Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found out in its report that higher learning institutions do not do enough to advertise that childcare support is available.
22 percent of undergraduate students in 2016 were parents-students. The pressure that comes with finding the required care for these students is ever rising including the monetary cost and the time. These students have to juggle between working full-time jobs, being there for their children and their studies. This would mean a thin line between being able to complete your education and dropping out because of these problems.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found out in its report that higher learning institutions do not do enough to advertise that childcare support is available. It noted that a lot of these institutions websites do not mention the availability of such a service. This results in over 2.6 million students who would otherwise have benefitted from these funds to go without the funds.
In the past few years, the enrollment into colleges has declined and these institutions are looking at ways in which they can be able to drive the number of enrollment up. GAO argues that, by providing this information, these schools may increase the enrollment.
Childcare cost offered
The dependent care allowance is usually around $490. Having these funds will help the quality of life of these parents. It would also help them in being more competitive in their studies by unburdening one of the main issues that affect their educational progress.
Lindsey Reichlin Cruse, study director at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPC) says that a lot of this parent-students are missing out and adds that,
“It could help a lot more students access additional aid that could help meet their basic needs and remain stable while in school.”
Two researches by IWPR showed that there have been a sharp decline in the number of institutions that had been offering childcare services. The numbers have dropped significantly from 2002 to the present data.
The research also continued by saying that for the parent-mother students, the women of colour are disproportionately represented. The data showed that about 50 percent of these women are black and a third of these students are Hispanics. This lead Reichlin Cruise, one of the researcher to say
“If we care about improving equity, racial-ethnic equity, in particular, and college outcomes … we have to be talking about the student-parent issue.”
The outcome of success for this project was also noted where AGOA argued that education department data was not accurate in its portrayal of the success of this program.
