Urban Institute and City Colleges of Chicago Collaborate to Improve Data Collection on Parenting Students

City Colleges of Chicago joins a cohort of nine grantee colleges, universities, and college systems that will create new or refine existing efforts to collect data about students who are parents

City Colleges of Chicago announced today it will join the Urban Institute’s launch of a new college community of practice, featuring a cohort of eight grantee colleges and universities and one citywide college system, to improve data collection on college students who are parents as part of the Data-to-Action Campaign for Parenting Students.

City Colleges of Chicago will work to collect data on parenting and single-mother students in its college data systems and use the data to support students and their educational goals.

“We are thrilled to partner with Urban Institute to improve our data collection on our student parents because the data will help us design stronger services and supports that can better foster their success and promote equitable outcomes across all students,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief of Staff Veronica Herrero, City Colleges of Chicago.

“More than 4.3 million undergraduate college students in the United States have children, representing more than one in five undergraduate students,” said Theresa Anderson, a principal research associate at Urban. “Despite national data showing this group’s large size, an absence of data at individual schools about parent students’ enrollment, characteristics, experiences, and outcomes renders them nearly invisible. We’re excited to work with City Colleges of Chicago to help make change and ensure that the educational needs of this understudied group are met.”

The nine grantees are:

• Bakersfield College – Bakersfield, CA
• California Polytechnic University – San Luis Obispo, CA
• California State University – Channel Islands, CA
• City Colleges of Chicago – Chicago, IL
• Klamath Community College – Klamath Falls, OR
• Lane Community College – Eugene, OR
• Rogue Community College – Grants Pass, OR
• Southwestern Oregon Community College – Coos Bay, OR
• Treasure Valley Community College – Ontario, OR

The Urban team will work with City Colleges of Chicago to help inform, guide, and steward the implementation of parenting status data collection and strategies to use these data to support students. The grantees are in states that have passed legislation allowing them to collect all college students’ parenting status at the student-record level, with the goal of improving higher education outcomes. City Colleges of Chicago will receive $50,000 annually for two years through Urban, with funding from ECMC Foundation, the Ford Family Foundation, and Lumina Foundation.

Grantees will also receive peer learning opportunities, technical assistance, and coaching via the college community of practice. Lessons from this cohort will inform practices for other colleges, universities, and systems outside the community of practice, as well as state and federal policymakers, in terms of how to count, understand, and support parenting students–especially those who are single mothers.

A related brief by Urban researchers examines the current state of data collection on postsecondary students with children. The work relates closely to Urban’s earlier Student-Parent Families at the Center project as well as the cross-organizational Student-Parent Action through Research Knowledge (SPARK) Collaborative.

About the Urban Institute

The Urban Institute is a nonprofit research organization that provides data and evidence to help advance upward mobility and equity. We are a trusted source for changemakers who seek to strengthen decision making, create inclusive economic growth, and improve the well-being of families and communities. For more than 50 years, Urban has delivered facts that inspire solutions—and this remains our charge today.

About City Colleges of Chicago

City Colleges of Chicago’s vision is to be recognized as the city’s most accessible higher education engine of socioeconomic mobility and racial equity – empowering all Chicagoans to take part in building a stronger and more just city.  The community college system’s more than 4,000 faculty and staff serve more than 60,000 students annually at seven colleges and five satellite sites across Chicago.