Document 1

Title
EQUITY, ACCESS, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR SINGLE PARENT STUDENTS IN
HIGHER EDUCATION: UNDERSTANDING UNIQUE
CHALLENGES OF SINGLE PARENT STUDENTS
Abstract
This case was developed for use in a course on foundations in education and
leadership. In higher education, a group of candidates exists, silent, invisible, a group
underrepresented in collegiate endeavors, a group fraught with vulnerability, and whose
sociological and psychological belief systems, and for whom balancing physical,
professional and emotional responsibilities to families and work can impact matriculation
or attrition at all levels of scholastic enterprise. This group can be characterized by
multiplicity of roles, compromised quality and quantity of interactions within their
personal and professional lives. These persons face some of the greatest challenges
exiting the feminization of poverty: single parent student mothers.

Case Narrative
In qualitative interviews with single parent student mothers, data was obtained
regarding the single parent student experience, experience with advisors in higher
education programs, financial barriers to single parent student mothers, and physical and
emotional challenges impacting success and outcome in higher educational endeavors.
The students shared experiences regarding instructors, advisors, family dynamics,
resourcing, distribution, and program/course structure.

Teaching Notes
This case was developed for use in a course on foundations in education and
leadership. Caring-centred leadership is explored with a focus on adaptation of an ethic of
caring for administrative agencies and educators. Interview data are presented taken from
two students representative of the single mother student populace in higher education,
situated in a private institution of higher education and the students, community, and
school. In this case, the students identify challenges, barriers, and institutional leadership
styles which facilitate or impede academic achievement. Educational leadership is
targeted to improve leadership, advising, instruction, and program parametres.
The significance of education lies in its contributions to social outcomes (Books,
2009). In the broader contexts of justice and equity, educating single, unpartnered female
student parents may shape their intellectual legacies, recognizing communities of parent
student mothers and their contributions to collective knowledge and inquiry (Rendon,
2014). Changes in purpose and pedagogy can enable institutions to restructure the scope
and purpose of higher education, to address community-based teaching, learning, and
scholarship in a way that embraces the highly diverse student population of today,
including single mothers.
Do existing higher education structures and managerial/organizational practices
lead to college attendance or present adverse consequences for families of unmarried
parent students through institutional barriers?

Can teaching styles/classroom policy be revised to make success in higher

education more achievable for single parent student mothers?

ERIC Descriptors
Single parent student
Student mother in college
Student mothers in higher education
Leadership in higher education
Ecology of caring, higher education
Instructional effectiveness
Unique advising, single parent student

Introduction
This case study focuses on the experiences of two single parent student mothers,
aged 23 and 26, living in Californias Inland Empire county of San Bernardino. Each of
these young adults entered into programs at Lakewood University while working full
time and while parenting without partners, dependent children under the ages of 18. Each
graduated from Lakewood University School of Nursing with degrees of Bachelors in
Nursing. I am building upon the internal and external attribution theories as characterized
by Tiamiyu and Mitchell (2001), in identifying both internal and external attribution as
factors at work in the feminization of poverty (p. 47). This paper discusses both the
challenges faced and resources utilized by young adult student parents without partners
interviewed in the Inland Empire region.

Framing of Problem and Purpose.

Findings suggest young unpartnered parent students negotiate multiple contexts in
their daily lives throughout the region. While they are affected by broad patterns of
disparities in support and opportunity, the young adult mothers interviewed shared
strategies of resistance and suggestions for social change. Tehan (2007) argued single
parent students are a special population who require different avenues of advisement than
traditional students due to unique responsibilities and role strain (p. 571). Stressors which
would present ordinary challenges to traditional college students can present
extraordinary difficulty for single parents who must schedule child care, care for sick
children, and prioritize work/financial support with allocation of time for study in order
to ensure academic success.
The purpose of this study is to identify multiply disadvantaged lone mothers
(Lipman et al., 2010, p. 7), seeking degrees in higher education. This study seeks to
understand internal and/or external attributions which may impact matriculation or
attrition (Boutsen & Colbry, 1991, p. 360), and whether existing college policies facilitate
access, equity, and social justice for single parent mothers in higher education. Do
existing higher education structures and managerial/organizational practices lead to
college attendance or present adverse consequences for families of unmarried parent
students through institutional barriers?
To this end, this paper offers an overview of single parent student experiences
based on testimonial interviews conducted with the young adults who helped me
understand the state of single parent students in higher education. All names of persons
and institutions have been changed to protect institutional and participant identity. This

