Why Policymakers Should Invest in Basic Needs Resources for Parenting Students

High non-tuition costs can be a barrier for many parenting students, forcing them to take on more debt or hours of work to support their families and leaving less time for school. Consequently, more than half of parenting students leave college without completing a degree or credential, despite their strong academic performance while in school. Given the increasing demand for workers with education beyond high school and that higher education leads to higher earnings, it is critical that policymakers invest in basic needs resources to support parenting students’ ability to complete college. President Trump’s Fiscal Year (FY) 27 budget proposal would eliminate the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program, putting college further out of reach for many parenting students. Federal investments such as CCAMPIS grants and Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) subsidies can make the difference in whether parenting students’ complete college and improve their long-term economic mobility.

What is CCAMPIS and How Can it be Strengthened?

CCAMPIS is an annual competitive grant program first funded in FY1999 and run by the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Institutions are awarded 4-year grants to support their parenting student population. Colleges have flexibility in how they use the funds; some colleges create on campus child care centers to provide subsidized child care for parenting students, while others increase existing child care resources and staff capacity to support parenting students’ needs.

Despite high levels of basic needs insecurity amongst parenting students, CCAMPIS is only reaching a fraction of potentially eligible students. In California alone, there are around 300,000 undergraduates who are parenting students. Yet, in 2016-2017, CCAMPIS reached a mere 3,000 parenting students with an additional 4,000 parenting students on the waitlist. Although national data is limited, case studies suggest that students who have access to CCAMPIS graduate at higher rates than the overall parenting student population, underscoring the need for affordable child care to help parenting students persist.

Currently in FY26, CCAMPIS is appropriated at $75 million, level funded from previous fiscal years; yet the price of child care is continuously increasing. Policymakers can strengthen CCAMPIS by increasing investments and adjusting for inflation so more institutions can better support their parenting students.

In 2025, the Trump administration announced that CCAMPIS will be administered through an interagency agreement between the ED and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Policymakers should be diligent in ensuring that CCAMPIS funding remains dedicated to improving outcomes for parenting students when implementing this administrative transition.

What are CCDF Subsidies and How Can They be Modernized?

CCDF is the largest federal funding source for child care, combining the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) and supplemental state funding to provide families with low incomes access to affordable child care. Specifically, states provide eligible families with subsidies to use at a licensed child care facility. Families must meet several requirements to be eligible for a subsidy; they cannot exceed certain income levels as determined by their state, their child must be under the age of 13, and their child must live with at least one parent who is working or enrolled in job training or an education program.

Many parenting students would benefit from participating in the CCDF subsidy program, yet only 11 percent of child care subsidy participants report being enrolled in postsecondary education. This is likely because states have the authority to implement stricter requirements than the federal criteria. Some states have a time limit on how long parents receiving subsidies may be enrolled in an education program, while other states go as far as requiring parenting students to work to continue receiving the subsidy. The differences in requirements and time constraints may lead to confusion – or be outright insurmountable barriers – for parenting students, who are already juggling work, school, and family responsibilities.

Currently in FY26, CCDBG is funded at $8.8 billion, an increase of $85 million from FY25. While the increase in funding is critical to help fund CCDF subsidies, the reach is still limited. Research suggests that an additional $160 million is needed to keep pace with inflation, yet in the President’s FY27 budget proposal funding for CCDBG would remain flat at $8.8 billion. Policymakers should continue to increase funding for CCDBG so that more families, including those interested in pursuing postsecondary education, can access affordable child care.

Policymakers should also modernize CCDF by revising state flexibility to set restrictions in accessing subsidies so that parents can pursue postsecondary education and put their family on a path of economic self-sufficiency, decreasing their likelihood of needing a subsidy or other public benefits in the long term.

Parenting Student Data Should Be Improved and Standardized

There are still significant gaps in meeting the unique needs of parenting students. Studies suggest that parenting students have a range of unmet basic needs, with lack of child care most often being a barrier. Although there is increasing research and advocacy to better support these students, advocates suggest that there is likely often undercounting of how many parents are enrolled in postsecondary education programs. Not all institutions collect data on parenting status, and those that do use a variety of formats to ask about parenting status.

Without clear data on who is a parenting student, it is difficult for institutions to know what additional investments are necessary to ensure parenting students have the resources they need to complete college. At the federal level, Congress can play a role by passing the Understanding Student Parent Outcomes Act, which would establish a standard definition of parenting students for all colleges to use and integrate this data collection into the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Additionally, the bill would require the Department of Education to conduct a study to understand best practices to support enrollment and retention for parenting students.

Consistent data collection and standardized reporting on parenting students can enable new research and better equip institutions and states with the necessary tools to support parenting students throughout their academic journey, and, in turn, encourage more parents to enroll – or re-enroll.

Call to Action: Congress Must Protect Funding to Improve Parenting Students’ Ability to Complete College

Basic needs resources should be modernized to support today’s students, including parenting students. Nearly 20 percent of undergraduate students are parents who face higher non-tuition costs than their peers. In addition to child care, parenting students also tend to have higher food and housing costs. When taking all costs of attendance into consideration, parenting students’ full cost of attendance can range from double to five times more than the full cost of attendance for low-income students without children. When parenting students’ basic needs are met, they are more likely to complete college and better able to pursue careers with family-sustaining wages. Supporting parenting students’ basic needs is a multigenerational effort that helps families and communities thrive. Congress should:

• Increase investments in CCAMPIS to reach more institutions that serve parenting students.
• Hold ED and HHS accountable throughout the implementation of the interagency agreement by ensuring parenting students continue to be well-served by the program.
• Increase funding for the federal CCDBG and strengthen support for parents to pursue postsecondary education by revising state flexibility to set restrictions for CCDF subsidies.
• Pass the Understanding Student Parent Outcomes Act to help institutions implement targeted support for parenting students.
  

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