Susan Warfield, MSW, LICSW
Program Director, Student Parent HELP Center
Student Parents: Transitioning to College with
Children. Transitioning to Parenthood in
College.
Speaker: Background
• Twelve years with the SPHC, seven as Program Director
• 25 years experience working with children and families as a
social worker, K-12 and Higher Ed
• Founding officer of the first student parent service personnel
organization in higher education: HEAASC
• Co-founder and inaugural chair of NASPA Adult Learners and
Students with Children KC
• Served on Office of Adolescent Health/Pregnancy Assistance
Fund Expert Work Panel: What Works for Pregnant and
Parenting Teens
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SPHC Overview
SPHC
Quick
Facts
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Housed within the Office for Student Affairs
300 to 400 undergraduate student parents
Wide range of services
Non-traditional students since 1967
Low income undergraduate student parents
exclusively since 1984
Program Model and Philosophy
• Weekly Parents as Students Support Group (PASS)
• Social Work Model: most staff are MSW or MSW
Grad Interns
• Strengths based model
• No strings attached, students can pick and chose
services they wish or none at all
• Centers around a dedicated, family friendly student
parent specific space
• Large, state sponsored child care grant co-managed
by SPHC and financial aid
What Do Students Need Most
• Staff whose expertise goes beyond the boundaries of
campus
• Child care assistance and other financial support
• A community: they need each other
• A child friendly space to hang out
• Family and academic focused resource and referral
• Voice and visibility
• Advocacy
SPHC Demographics
Composition of SPHC Student
Population
• New to college, new to parenting, first time
parents
• Older than average transfer student parents
• Typically aged transfer student parents
The 6 Cs of Serving Student Parents
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CASH
CHILD CARE
COMMUNITY
COUCHES…a space to belong
COMPUTERS
CHAMPIONS
Couches
Computers
Space to Build Community
Space is Key:
Community of Peers: PASS Group
Child Friendly Family Space
Family Friendly Campus Events
Connection to Campus Life
Voice and Visibility: SPVD
Champions: Accessible Staff and Peer
Mentors
Advocacy: Family Friendly Absence Policy
• POLICY STATEMENT: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• Students will not be penalized for absence during the semester due to
unavoidable or legitimate circumstances. Such circumstances include
illness of the student or his or her dependent, participation in
intercollegiate athletic events (see the Administrative
Policy:Intercollegiate Athletic Events during Study Day and Finals Weeks:
Twin Cities, which prohibits intercollegiate athletic competition during
study day and finals week except under certain circumstances),
subpoenas, jury duty, military service, bereavement, and religious
observances. Such circumstances also include activities sponsored by the
University if identified by the senior academic officer for the campus or his
or her designee as the basis for excused absences. The instructor has the
right to request verification for absences. Such circumstances do not
include voting in local, state, or national elections.
Knowing Your Students: Assessing
Risk
Nontraditional Characteristics: Summary
of Horn’s Findings
Parent
Attending
classes part
time
First Generation
College Attendee
GED/Long
gap between
college and
high school
Academic
performance
Risk Factors for Student Parents
Young/under the
age of 25
First time parent
First Generation
to Attend College
Currently
pregnant
Relationship
issues/violence
Academic Performance
New to College, New to Parenting
• Pregnancy may have caused schism in family,
loss of all emotional and financial support
• They may have been abandoned by lover
because of pregnancy
• Most likely unplanned and possibly unwanted
• Have not yet learned to navigate college and
being on their own
Needs
• Reassurance
– Often scared and doubting their abilities
• Role models
• Resources
• Referrals
The Life of a Student Parent
Research
• Nontraditional Undergraduates: Trends in Enrollment from 1986 to 1992
and Persistence and Attainment Among 1989-90 Beginning Postsecondary
Students, Laura J. Horn and C. Dennis Carroll, National Center for
Educational Statistics, 1996
• Improving Child Care Access to Promote Postsecondary Success Among LowIncome Parents, Kevin Miller, Barbara Gault (March 2011)
http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/improving-child-care-access-topromote-postsecondary-success-among-low-incomeparents#sthash.NEWQO9Vj.dpuf
Beyond the Borders of Campus
• Often student parents and adult learners have already
established lives in our surrounding communities
• Student parents often need community as well as campus
based childcare options
• Not every student parent will live in family housing, not every
campus has housing
• Familiarize yourself with a broad spectrum of housing and other
referral services
• A basic understanding of welfare benefits is beneficial
How Do You Identify Student Parents?
To Serve Student Parents You Have to Find
Them.
• Any program serving student parents must first develop a plan
to identify and recruit students who need the services
• Finding the most at-risk student parents should be a priority:
– Lowest income
– Youngest
– First time parent, first time in college
– Newly pregnant
– Longest gaps in college progression: older than average
Barriers to Finding Student Parents On
Campus
 They do not always self-identify
– Often feel stigmatized, disenfranchised or like they are asking for
exceptions if they bring up their parenting status.
• We all have to start asking the question.
 They can be an invisible population on most campuses
– Look just like everyone else when they are not pregnant or with their
kids
– You have to find and actively recruit them
 Illegal question to ask at admission, very hard to reach them at
point of entry. Financial aid information most reliable source
Academics are a Top Priority but Not
Their Number One Priority
• Student Parents have obligations to little people
who depend on them for everything
• They often also have a job
• Could have a spouse who is most likely not a
student
• May have hours of welfare paperwork or tasks
they must complete each month
How to Begin: Low Hanging Fruit
• Host or co-sponsor a series of highly visible on
and off campus events
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Student Parent Visibility Event
Non-traditional Student Week (VPCNTSA)
End of Year Celebration and Graduation Party
Family Friendly Resource Fair
Form a committee on Non-traditional Student Affairs,
Adult Learners and Student Parents, etc.
Two Generations of Impact