"If I Spent Five Hours Giving Birth Then I Can Do This Final:" A Qualitative Investigation of College Students With Children

The last decade has witnessed an increasing number of students who are parenting while in college (i.e., student-parents). National statistics indicate that more than half of all student-parents discontinue their education before they attain their degree, often because of the competing demands of parenthood and school, financial constraints, and a lack of affordable and high-quality childcare. However, there is very limited qualitative information about the perspectives, experiences, and priorities of student-parents that may impede or bolster their success in higher education. As a result, institutions of higher education are unable to utilize the existing research to leverage supports for this growing population. The current research presents qualitative findings from a series of 6 focus groups on the daily lives of student-parents, their experiences with professors and peers in the classroom, their relationships with administrative staff, and their recommendations for institutions of higher education. Student-parents were both the participants and researchers in this work because they assisted in generating focus group prompts and took the lead on analyzing and interpreting the qualitative data. Findings shed light on the lived experiences of student-parents in college and highlight a range of recommendations to promote success for this population. What is the significance of this article for the general public? More than half of all college students with children (i.e., student-parents) discontinue their education before they attain their degree. Findings from the current study demonstrated that student-parents are a unique population with many strengths, including high levels of motivation and experience overcoming adversity. This research illuminated several strategies that can be implemented in colleges across the country to more effectively promote the success of student-parents in college.