For many, college is a family affair
Traditionally, the “typical” college student has been seen as a single 18- to 22-year-old whose parents paid most, if not all, of the expense. That picture is now vastly outdated. Even a decade ago, fewer than half of undergraduates were in the 18-22 age group. In fact, the average undergraduate in 2012 was about 26 years old—and far more likely to be on his or her own.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Writing | Autumn A. Arnett
Editing | John Strauss
Editorial assistance | Susan Headden, Ruth Holladay, David S. Powell
Photos | Shawn Spence Photography
Video | Sandra Chapman and Michael Jensen
Design | IronGate Creative
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