Summer 2022

For many students, college is a family affair

Supporting skillful strivers: for many, college is a family affair

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

In social science textbooks—and often in our minds—life happens in stages. Many of us see it as a logical sequence of predictable steps: childhood to adolescence to adulthood … school to college to career … love, then marriage, and then parenthood.

And then there’s reality »

Read president’s message from Jamie Merisotis

LISA MATTHEWS SINGLE MOTHER REINVENTS HERSELF STARTING WITH HER EDUCATION

Student Parent Success Stories from Winston-Salem State University

Matthews went back to Winston-Salem State—secretly at first—nearly three decades after dropping out in 1985. This time, it stuck. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 2018 and plans to pursue her master’s.

FEATURED STORIES

AT THIS D.C.-AREA NONPROFIT, EDUCATION CROSSES GENERATIONS

College students in the Washington, D.C., area—and their children—are getting a boost from an innovative nonprofit organization that takes a two-pronged approach to education success. Generation Hope’s “two-generation model” provides direct services to the students themselves—including tuition assistance, academic advising, child care, peer mentoring, and parental counseling—while helping prepare their preschoolers for success in kindergarten.

Minnesota takes a holistic, statewide approach to aid student parents

MINNESOTA GOES STATEWIDE TO SUPPORT STUDENT PARENTS

College success isn’t just an individual goal, or even one that can be confined to the campus. To maximize progress—and to ensure that success is shared by all segments of the population—it’s an issue that must also be tackled at the state level. Officials in Minnesota have taken that lesson to heart. Through a variety of public-private partnerships, they’re working to build a holistic approach—not just to increase degree attainment, but also to improve health and employment outcomes.

At HBCUs, student parents have long been part of the family

When it comes to meeting the needs of student parents, the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities have always been in the forefront—in part because they seek to create a supportive, family-type atmosphere. “Historically, we have had to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers,” explains one well-known expert on the history and culture of HBCUs. “It’s no coincidence. It’s not serendipitous. It’s because we care.”

ARIEL VENTURA-LAZO'S DEDICATION TO HIS CHILDREN INSPIRED HIM TO SUCCEED

Being a Student While Being a Parent | Focus magazine

Ventura-Lazo is the son of a single mother from El Salvador who, like thousands of people, left that country seeking a better life for her family. In 2017, shortly after the birth of their second child, he and his wife received their associate degrees with their son and infant daughter in the audience.

Focus magazine author: Autumn A. Arnett

The stories in this issue of Focus were researched and written by Autumn A. Arnett, an independent journalist whose work focuses on issues of equity and access in education. She has served as an education writer and editor at several national publications, including U.S. News & World Report, Education Dive, and Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Arnett’s work has been published in The Atlantic, the NABJ Journal, and other print and online media outlets, and she is the author of “Let’s Stop Calling it an Achievement Gap.”