Sixty institutions, organizations, and student advocates joined Young Invincibles, Higher Learning Advocates, and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in a letter to congressional appropriators calling for a historic investment to expand access to affordable, high-quality child care for college students. More than one-in-five current students are also parents, and many student parents struggled to balance child care and academic responsibilities even before the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the national shortage of child care options. 

 

The federal Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) Program provides vital support for the participation and success of low-income parents in postsecondary education through the provision of subsidized child care, which is widely recognized as one of the most important supports for parenting college students. We call for increasing CCAMPIS funding to $500 million in the coming fiscal year appropriations bill, which would ensure that roughly 100,000 more parenting college students receive the child care assistance they need to continue their educational journeys and be successful in college.