paper highlights the interconnectedness of experience that single parent students share,
and hope and hardship, highlighting significant areas of unmet need often overlooked
among single parent student populace, their families and communities.
Literature Review
Precarity.
Matriculation of female single parents into college degree programs continues to
impact student enrollment, financial services, and other support services universities
offer. Improvement of both recognition of need and structuring of resources directed
towards single parent educational endeavors can significantly reduce feminization of
poverty (Polakow, 1993).
Responsibility for human well-being (Davies & Bansel, 2007, p. 248) occurs
when we collectively, and by extension educationally, accept responsibility for the
vulnerable and marginalized, such as single mothers, for whom the feminization of
poverty is a daily reality. Standing, (2014) developed the concept of precarity to describe
living circumstances in which a person may be subject to change without warning or
notice, characterized by lack of foundation. To be precaritised, according to Standing,
is to be subject to the pressures and experiences that lead to a precarious existence: of
living in the present, without a secure identity or sense of development achieved through
work and lifestyle (p. 28). The spread of precaritisation, (p. 32) and accompanying
anger, anomie, anxiety, and alienation stems from frustration at blocked avenues for
creating a meaningful life (p. 33), which, for single mothers and dependents,
encompasses access to basic healthcare, education, housing, and employment, upon
which lone mothers rely for survival and stable home life (Buvenic, 1997). As Standing

deftly identified, the precariat is neither victim, villain, or heroit is just a lot of us (p.
315).
Understanding resource distribution (Books, 2009) is of crucial importance in
ascertaining and meeting need in the precariat of single mothers. Gasman and Conrad
(2015) denoted that ensuring equal access to college is only half of the challenge of equal
access to educational opportunity in a diverse society. Equal access and thus,
opportunitymeans institutional grasp and valuation of the cultural, social, and
educational resources, the cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1984) unique students bring to
college, including the precariat of single parent mothers who are students matriculating
into higher education institutions (p. 18) and who may be underprepared in traditional
ways, yet offer many cultural and social skills which will serve them well in pursuit of
advanced degrees, including work experience often lacking in the traditional student
profile. Mainstream institutional models of academic experience are often indifferent to
the needs of a diverse society in which cultural strands of experience are unique, such as
those represented by single parent students who concurrently serve as head of household
with dependent children.
Fragile families--headed by parents who are unmarried--are still among Americas
least likely to attend college (Goldrick-Rab & Sorenson, 2010, p. 180), but in greatest
need of the benefits additional education can bestow on financial stability of families.
Institutional focus must be on locating educational achievement within the framework of
the larger social good. Reduction of poverty, improved outcome and achievement of
dependents, and better emotional well-being of successive generations are not

insignificant benefits of supporting the educational endeavors of single parent student

