News


Our news, editorial, and analysis on federal policy surrounding higher education’s most pressing issues.

Building a Packet for Success

Building a Packet for Success

Back to school shopping should be an exciting time for many children and parents. Yet, for families that have to decide between a pack of binders or a pack of diapers for the week, it can be an extremely stressful time. COVID-19 has changed the landscape of what back to school shopping looks like. Forget…
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The Hill: Congress should help college students bridge the digital divide

Emily Bouck West and Wesley Whistle discuss the issues students face when they do not have access to reliable and affordable WiFi and laptops. Students often suffer setbacks in learning because they can’t access or complete coursework at home. Read the full piece here.
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Fall 2020: A Senior In The Making, A Mother Soon Breaking

Fall 2020: A Senior In The Making, A Mother Soon Breaking

I, like the rest of nearly four million student parents, am already juggling a million different tasks all at once. Student parents juggle ever so carefully because we have perfectly balanced everything out. However, in March, those carefully balanced tasks were all thrown out of balance and we were tasked with yet another hundred things…
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Reimagining Higher Ed for Equity and Student Parent Success

Reimagining Higher Ed for Equity and Student Parent Success

“Was higher ed designed for minority students?”   A student asked this question during a Temple University “Sociology of Education” class I spoke to this fall about parenting college students.   My answer? “No.” The first college in the United States, Harvard University (then Harvard College), was founded in 1636, and its legacy and...
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Time to Innovate: How We Can Harness an Unprecedented Moment in Higher Education to Better Serve Student Parents

Time to Innovate: How We Can Harness an Unprecedented Moment in Higher Education to Better Serve Student Parents

Before the COVID-19 pandemic upturned how all of us work and learn, nearly four million student parents—more than a fifth of the entire U.S. undergraduate student population—faced near-impossible demands on their time and resources as they worked to juggle school and child care. Life before the pandemic was not working for most student parents....
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Student Parents and the Opportunity to Support Multiple Generations of Families

Student Parents and the Opportunity to Support Multiple Generations of Families

For 14 years, I have been an Institutional Researcher at Monroe Community College (MCC) in Rochester, NY. On March 17, 2020, I filled the largest bag I owned with my work files and locked my office door. I then headed across the quad to pick up my five-year-old from MCC’s Richard M. Guon Child Care…
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Centering Student Parent Families in COVID-19 Response

Centering Student Parent Families in COVID-19 Response

For the nearly four million undergraduate students with dependent children—including 2.7 million mothers—earning a college degree can make a life-changing difference in their family’s lifetime economic security. According to an unpublished Institute for Women’s Policy Research analysis of the Beginning Postsecondary Student Longitudinal Stu...
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AM in the AM

Source: KMAland
Executive Director Julie Peller spoke with KMAland Broadcasting about higher education during the pandemic. Listen here.
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Nation Swell

Higher Learning Advocates, a D.C.-based advocacy group, says that today’s students are older, more racially diverse, and have far fewer life options than the mainstream narrative would lead us to believe. Only 13% of college students live on campus, and two-thirds of all students work in order to make tuition payments or other expenses. Two in ...
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Julie Peller, Higher Learning Advocates

Source: WHII-TV Beaufort News
Executive Director Julie Peller spoke with WHII-TV Beaufort News about how colleges and universities should be flexible with students as they return for fall semester and how federal policymakers can better support today’s students.
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Emergency aid needed for fall semester students

Source: CBS19 News
Executive Director Julie Peller joined CBS19 News to discuss how federal funding can help today’s students, who have been hit hard by the pandemic. “Being sure that students are a part of that conversation and students’ needs outside of the classroom are a part of that conversation is something that we’re fighting for this fall.”&...
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Displaced Workers and Public College Enrollment

Source: Inside Higher Ed
Deputy Executive Director Emily Bouck West spoke with Inside Higher Ed about how colleges can better support all students, including displaced workers. “All types of students require comprehensive supports to succeed, especially during this time,” she said “That can mean making sure students have access to vital supports like chil...
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Read the HLA blog on Medium