Parents in College

There are lots of non-traditional students in colleges and universities, but they struggle to earn degrees. 

Census data from the 2021 American Community Survey data analyzed by Colorado’s demographer suggests that parents make up a little less than a third of undergraduate students at all of the state’s colleges and universities.

That’s close to what national data collected by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research showed in 2016: about 22% of all college undergraduates were parents. The institute found 42% of all community college students and just 17% of students at public four-year universities were parents. 

. . .

Student parents carry higher GPAs on average but are 10 times less likely to graduate, according to the women’s policy research institute. They are also more likely to be Black and low-income, take on more student loan debt, and struggle to find housing.

From Chalkbeat Colorado. A link to an Atlantic story in the article notes that "despite having a higher GPA on average than their peers, 52 percent of student-parents like her leave college within six years without completing their degree."