mothers.
Although college degrees can provide a means of financial stability and immense
social and professional benefits for sole providers in single parent homes, higher
education can prove significantly detrimental to the quality of parenting single parent
students provides dependent children, can negatively impact personal health and other
relationships, and result in psychological strain from multiplicity of roles, or rolestrain
(Goldrick-Rab & Sorenson, 2010, p. 180).
Statistics for degree completion skewed by the staggered nature or
discontinuous manner in which degrees are ultimately achieved indicate that 33.7
percent of low-income single women with children complete degrees within ten years
(Goldrick-Rab & Sorenson, 2010, p. 182). While welfare and other government aid in the
form of grants and scholarships has ostensibly made college access easier for single
mothers, the gap between resources and reachability/knowledge of resource availability
access-- remains significant. Single mothers entering degree programs may seek means
of financial augmentation but find little, if any, appropriate levels of support.
Additionally, campus services, resources, and support, may remain unrecognized by
single parents whose time is already divided between studies, work, and parenting.
The significance of education lies in its contributions to the affairs of everyday
lifeits social outcomes. Student parents are common and their success is crucial to
family economic security (Institute for Womens Policy Research, 2013). Sabates et al.,
(2011) recognized the crucial component of parental achievement in educational
achievement of children: adults with poor literacy and numeracy skills have children

who fare worse academically (p. 487). The particular and unique phenomenon of single
parenthood concurrent with pursuit of degree in higher education institution is a shared
experience which has significant implications for social good. The differential or
hidden reality of single parenthood impacts social welfare in significant and far
reaching ways, and matriculation and/or attrition of this precariat, contributes to either the
demise or foundation of collective formulations of society. By extension, success for
inclusion of this group may potentially transform opportunities for other marginalized
groups, and may ensure rightful participation in collective social enterprise for
generations to come, thus reducing or eliminating precarity .and the feminization of
poverty. School culture, and access to shared enterprise via the human capital of
education, is the venue by which social identity may change in assisting in reformulation
of broader social identity, impacting school outcomes in dependent children.
The caretaking ideal, so absent from higher education mission and vision, is
especially relevant to the needs of student single parents (Casuto, 2015). Curricular ideals
should seek to train students not as elitists, or researchers, but should enable them to
become educated as humanists, to contribute as humanists, as the mechanism by which
society is driven forward rests almost exclusively in their hands (Casutto, 2015; Nodding,
2003; Sabates, Duckworth, & Feinstein, 2011). Access, from admissions to advising,
exhibits gaping deficits in serving the needs of college students, but single mothers in
particular, suffer from the loss of a suitable higher education ethic, one that adapts a
caretaking ideal to meet the demands of students. Access in education is bound up with
commitment to promoting positive social change through practice. Though awareness of
diversity in higher education,- such as the precariat of single motherhood is being raised

(Winslade, 2015),- awareness without commitment and action in educational practice can
only result in a docility of students within a banking system of education, (Freire),
bereft of dialogical consciousness raising educational paradigms which could have the
potential to change student world views (p. 4).
The human capital of higher education, by its very nature, incorporates the
resources of all, to function as a collective representation of the shared ideas, thinking,
and resources of individuals for whom the college serves as an educational forum.
Withholding participation of any community members, --including the precariat of single
mothers--, and fails to account for the contributions of those individuals deprives
marginalized and vulnerable populations of the benefits of information exchange and
participation in the collective formulations of society: Changes that bring about
inclusion for one groupcan have far-reaching benefits for everyone (Mitchneck, Smith
& Latimer, 2016, p. 149).

Theoretical Framework.

The impact on unmet needs of mothers seeking degrees is significant. Caregiving

responsibilities of single parent student mothers impair and intrude on efforts to improve
post secondary performance in degree completion seeking, causing single mothers to fall
short of their full potential to change their lives and the lives of their dependents.
(Institute for Womens Policy Research, 2013).
It is the intent of this study to focus on three key themes related to the reduction

of attrition and feminization of poverty that is occurring in higher education: precariat

