Student parents made up about one in five undergraduates nationwide (PDF) in 2016, but individual colleges often do not count them, understand their characteristics, or track how these students engage with their institutions. Momentum has been building across states to identify parenting students, with four states passing legislation that directly or indirectly requires collecting parenting status—Oregon, Illinois, California, and Texas (PDF).

Now a federal bill has been introduced—the Understanding Student Parent Outcomes Act of 2023. This legislation would add students’ parenting status to the federal Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and would require the US Department of Education to provide technical assistance to states and higher education institutions to integrate new parenting status data reporting, track changing statuses over time, and communicate with students about data use and privacy.

As policymakers at the federal and state level continue to discuss, modify, and potentially implement legislation on this topic, our research through the Data-to-Action Campaign for Parenting Students can inform strategies for the collection and use of students’ parenting status. Through this project, which is part of the broader Student-Parent Action through Research Knowledge (SPARK) Collaborative, we’ve learned promising practices from the trailblazing colleges and states. Here, we answer some commonly asked questions about parenting students and data collection using lessons to date, though more insight will emerge throughout the two-year project.

Who are parenting students, and how should colleges identify them?

In an initial review of 21 data collection efforts on students’ parenting status, no two definitions were the same. Many used altogether different criteria, which, in turn, leads to differing counts of parents. Our preferred definition is one that allows parents to self-identify, that considers many possible parent-child relationships, and that doesn’t depend on factors such as how much time the parent spends caring for their child:

A parenting student is someone who is enrolled in any level of education or training and is concurrently responsible for (or imminently will be responsible for) providing for a child of any age. They may be biological parents, stepparents, adoptive parents, foster parents, unmarried partners in a relationship, grandparents, extended family, or siblings.

In our brief, we propose sample wording colleges can use to identify students in the spirit of this definition. Regardless of the definition used, states or institutions should strongly consider coordinating definitions and question wording, aligning them with emerging best practices.

How many cross-sectional statuses should be collected alongside parenting status?

Parenting students earn similar or better grades compared with their nonparenting peers, but they are much less likely to complete degrees. It’s crucial for policymakers to understand what factors influence this disparity and how it varies with parenting students’ intersectional identities. We recommend that pregnancy or expectancy status, children’s ages, number of children, and relationship or partnership status be collected alongside parenting status, wherever possible. Relationship or partnership status can offer a better way to identify single parents than marital status because marriage isn’t the same as coparenting. Also, asking the age at which a student had their first child can help identify young parents, who are more likely to experience college access barriers and hold intersectional marginalized identities.

States where abortion has potential legal ramifications will want to consider whether to include questions about pregnancy status to protect students. The US Department of Education has issued clarifying guidance (PDF) intended to restrict how pregnancy-related information can be used in relation to education, but it does not clarify protections related to sharing pregnancy data. Colleges must treat student-parent data securely, in accordance with the law and with respect to parenting students’ privacy per the Federal Education Records Privacy Act. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators provides guidance (PDF) on how these data can be used.

When—and how frequently—is it best to ask about students’ parenting status?

Students’ parenting status can change over time. If students are rarely asked, then fewer parents will be counted. We recommend asking students at least annually, which aligns with the state legislation in Illinois, Oregon, and Texas. But because parenting status can change quickly, it might be ideal to update the status semesterly.

Should noncredit students, lifelong learners, graduate students, short-term credential seekers, and other groups of students be asked their parenting status?

We recommend that postsecondary institutions give all students an opportunity to identify themselves as parents. Even students seeking short-term credentials (such as in career and technical education programs) would likely still benefit from supports to help them complete their programs.

How should student parents be engaged in data-collection efforts?

Student-parent data are likely to have the largest impact when student parents colead the data collection process and, overall, when their experiences and identities are centered on campuses. Buy-in and trust from students is critical for collecting quality data and developing effective support services.

How should colleges link parenting status to other student data records?

Ideally, student-parent data should be collected through a robust web-based application that students interact with on a regular basis. This application could allow the data to be securely linked to course-level, administrative, and student support services data at the student-record level. Applications known as “enterprise resource planning software” are often used by colleges to manage student records. Students typically interact with those systems to register for courses, verify their contact information, and obtain services. These interaction points often involve some level of student data collection already and can be used to ask about parenting (and related) statuses.

How can colleges use parenting status responses?

As outlined in our Roadmap for Change to Support Pregnant and Parenting Students, collecting parenting status is an important step to making higher education accessible to parents. College support staff can reach out to parenting students with information on available support, including referrals to community or public resources. Instructors can use the information to ensure their courses are flexible and welcoming to parenting students. Administrators can allocate campus resources, such as child care centers, or build partnerships with appropriate community resource providers. Schools and researchers can better understand how parenting students are represented across fields of study and varying degree levels, how they are faring, and how to reduce opportunity gaps.