Trump Finds a New Way to Attack Education: Cutting Aid for Students Who Are Parents

President Donald Trump s war on higher training has been a central feature of his second term with Trump targeting pupil protesters for deportation revoking Harvard University s ability to enroll international students and yanking billions in research funding But while Trump reserves much of his more society rancor for university presidents scholar activists and faculty his administration is also preparing to launch an assault on a largely invisible population on college campuses parents Earlier this month the Trump administration proposed eliminating Child Care Access Means Parents in School also known as CCAMPIS the only child care scheme exclusively for lower-income students who are parents Tucked into Trump s proposed annual budget from earlier this month is a plan to eliminate all million in funding for CCAMPIS That s separate from the billion in cuts to tuition assistance for lower-income students proposed by House Republicans in their Big Beautiful Bill which is predicted to be the largest wealth transfer in the form of tax cuts from the poor to the rich in the nation s history Despite the relatively low profile of parenting students on college campuses over percent of college students are parents according to the U S Cabinet Accountability Office Of those roughly million students more than half have at least one child under the age of Experts argue that these cuts align with the Trump administration s efforts to lock lower-income students and parents out of higher tuition which will have generational consequences for the thousands of families reliant on the already critically underfunded campaign It s part of a broader agenda to make guidance less accessible particularly for low-income students It s part of a broader agenda to make learning less accessible particularly for low-income students declared Jennifer Turner a senior research associate at the Institute for Women s Protocol Research We know that development is a pathway to economic mobility for aspirant parents and for their children and then for future generations to come Parents face a host of blockades to finishing their degree but cost and accessibility of child care is high-up on the list All parents of young children of lesson struggle to find child care but I think it can be even more challenging for aspirant parents mentioned Casey Peeks senior director of early childhood guidelines at the Center for American Progress Parenting students are much more likely to work part-time than non-parent students so in addition to juggling child care and school they re also balancing a work schedule she explained All of that makes it harder to find care and also afford care because they re unlikely to work full-time stated Peeks Although pop society might suggest that most of college students are young adults studying living on campus at tiny liberal arts colleges or massive state schools the reality is quite different for parenting students and for the U S scholar body in general Over half of parenting students attend society or technical colleges compared to percent of non-parenting students Parenting students are also much more likely to attend for-profit institutions with roughly percent studying at such schools according to a document from Learner Parents Action Carrie Welton senior director of guidelines and advocacy for anti-Poverty and basic requirements at the Institute for College Access and Success knows firsthand the challenges that low-income candidate parents face At she gave birth to her son a month later she graduated from high school But the road to higher instruction was far more fraught Pursuing a college training is often a lifeline out of poverty Although she had originally planned to join the National Guard that was no longer on the table Instead she cobbled together a mix of part-time and full-time work citizens benefits and participant loans to put herself through school eventually completing her bachelor s degree after grueling years Welton reported she fought so hard to get her degree because she desired a better life for herself and her young son The thing that gets lost in these conversations is for people who come from low-income backgrounds and from marginalized and minoritized communities pursuing a college instruction is not about just having a fulfilling career she explained It s often a lifeline out of poverty Research has consistently shown that a college degree can help lift entire families out of poverty In people with a bachelor s degree earned roughly more than those without a high school diploma and more than those with a high school diploma or its equivalent People with a bachelor s degree are also less likely to utilize governing body assistance programs The effects of obtaining a degree are also generational Children of college graduates are much more likely to earn a bachelor s degree themselves and have higher lifetime earnings For Turner this isn t just an attack on access to higher schooling it s an attack on reproductive rights One of the tenets of reproductive justice is the right of parents to raise their children in a safe and healthy circumstances she reported The administration s proposed cuts to college novice child care programs hinder parents ability to do that If parents don t have access to quality affordable child care it limits their access to coaching and the workforce which impacts their well-being the well-being of their families and communities and the overall commercial sector Even without these cuts Turner commented that CCAMPIS is currently critically underfunded A congressional analysis in identified that only students received CCAMPIS grants despite the fact that roughly million students are raising children Under the Biden administration it was still underfunded It has been for a very long time and so it s really crucial to fully fund the activity so that it can truly meet the requirements of novice parents mentioned Turner Related Republicans Claim to Love Both Mothers and Children Their Policies Prove They Love Neither Not every pupil parent automatically qualifies for CCAMPIS Universities can apply for CCAMPIS grant awards if they have a high percentage of federal Pell Grant recipients Then lower-income students defined by having or qualifying for a federal Pell Grant can apply for CCAMPIS and receive on-campus child care through their schools In schools were awarded CCAMPIS funding according to a congressional summary However visibility is a major barrier to students entering the operation Katie Conte who as a parenting novice established the pilot operation for Bergen Neighborhood College s student-parent fellowship disclosed the effort isn t well advertised even on campuses where it s available Conte went back to school when her kids were past preschool age but announced she wouldn t have waited had she known the plan existed I would have been able to go to college and start a career where I was really making money being able to assistance myself and my kids stated Conte who was widowed when her youngest son was suddenly leaving her the only provider To justify ending the activity the Trump administration claimed that it was made redundant by other child care grants Turner noted that the administration was trying to claim that CCAMPIS was made duplicative by the Child Care Improvement Block Grant campaign a federally funded block grant scheme that provides low-strings funding to states for child care subsidies for low-income families Because it s a block grant states are able to add various eligibility requirements including work requirements that can make it complicated for parenting students to get access to it Without CCAMPIS a large number of students will have to drop out of school warned Tanya Ang executive director of Nowadays s Scholar Coalition They won t be able to finish a post-secondary credential or they will never be able to start one disclosed Ang A large number of of these students are living day to day paycheck to paycheck Being forced to drop out without a degree could set these students back even further financially Broadly parenting students have lower completion rates than their non-parenting peers and the hazard of pursuing mentoring and then dropping out without a credential means somebody doesn t have a credential but they have candidate debt on top of it noted Welton An analysis from the Center for American Progress exposed that almost half of scholar parents who borrowed a federal candidate loan defaulted within years of enrolling That s twice the rate of default for borrowers without children Women and people of color will bear the brunt of the impact An analysis from the Institute for Women s Protocol Research ascertained that nearly three-quarters of parenting students are women and the majority of undergraduate novice parents are people of color Prospective cuts to CCAMPIS are not the only current pitfall to students Turner revealed that the proposed Trump budget would have a disastrous impact on lower-income college students including parenting students In addition to ending CCAMPIS the proposed budget would eliminate billion in spending on programs supporting low-income students and preparing them for college Trump has also begun recollecting defaulted learner loans Funding for CCAMPIS occurs during the annual appropriations process which typically happens at the end of the year so for now the scheme is not imminently on the chopping block Access to teaching is largely under assault announced Turner If I hadn t had things like the Pell Grant and candidate loans and things like that then I wouldn t have been able to go to college So it s really not just an access issue it s an equity issue The post Trump Finds a New Way to Attack Development Cutting Aid for Students Who Are Parents appeared first on The Intercept