barriers to single mothers in higher education, and development of an ethic of caring as
relates to social good and the carrying forward of social justice in regards to vulnerable
populations. A number of factors must be considered in understanding how the praxis of
identity and achievement interact via the intersectionality of educational experience to
impact educational outcomes, both for parent student mothers and, ultimately, dependent
children whose mothers are engaged in higher educational endeavors.
My purpose is to reveal the unique challenges present in the daily experiences of
single parent student mothers in higher education. It is hoped research findings will
enable higher educational administrators to restructure programs and means of support
that will enable single parent student mothers to transcend constraints placed on them by
gender and classmatriarchal single parenthood, and to enter into decision-making and
reformulation of social identities which enable them to contribute productively to the
collaborative formulation of society.
Transformational leadership (TL) theory (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Marion &
Gonzales, 2014) will guide in explaining organizational behavior, and in understanding
how professional identity and the intersectionality of identity/motivation/competencies,
and negotiated meaning/identity (multiplicity of roles/identities, contextualized by
situational variables and the absence/presence of others), influence access to social,
political, and cultural capital and opportunity (Bourdieu, 1984), and how institutional
grasp and valuation of cultural, social, and educational resources influence
student/educator interactions. Institutional identity, faculty identity, and student identity,
serve as praxes by which cultural capital is exchanged. The underpinnings of TL--

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Collective based leadership illuminate where and how interactions and relational
considerations can aid in understanding how organizations work, thus leading to change
implicit in the word transformative (Marion & Gonzales, 2014, p. 157) in shaping,
moving, and inspiring large groups of diverse people. The question is, how and by what
means can practitioners compel these interactions forward for the greatest social
(collective) good?
Transformational leadership theorists argue that four key characteristics in
educational and institutional leadership are crucial to the formulation of the transactions
which result in transformation: 1) Charisma or idealized influence; 2) Inspirational
Motivation; 3) Intellectual Stimulation, and, 4) Individualized consideration/attention
(Bass & Avolio, 1994; Marion & Gonazales, 2014, p. 158). Further, that transformational
leaders act from purely moral, selfless, and socially responsible places (Marion &
Gonzales, 2014, p. 175). Yet the phenomena of corporatization and political context of
the university act in shaping of power structures, competition for resources, and internal
political power struggles (p. 176).
The conceptual framework will offer a lens through which to view research
objectives, findings, and to identify and understand relationships within variables and the
triangulation of these experiences. Ontological assumptions embrace the multiplicity of
experiences present in student voices, including single parenthood concurrent with
studenthood.
The intent of this study is to empower human beings, specifically single parents,
to transcend constraints placed on them by gender and classmatriarchal single
parenthood, and to enter into decision-making and reformulation of social identities

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which enable them to contribute productively to the collaborative formulation of society.

An ethic of caring in distribution and allocation of resources tailored to the unique needs
of single parent student mothers impacts success and outcome for student parents as well
as dependents and is instrumental in breaking the cycle of poverty.

Methods
Evidence presented will explore various realities as pertains to single parent
student experience (Creswell, 2013). The Unit of Analysis will be single parent student
experience as expressed in responding to challenges encountered while engaged in higher
educational endeavors. Source of data will be single parent students. The assumptions are
that truth is present in student voices.
Testimony was coded for two purposes using two methods. One purpose of
coding was to explore single parent student experiences of support, or lack thereof, in
the area of education. In addition, I was interested in being able to compare responses of
single parent students in higher education and to look at how single parent mothers
described experiences with administration, advisors, and teachers.
For this purpose, testimony was coded using qualitative data codes to help blend
data and meaning, symbolically assigning essence, or meaning, to discourse exchanges. I
utilized qualitative data coding to sort and define data in relation to purpose, and to
connect findings with themes which emerged in data analysis, to explain single parent
student experience.
Data Analysis

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In this data analysis section, and for purposes of this paper, three major themes
emerged in the interview process and subsequent coding of data. These themes are
precarity, multiplicity of role/rolestrain, and institutional caring. I will organize them in
order of change: reality, need, institutional caring.

