The Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program is a federal grant designed to support student parents with child care access and expenses. As Black college students are more likely to be parents than their peers of other races, the CCAMPIS program is critical to their academic success. A new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has examined the federal grant’s impact on Black student parents and provided suggestions to increase its effectiveness.
According to the report, over one third (36 percent) of all Black community college students and 40 percent of all Black women college students in 2020 were parents. Black women represent a significant share (30 percent) of all single mothers who are undergraduate students. Nearly 70 percent of these Black single mothers are first-generation college students. Black men represent 19 percent of all student parents enrolled in college.
The additional costs associated with child care significantly impact the financial security of student parents, limiting their opportunity to pursue an advanced education. The report found that, on average, a student parent would need to work 30 to 90 hours per week to cover child care and tuition costs at a public college or university. As of 2020, the annual income for Black community college students was $29,021, compared to $61,803 for their White peers.
Attending a college with an on-campus child care service could alleviate some of these financial constraints. However, access to on-campus child care has steadily decreased at both community colleges and four-year institutions over the past two decades. From 2004 to 2019, the share of all public postsecondary schools with on-campus child care services dropped from 59 percent to 45 percent.
Among community colleges, the loss of child care access was even more pronounced. In 2004, 58 percent of community colleges in the U.S. had child care options. In 2019, this decreased to 41 percent. As of 2020, only 21 percent of all historically Black colleges and universities provide on-campus child care services. Over two-thirds (67 percent) of all Black fathers attend colleges without on-campus child care, making them significantly less likely to receive child care support than fathers of other races.
Expanding the CCAMPIS program could help colleges and universities enhance their child care support capabilities. In addition to directly supporting student parents through subsidies and campus-based child care programs, higher education institutions can use CCAMPIS grants to fund professional staff development, curriculum development, equipment, classroom supplies, and minor renovations.
The report authors at the Joint Center suggest that increasing CCAMPIS program appropriations has the potential to greatly impact the success of Black student parents, who are a significant portion of all college student parents. They also recommend that the Department of Education and its affiliated programs collect data on the race of college student parents. By tracking race-related data, the Department of Education and college administrators can ensure programs like CCAMPIS are reaching and supporting Black parents. Furthermore, the authors encourage the Department of Education to conduct an equity analysis of past CCAMPIS awardees and focus on removing limitations for other federal child care support programs.
