Amid historic higher education funding cuts of $350 billion, Today’s Students Coalition and more than 420 organizations, institutions, and advocates sent a letter to Congress urging leaders to reconsider proposed slashes to CCAMPIS. Child Care Access Means Parents in School, or CCAMPIS, is the only federal program dedicated to providing child care assistance for low-income students in postsecondary settings.

Parenting students are striving to provide a better life for themselves and their children. Unfortunately, they also face acute financial, work, and caregiving demands that can complicate their ability to earn a postsecondary credential. The many challenges they face balancing child care, academics, work, and precarious finances can often become barriers to their ability to persist in higher education.

In the letter, the Coalition also highlights research and data, including:

• Gallup-Lumina’s Student Study demonstrating parenting students are more likely to cancel or pause their educational journeys than students without children.
• A U.S. Department of Education study showing that parenting students with access to reliable and affordable child care through CCAMPIS have a persistence rate of 75%.
• A recent survey of roughly 23,000 parenting students, 70% of respondents reported that their child care arrangement was unaffordable.

TSC’s letter expresses deep concern that the Administration’s proposed FY2026 budget would eliminate the program, devastating the ability of thousands of parenting students to stay in school.

READ OUR LETTER