Precarity
Matriculation of female single parents into college degree programs continues to
impact student enrollment, financial services, and other support services universities
offer, such as advising and childcare. Improvement of both recognition of need and
structuring of resources directed towards single parent educational endeavors can
significantly reduce feminization of poverty. The impact of unmet needs of mothers
seeking degrees is significant. Caregiving responsibilities of single parent student
mothers impair and intrude on efforts to improve post secondary performance in degree
completion seeking causing single mothers to fall short of their full potential to change
their lives and the lives of their dependents (Institute for Womens Policy Research,
2013).
As stated in the literature, an ethic of caring was significant and single
motherhood raises special issues in regards to need for an ethic of caring (Noddings,
2003) to be developed, as gender injustices continue to perpetuate the feminization of
poverty, with repercussions for successive generations. Responsibility for human wellbeing (Davies & Bansel, 2007) occurs when we collectively (and by extension
educationally), accept responsibility for the vulnerable and marginalized, such as single
mothers, for whom the feminization of povertyprecarity--is a daily reality. For the

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purpose of this paper, and based on the interviews, precarity is defined as circumstances
which change without warning or notice, and upon which single parent mothers and
dependents cannot rely for survival and stable home life. Precarity was captured by one
participant, Edwina, who is 23 years of age, and has two children for whom she is caring
who are below the age of 10. Edwina is enrolled full time at Lakewood University School
of Nursing and is nearing degree completion, in her fourth year of study:
Edwina: Well, gonna be a hard long road, thats for sure! Put your kids first, and
dont slack on em just because youre in school. Keep on being a parent, cuz your kids
might resent if they start thinking your puttin books n stuff ahead of em. Be there for
them as much as possible. Talk to your professors. Let them know what youre dealing
with, and try and get them to understand when you need to be late or absent so they dont
think youre just [missing school] skipping. You dont want ANYbody to think youre
just not showin. I hope you have parents, cuz youre gonna need help! I think there
should be extra financial help for parents that isnt tied to hours of paperwork we cant
understand, and it shouldnt be just loans. We need other financial help, and so start
working on this EARLY! Also, try to find ways to plan meals ahead. That is THE hardest
part. Just keepin everyone fed. I always feel stressed about that, and when I have to work,
sometimes I cant. I just cant keep food on the way they [kids] need. And expect. They
gotta right to expect that. I just cant always keep up. (Participant Interview, Edwina,
5/9/16).
Challenges women face in higher education are exacerbated for single mothers.
Forty three percent of the total student parent population at undergraduate institutions are
single mothers (Institute for Womens Policy Research, 2014). While traditional college
students may work, many single mothers, such as Edwina, work full-time, fulfill two
parenting roles, and then enroll into degree programs qualifying them as full-time
students. Role strain for single parents mothers like Edwina, is an enormous complexity
plaguing the educational journeys of single parent student mothers, and yet institutional
policy and procedure has notably omitted reference to the unique needs and challenges
parent students face. The role of parenthood in postsecondary outcomes has been largely

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overlooked in the research community as well, underscoring the invisibility and precarity
of single parent student mothers.
For single parent student mothers, sources of support are scarce, and program
parameters may be too constraining with the added variables of parenthood and work
responsibilities. Additional accommodation may need to be made in order to facilitate
both access and equity in higher education degree programs.
Edwina: and I wish they would have helped me tailor the program more to
getting out over a slightly longer period of time. Because it was hard working and with
kids to go the same rate as the others [non parent students]. I think giving us an extra
year or even an extra quarter or two to spread out the work would have been
helpfulBecause it was hard working and with kids to go the same rate as the others [non
parent students]. (Participant Interview, Edwina, 5/9/16).
Rolestrain (Multiplicity of roles and conflicting responsibilities).
Talman (2010) recognized the unique challenges of single mothers: lack of
available childcare, insufficient money to pay for childcare, financial strain of additional
monies for tuition, inability to study evenings as traditional students can, money needed
to sustain family. Additionally, one-parent students leave school earlier (Ziol-Guest,
Duncan, & Kalil, 2015). Research reveals however, that maternal schooling is the
dominant predictor of differences in educational attainment for dependents (Ziol-Guest et
al., 2015). For example, Miranda, a 26 year old mother of three, enrolled into the
Bachelors of Nursing degree program at Lakewood University, struggled with the lack of
family resources, lack of time for class preparation, and the strain of fulfilling multiple
concurrent roles in full-time capacities:
Miranda: My parents would pitch in when they could, but my dad has some
health problems, and my mom couldnt always drive the drive to get here when I needed
her. When we have kids to get food ready, you gotta have money to keep everybody fed!

