“To improve data collection related to student parents pursuing higher education, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section directs the Commissioner of Education Statistics to (1) establish, within two years of enactment and in consultation with specified stakeholders, a common definition of "parenting student" (i.e., a student identifying as a parent or caregiver of a dependent child); (2) develop, within two years of enactment, related data elements for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) or other federal postsecondary data collections—including the number of such students, their enrollment/retention/completion rates, average net price, marital status, employment status, median income, enrollment intensity and level, Pell Grant receipt, childcare use, dependent child details, and transfer status—disaggregated by parent versus caregiver status; (3) include relevant experts in IPEDS peer-review groups within two years of enactment; and (4) beginning with academic year 2026-2027, annually collect and publicly report such data from IPEDS-reporting institutions, further disaggregated by race/ethnicity and gender. The section also requires the Secretary of Education to provide technical assistance to states and institutions of higher education on collecting, integrating, and reporting parental status data (e.g., leveraging existing systems and addressing privacy).
This section directs the Secretary of Education to conduct a study of a demographically and geographically representative sample of institutions of higher education on best practices that improve outcomes for students who are parents or caregivers of dependent children. The study must include qualitative and quantitative research on (1) enrollment, persistence, and retention of such students, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, income, and program type (e.g., associate, baccalaureate, graduate degree, or certificate); (2) effects of campus-based childcare services, comparing students whose children are served to those whose are not; (3) enrollment trends and preferences based on institutional support services such as campus-based childcare, student parent centers, and grants under the Child Care Access Means Parents in School Program (CCAMPIS); (4) percentages of children served by campus-based childcare who belong to students versus faculty, staff, or community members, disaggregated by parent demographics and, for students, program type; and (5) strategies for integrating on-campus services for such students with state and institutional programs such as SNAP, TANF, WIC, workforce programs, and Head Start. This section further requires the Secretary to submit a report on the findings, including identified best practices, to Congress and make it publicly available not later than two years after enactment.
This section defines, for purposes of the Act, (1) "institution of higher education" as having the meaning given that term in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965; and (2) "State" as having the meaning given that term in section 103 of the Higher Education Act of 1965.