One out of every five undergraduate students are caring for one or more children while enrolled in college. That amounts to just over three million undergraduate students, along with nearly a million graduate students with children. Many students, especially those with children, grapple with housing insecurity and homelessness.
There is significant evidence that a lack of safe, stable, and affordable housing compromises students’ ability to succeed in postsecondary education. But for parenting students, the stakes are higher, as losing their housing may jeopardize the safety of their children as much as their own.
This brief from New America provides an overview of the challenges parenting students face and an analysis of new data on the threat of eviction for these students. The study also explores why the threat of eviction impedes parenting students’ postsecondary success and concludes with a brief discussion of the policy and practice implications, as well as ideas for future research on the topic.