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right? Its just the biggest hardest thing. Theres all this talk about how Obama wants
moms to go back to school. But the reality is, I havent seen anything to back that up. Its
been very frustrating, trying to keep it up for our kids, yet, we need to finish school too,
or we cant move up at work and get better pay. I also couldnt find time to study, until,
like after the kids went to bed. Then I would have to be up late, then, up early and get
everybody ready for school. Sometimes they would be sick and I knew it was a big deal
for me to miss school or work. But they cant stay home alone. Sometimes they did
though. I know its illegal, but.
Im no Einstein! (laughing). No, seriously, I like school. But I think I am not the greatest
at it. I write okay, But not great, and there was TONS of reading. That part was hard. I
tried, but I dont think I read EVErything they assigned.
Absence of partnerhood places the educational aspirations of single parent student
mothers at risk of failure, and further places single parent student mothers at risk for
mental health issues. In addition, attrition rates at higher education institutions reflect
poorer outcomes for single parent students who are unable to compete academically with
those who are fully resourced, minus the additional responsibilities of fulfilling two
parenting roles and working full time to support families. Someone has to ensure the
families continue forward, and putting food on the table and a roof over their heads, often
falls to the single parent mothers, who cannot afford the additional time for study and
class preparation that students without family and work responsibilities can. Edwina
noted some of the dire outcomes of those around her who were not able to maintain the
flow of academic integrity and quit the program:
Edwina: yeah, one girl who had three kids and she had been divorced longer than
me. She started the same time, but she told me later it was too hard, and she felt some of
the people in the nursing department didnt really understand what she had to do at home
to keep everyone alive. Sometimes she would be late, and they would give her a hard
time, or she had to miss more than some of us. She quit the second year. (Participant
Interview, Edwina, 5/9/16).
Single parent studenthood requires additional forms of support and advising in
order to exceed physical and psychological constraints of parenthood and rolestrain.

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Students can succeed and many are motivated to do so. But administrators and program
heads must recognize the unique needs of single parent students and plan appropriately in
program structures in order to maximize support offered this populace.
Ethic of Caring.
Both of my interview subjects talked about caring, from an institutional
perspective as well as from individual professors. The caretaking ideal, so absent from
higher education mission and vision, is especially relevant to the needs of student single
parents (Casuto, 2015). Curricular ideals should seek to train students not as elitists, or
researchers, but should enable them to become educated as humanists, to contribute as
humanists, as the mechanism by which society is driven forward rests almost exclusively
in their hands (Casutto, 2015; Nodding, 2003; Sabates, Duckworth, & Feinstein, 2011).
Access, from admissions to advising, exhibits gaping deficits in serving the needs of
college students, but single mothers in particular, suffer from the loss of a suitable higher
education ethic, one that adapts a caretaking ideal to meet the demands of students.
Access in education is bound up with commitment to promoting positive social change
through practice. Though awareness of diversity in higher education,- such as the
precariat of single motherhood is being raised (Winslade, 2015),- awareness without
commitment and action in educational practice can only result in a docility of the
banking system of education, (Freire), bereft of dialogical consciousness raising
educational paradigms which could have the potential to change student world views (p.
4). On the topic of caring, Miranda stated:
Well, it depends on the person and on the situation. Sometimes, I felt certain
people on staff who didnt have kids maybe didnt understand. But others I felt were
really helpful in giving extra help and advice when they could. I am not sure Im the kind
of student they are trying to recruit, and you know, the program is really competitive, so

