Navigating Housing Insecurity for Student Parents

This series of Voices of Student Success focuses on adult learners in higher education, the various challenges they face and successful support mechanisms to aid their retention and completion.

An estimated one in five college students has dependents, and research shows that parenting students are more likely to experience basic needs insecurity in their pursuit of a degree. A 2024 survey by Trellis Strategies found that 6 percent of student parents self-identified as unhoused and 17 percent indicated some level of housing insecurity since they started college, or during the 12 months leading up to the survey.

A recent brief from New America and Princeton Eviction Lab  tied the threat of eviction to negative student outcomes; student parents who face eviction are 23 percent less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree compared to their housing secure peers, and more likely to have lower quality of life, including higher mortality rates and lower earnings years later.

In the most recent episode of Voices of Student Success, Edward Conroy, senior policy manager at New America, and Nick Graetz, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, discuss their research and how universities can better support parenting students experiencing housing insecurity.

Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Student Success Reporter Ashley Mowreader, this episode is sponsored by KI.

Read a transcript of the podcast here.