.
Keeping student parents in college is another central goal.
Brennan pointed to research indicating that more than half of student parents who lack adequate support leave college without earning a degree. At QCC, however, 80% of the students she has supported have continued their education, according to the college.
The announcement did not specify the number of students included in that figure.
“Our goal is to empower these students who are working incredibly hard to improve the lives of their families,” Brennan said. “We’ve seen that quality childcare and education promote upward mobility and increased earnings for parents, and eventually for their children as well.”
The program also aims to address a scheduling problem familiar to working parents: College calendars rarely align perfectly with those of elementary and secondary schools.
School vacations, professional development days and weather-related closures can leave parents scrambling for care even when their college classes remain in session.
“Finding childcare when QCC is in session and my daughter does not have school is super hard, whether that be school vacations, professional development days, or snow days. I have missed several days of school as a result,” another QCC student said in the announcement.
By helping families navigate those gaps, college officials hope to reduce interruptions that can accumulate over a semester and jeopardize a student’s academic progress.
The CCAMPIS grant is administered through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education.
QCC did not specify how many students the grant is expected to serve or when the first child care subsidies will become available.
For Pedraja, the broader objective is to help parents finish their education and improve their families’ economic prospects.
“The PSQ program will help alleviate this challenge for many parents by providing childcare assistance and support services, enabling them to remain enrolled, complete their studies, and graduate,” he said in the announcement.