17

maybe they dont have to give any special consideration to students who are working and
who are parents. Some seemed sympathetic, but some, were just like not tuned in at all
and didnt seem to realize we are doing more than the regular students and sometimes we
cant be there, and our work might not be as good as those who have more study time.
(Participant Interview, Miranda, 5/ 7/16).
Recognition of the role overt caring plays in the success of single parent students
in higher educational endeavors may be instrumental in program success and as well in
advancing social good as a whole by reducing family poverty. Edwina clearly identified
the link between feminine poverty and the crucial role her education and degree
procurement will play in strengthening her family economically:
Edwina: For sure, I am happy I went here because I think the program has a
great reputation out in the community. I think I will be able to get the kind of job I need
to support my kids, and also, having my kids see me do this [earn a degree] has had a big
impact on them. (Participant Interview, Edwina, 5/9/16).
Miranda recognized that some of the professors in her program were supportive,
and her appreciation is expressed:
Miranda: I have worked hard. No doubt about that! But I also think this school
is, well, has a lotta teachers that try to help us succeed. Not all, but some. You know?
Some are committed to getting the students every opportunity to graduate. They invite us
to their homes, do extra study and review sessions, some have let me be late or absent
when I had to take care of my kids. Some didnt. (laughin). Mostly it was good, though. I
wish they had pre-ready meals, that we could pick up and take home to our kids, or
better financial aidNOT loans--, and I wish they would have helped me tailor the
program more to getting out over a slightly longer period of time. Because it was hard
working and with kids to go the same rate as the others [non-parent students]. I think
giving us an extra year or even an extra quarter or two to spread out the work would have
been helpful. I also needed help with books. Having ebooks or used books, or keeping
some in the back where would could borrow them for the quarter would have been better
for me. (Participant Interview, Miranda, 5/7/16).
Financial aid availability was a recurring theme in both students interviews.
Though national financial aid is available, the unique family structures of single parent
student mothers often confound both process and access, and immediate needs are not

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addressed. Additionally, traditionally structured four-year degrees only fit well if one is
young, single, and has the presence of parental support as expressed by Edwina:
Edwina: Also, if youre a parent and going to school, know it might take longer.
Ask the school what would happen if you needed to stretch the program out an extra
quarter or two. See what they say. Let them know you are working, or have kids, and ask
if they can let you have some extended deadlines for graduation. Also, I think if the
school has some free counseling, if you have time, which probably you dont!- it would
be helpful to talk to someone about all the stress and managing kids school and all that .
It is really hard and some people just drop out. Then you cant earn enough to take care of
your kids. Its a good program, you know? And lots of us are getting better jobs because
of it. It was tough to get in , but nowIm really happy I stuck with it. (Participant
Interview, Edwina, 5/9/16).
Major findings in participant interviews expressed need for additional forms of
financial support outside governmental norms, consistent with the unique needs of single
parent students. Additionally, student parent needs encompass a wide variety of roles
including work, parenting and meal provision, and classroom support including advising
and alternatively structured program requirements. Themes expressed in student parent
interviews revealed concern for the stressors present in single parent students lives,
multiplicity of role strain, and additional advising/caring that would enable degree
procurement while maintaining and meeting work and parenting responsibilities.
Closing
Interviews with student mothers confirm the need for institutional awareness to be
raised concerning the experiences, challenges, and educational journeys of its single
parent students. Student parents are common and their success is crucial to family
economic security (Institute for Womens Policy Research, 2013). Parental achievement
of single parent students is constrained in multiple ways, as relayed during interviews
with Edwina and Miranda. Both participant interviews revealed recognition, on the part

