Nearly one in five college students are parents, yet colleges rarely track students’ parenting status. A growing number of states are requiring colleges to begin identifying parenting students to target resources and supports. This brief offers concrete guidance for institutions seeking to collect this information accurately and in ways appropriate to their legal and institutional context. Drawing on work from the Data-to-Action Campaign for Parenting Students, the brief covers how to define parenting status, how to communicate with students about data use and privacy, and which question formats suit different institutional needs—from a single screening question to more detailed formats capturing child ages, number of children, and related statuses.

This resource is intended for institutional researchers, registrars, student affairs professionals, and state policymakers. It accompanies a longer data collection guide but contains updated suggested wording.