Life in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for most, requiring drastic shifts in lifestyles, education, and work lives. With colleges shuttered and parents having to homeschool their children, education has looked very different recently. But as more colleges move online, there is one group in particular who is frequently overlooked: the student parent. 

In a recent article for Inside Higher Ed, author Madeline St. Amour highlighted this unique struggle by discussing the life of Chelsea Callender, a student at Bowie State University. Callender, 22, is juggling a workload all too familiar to student parents but now complicated even further by COVID-19. With her job shut down, her toddler at home due to a lack of childcare, and all of her schooling now online, she qualifies as a student in crisis. 

Parent learners make up about 25% of America’s college-going population. These students have unique struggles: challenges with childcare, parental obligations, and a decreased number of hours to get schoolwork done. Lindsey Reichlin Cruse of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research noted that parent learners are, “already vulnerable to begin with,” so when something as unprecedented as this happens, they are among the first affected. This group is also more likely to be financially insecure, adding to the stress of the student in question. 

Support from colleges for their student body is needed now more than ever. This goes doubly for vulnerable student populations, such as parent learners. Some colleges and universities are already taking steps to make sure that this something that can be overcome, and not something that can become the reason a student stopped out. 

DeRionne Pollard, President of Montgomery College, has seen that the college funneled over $500,000 into emergency student aid for this crisis. Other schools are assessing student needs, changing the way courses are evaluated, or prepping counselors on how to advise students moving forward. 

It is a challenging time for any student, but together we can make sure students are protected. With college completion already being a key issue in the United States, it is time for higher education institutions to stand behind their student bodies now and after this unprecedented crisis. 

Read the full article here.