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of the single mothers, of the impact their achievement would have on their dependents.
Their views are supported in the literature: adults with poor literacy and numeracy skills
have children who fare worse academically (Sabates et al., 2011, p. 487).
Participant interviews revealed that both single mothers felt their children would
have better chances of academic and professional success if each completed their
degrees. Additionally, benefits of being better equipped to support their families, was a
readily identified factor in their pursuit of higher education degrees. The particular and
unique phenomenon of single parenthood concurrent with pursuit of degree in higher
education institutions is a shared experience which has significant implications for social
good. The differential or hidden reality of single parenthood impacts social welfare in
significant and far-reaching ways, and matriculation and/or attrition of this precariat,
contributes to either the demise or foundation of collective formulations of society.
Reduction of poverty, improved outcome and achievement of dependents, and
better emotional well-being of successive generations are not insignificant benefits of
supporting the educational endeavors of single parent student mothers. The challenge of
providing equal access to higher education for students who arrive on campus with
unique challenges, --such as single mothers--, lack of appropriate resources such as
partners to care for children while single mothers are at class and work, financial support
to care for children while attending school, available outside of home childcare, and quiet
study times to compete successfully in academics, limit single mothers abilities to
succeed in traditional learning environments such as daytime classes, offered at times
when single mothers need to work to support families, and backgrounds deficient in
traditional learning mediums and limited knowledge of higher educational pursuits and

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significant obligations to family and community. Miranda and Edwina echoed the
literature in articulating that single mothers may need to be absent more frequently due to
sick children, may be unable to attend traditional day classes as they need to work to
support dependents, and evening study time is consumed with feeding families, assisting
with homework, and readying children for bed. Child care access on college campuses
has been declining, with only 47 percent of community colleges having a child care
center on campus in 2012, a 10 percent drop since 2002 (Institute for Womens Research
Policy, 2013). All of these factors significantly impact issues of matriculation and
attrition of single mother students in higher educational endeavors.
Research findings for this study demonstrate the need for improved and clearly
articulated policy and practice that supports single parent student mothers in their
educational endeavors. While some professors and administrators were identified as
possessing an ethic of caring, one which was readily identified by study participants, a
discernible gap in both practice and policy remained. Miranda recognized that failure to
recognize the unique needs and challenges of single mother students cost some single
mother students their place in the program,--and ultimately a degree with which to
support her family. Curricular and program structure need to recognize and offer flexible
course and program design offerings, ones that accommodate the unique needs of parents
who fulfill dual, or even multiple, roles and responsibilities. My findings demonstrate
needs and indicate where and how modifications in practice and program structure can be
engaged to better support single parent students in higher education.
As the literature exhibits gaping deficits in representation of the single parent
student mother experience, future studies can include focus groups which will be

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beneficial in deepening and advancing institutional and managerial understanding of how

single parent student mothers function in higher education. Recognition of constraints,
support deficits, and structural/financial/physical inadequacies which impact success and
academic/professional outcomes of single parent engaged in higher education degree
programs is needed. Implications for practice include additional forms of advising that
better recognize the barriers single parents student mothers encounter while pursuing
advanced degrees. Further, practice which is inclusive of the contributions of the
literacies and experiences of single parent student mothers is notably absent, as identified
by both Miranda and Edwina in participant interviews. Finally, universities, private ones
in particular, must recognize and embrace the student single mother experience as both
valid and valued, despite deviations from traditional student populace. Single parent
student mothers, if embraced and supported in the formulation and development of new
and valued identities as contributing members to the collective pool of communal
knowledge have the power to transform the feminization of poverty, and to alter family
and social economic security at the most fundamental level.

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Document 2

Author:GinaM.Vyskocil,LomaLindaUniversity

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Authorisastudentinadoctoralstudiesprogramintransformationalleadershipat
CaliforniaStateUniversity,SanBernardino.SheisconcurrentlyaninstructoratLoma
LindaUniversity,LomaLinda,California.

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