EPCC focuses efforts to keep students with children in school

El Paso Community College leaders learned from a spring 2024 survey that a lot of their students who are pregnant or parents or caregivers of young children are not aware of the programs and resources available to them that could keep them in school and on a path to graduation.

About 75% of the 119 respondents to the survey conducted this past March and April showed that they did not know about the Children's College, Family College or the Student-Parent Resource Centers to include the lactation stations, and other services.

As a result, EPCC is considering ways to better communicate its existing programs and expand other services to accommodate students who are parents, pregnant and/or caregivers or guardians of dependent children, said Keri Moe, associate vice president of External Relations, Communication and Development.

In 2023, EPCC said that about 40% of its students, or almost 9,700, were parents. The college did not know the average age of the children. A national study by New America published earlier this year found that 66% of community college students who care for a child younger than age 12 had dropped out without earning their degrees five years after enrolling. Also, national data compiled by the Urban Institute showed that almost 25% of undergraduates were parents.

"EPCC is committed to building an environment for parents to thrive academically, emotionally, and personally, ensuring they can successfully navigate both their academic and parental responsibilities," Moe said. "It is our priority to inform students about the many services for student parents that are available."

College leaders said their enhanced plans to inform student-parents include special orientations, support group meetings and family friendly events to bring that population together to include evenings, weekends or virtually. The college will add questions to its fall 2025 registration application that will help the college identify and contact students who could benefit from these programs.

Because of feedback from the survey, EPCC will try to contact student-parents via email, text and Blackboard, a course management system that allows for quick connections between instructors and students. The college will continue to communicate via posters, flyers, the web and social media to inform about existing and new programs.

Administrators hope these efforts will build awareness of helpful resources at their five campuses such as Student-Parent Resource Centers and lactation areas, as well as such opportunities as Family College and Children's College along with other Family Friendly Campus Services .

EPCC also will instruct staff and faculty to be more accommodating to student-parents, and encourage them to mention different resources for that population in class via syllabi and throughout campus. The college also wants to promote Title IX protections for pregnant and parenting students.

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Lucia M. Rodriguez, director of EPCC's Office of Student Success, said the goal of these different programs is to lessen – if not eliminate – the obstacles many student-parents face as they try to earn a degree or credential. The goal behind these efforts is to build enrollment, retention, persistence and graduation numbers.

"We have what they need," Rodriguez said. "We just have to get the word out."

Moe said student parents also may apply for emergency financial resources through the EPCC Foundation's StayStrong Emergency Fund. She said that the fund is dependent on donors and grants so the amount available changes each semester.

Dejah Felton, a multidisciplinary studies major at EPCC's Transmountain Campus, leaves her 18-month-old daughter, De'vaya, at the YWCA Transmountain Child Development Center at the northeast part of campus.

Felton said she was aware of the Student-Parent Resource Center, but has not used it yet. She said that everything she or her daughter needs is taken care of at the child development center, where she works as a teacher clerk.

EPCC offers YWCA child care at its Transmountain and Valle Verde campuses. The college's survey found that 71% of student parents favor on-campus child care.

Felton said many student-parents are surprised to learn that they must apply to enroll their child at the YWCA center, which can register up to 53 children ages newborn to 5. Student-parents have priority status, but there is a waiting list that could last from a few days to a year depending on the age of the child and the available slots for them. Some students may be eligible for financial assistance up to 75% from the college for child care. The center's average cost is about $120 per week per child.

The Northeast resident said that she is not familiar with any other resources that the college offers, but would consider attending workshops or programs to learn about them. She would make time to participate in activities that would be age-appropriate for her daughter.

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Rodriguez said the survey helped fulfill an obligation to the Ascend at the Aspen Institute that awarded the college a two-year, $75,000 grant in June 2023. The institute is among a growing number of research, policy and advocacy organizations focused on student-parents.

EPCC used the grant to develop strategies to assist student parents. One was to collect data on the number of student-parents the college enrolls, their needs, and the best ways to communicate with them, and the other was to advance a two-generation approach that would benefit the students and their children.

To this point, the college had estimated its number of student-parents based on data from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, which asks applicants about the number of dependent children and their ages. Of the 12,494 FAFSA applicants, 3,515 were parents. Of that group, 66% were female and 40% were female single parents. Their average age was 27.

According to EPCC's 2024 survey, 64% rated the college as family friendly. However, respondents said they never or rarely brought children to campus (60%), found child-friendly spaces on campus (33%), brought children to family-friendly events on campus (57%), or used lactation spaces (6%).

"What that means is that they don't know what is on campus," Rodriguez said.

Additionally, the director shared a few examples of what the college has offered to support parents. They included free morning arts and crafts/story time activities at the Transmountain Campus during one of the weeks of the 2024 Thanksgiving break, sponsorships for summer camps at the Northwest Campus, and the annual family-friendly, back-to-school Teal Bash at the Valle Verde Campus.

"We plant a lot of seeds," Rodriguez said about the college's efforts to grow the college-going culture.

EPCC leaders plan to increase their efforts to support student-parents such as offering more in-person course sections at times that benefit students with dependent children, as well as more online courses. College officials also will consider ways to extend hours or offer virtual support in the areas of tutoring, enrollment and financial aid for student-parents who often take evening or weekend classes.

Rodriguez said the bright side of the survey was that the ones who did respond said that they learned a lot about the college's programs and resources through the survey. Many said they would look into them and use them whenever possible.