Getting a college degree is already a journey fraught with challenges, but adding in raising a child at the same time increases the level of difficulty exponentially.
It’s a difficulty nearly 4 million college students face in the U.S. alone.
Of that number, nearly half are single mothers and over one-third are attending community colleges.
To that end, the Association of Community College Trustees has entered into a five-year initiative with the Head Start Association, a federally-funded child-care program that can offer daycare for parents trying to earn their degrees.
The new initiative hopes to increase the number of community college campuses that house Head Start centers on-site. Currently, that number hovers around 100 out of possible 3,000 campuses.
“It’s a partnership that just makes sense,” Carrie Warick-Smith told NPR. Warick-Smith is in charge of public policy at the Association of Community College Trustees. She helped Kids on Campus, a guide for setting up these types of partnerships.
“It’s mutually beneficial for all groups involved,” she continued. “For parents who are going to college, it means an easier commute.
You don't have to make two stops and they know their children are getting a high-quality experience that's free. The college benefits because this makes it more likely that people are going to enroll, persist and graduate.”
Head Start gets 80% funding from the federal government, leaving the local community to fill in the final 20%.