Critical support for CT student mothers returning to college

Those adorable kids waving goodbye at the bus stop aren’t the only ones heading back to school this fall. Increasingly, their moms are returning too, working toward college degrees that will mean a brighter future for their families.

About 20 percent of U.S. undergraduates are raising children while enrolled in college. Earlier this year, in partnership with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the Aurora Women and Girls Foundation published Beyond Homework: Necessary Support for Student Mothers which revealed worrying statistics about the challenges faced by this working population.

One-third of Black female college students (and 20 percent of Hispanic and white female students) are mothers. The majority (71 percent) of student mothers take out loans to attend college—a figure that rises to 82 percent for Black student mothers. And in Connecticut, the average student loan amount per borrower is $35,931.

This financial burden is compounded by other challenges faced by student mothers, including balancing work and school while covering housing, food, transportation, and childcare costs. It’s no wonder that only 52 percent of students age 25 and older return to college for a second year. Additionally, Connecticut’s graduation rates reveal racial disparities, with only 20 percent of black students and 23 percent of Hispanic students completing two-year degrees within six years. The result is a double whammy: Many students are saddled with student debt and also unable to compete for higher-paying jobs that require a college degree.

The Aurora Women and Girls Foundation has extensive experience in best practices for programs that support female students: intensive mentoring and guidance; career exploration and connection with role models and mentors; links to on-campus academic and career guidance resources; resources for supplemental services and basic needs such as food, housing, transportation, and childcare.

Since 2016, Aurora has funded programs at area colleges that address racial disparities in education, student debt, and persistence and retention for adult female students in Greater Hartford. These college success programs provide strategies and best practices to ensure more female students and student mothers reach college.

We are very proud of our long-standing partnerships with the YW Career Women programs at CT State Capital and Manchester; the LEAD program at the University of Hartford; the Women in Transition program at Charter Oak State College; and the Barriers Can’t Stop Us: Building Immigrant Women’s Success program at the Hartford Public Library.

New this year: the “Dreaming with Kids” program partnership with CT State Manchester, which focuses on the specific needs of student mothers by offering financial aid guidance; connections to support services, such as the on-campus food pantry, which will expand to include diapers, formula and other baby necessities; and opportunities to network with other student mothers.

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