Higher Education Institutions Partner in Support of Parenting College Students

Inaugural members of technical assistance cohort announced

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Aug 30, 2021, 10:33 ET

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nonprofit Generation Hope announced today the inaugural cohort of higher education institutions participating in their FamilyU technical assistance program, which partners with colleges and universities across the country to increase the number of parenting college students who complete their programs and graduate.

One in five undergraduate students is attending college while caring for dependents, and despite having higher GPAs than their peers without dependents, they are ten times less likely to graduate due to a systemic lack of support. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the many challenges that the nearly four million student parents nationwide face in their pursuit of a degree -- bolstering concerns as institutions grapple with an unprecedented 13% decrease in overall freshmen enrollment in fall 2020.

Generation Hope's FamilyU technical assistance program was created to assist two- and four-year higher education institutions in developing a stronger support system for their students who are parenting. The program is informed by Generation Hope's 10+ years working directly with teen parents in college, is rooted in its student-centered approach, and builds upon its research on the experiences of parenting college students. FamilyU includes a comprehensive, customized, evidence-based, two-year capacity-building experience designed to create and refine institutional competencies to improve student parent success as well as customized engagements for higher education entities to improve their student parent retention and graduation outcomes. The institutions selected for the inaugural FamilyU cohort include:

George Mason University
Montgomery College
Northern Virginia Community College
Trinity Washington University

"Generation Hope is incredibly proud to work with these institutions to accelerate student parent success," said Generation Hope Founder & CEO Nicole Lynn Lewis. "By investing their time and resources in the FamilyU Cohort, these schools are not only communicating that this population matters, but that they are committed to moving the needle on racial justice, economic mobility, and college completion and transforming higher education into a place where all students can persist and thrive."

"Trinity Washington University is proud and excited to be participating in FamilyU," said Dr. Karen L. Gerlach, Vice President for Student Affairs. "The opportunity to partner with Generation Hope and our colleagues to develop and refine our outreach, knowledge, and resources for our student parents will enhance the strong support that Trinity strives to provide to our students."

"We are immensely grateful to our philanthropic partners Imaginable Futures, ECMC Foundation, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation for their support of FamilyU," said Lewis. "Their early investment will be critical to the long-term impact of this work."

Link to learn more:

FamilyU

Media Contact:
Portia Polk
202-656-9539
[email protected]

Generation Hope
Generation Hope is a nonprofit organization in Washington, DC that was founded in 2010 to ensure that all student parents have the opportunities to succeed and experience economic mobility. Generation Hope engages education and policy partners to drive systemic change and provides direct support to teen parents in college as well as their children through holistic, two-generation programming. Fewer than 2% of teen mothers will earn their college degrees before they are 30 years old, but Generation Hope Scholars graduate at a rate that exceeds the national average for all college students. Generation Hope engages in local and national advocacy work, amplifying the student parent voice and centering their experiences and expertise. Through its FamilyU technical assistance program, Generation Hope leverages data and best practices to provide colleges with the tools, resources, and support that they need to improve outcomes for student parents. Learn more: www.generationhope.org/

SOURCE Generation Hope