Trump Finds a New Way to Attack Education: Cutting Aid for Students Who Are Parents

President Donald Trump s war on higher tuition has been a central feature of his second term with Trump targeting trainee protesters for deportation revoking Harvard University s ability to enroll international students and yanking billions in research funding But while Trump reserves much of his more masses rancor for university presidents scholar activists and faculty his administration is also preparing to launch an assault on a largely invisible population on college campuses parents Earlier this month the Trump administration proposed eliminating Child Care Access Means Parents in School also known as CCAMPIS the only child care operation exclusively for lower-income students who are parents Tucked into Trump s proposed annual budget from earlier this month is a plan to eliminate all million in funding for CCAMPIS That s separate from the billion in cuts to tuition assistance for lower-income students proposed by House Republicans in their Big Beautiful Bill which is predicted to be the largest wealth transfer in the form of tax cuts from the poor to the rich in the nation s history Despite the relatively low profile of parenting students on college campuses over percent of college students are parents according to the U S Regime Accountability Office Of those roughly million students more than half have at least one child under the age of Experts argue that these cuts align with the Trump administration s efforts to lock lower-income students and parents out of higher training which will have generational consequences for the thousands of families reliant on the already critically underfunded operation It s part of a broader agenda to make training less accessible particularly for low-income students It s part of a broader agenda to make tuition less accessible particularly for low-income students disclosed Jennifer Turner a senior research associate at the Institute for Women s Plan Research We know that teaching is a pathway to economic mobility for participant parents and for their children and then for future generations to come Parents face a host of restrictions to finishing their degree but cost and accessibility of child care is high-up on the list All parents of young children of syllabus struggle to find child care but I think it can be even more challenging for aspirant parents explained Casey Peeks senior director of early childhood procedures at the Center for American Progress Parenting students are much more likely to work part-time than non-parent students so in addition to juggling child care and school they re also balancing a work schedule she explained All of that makes it harder to find care and also afford care because they re unlikely to work full-time commented Peeks Although pop custom might suggest that majority of college students are young adults studying living on campus at tiny liberal arts colleges or massive state schools the reality is quite different for parenting students and for the U S participant body in general Over half of parenting students attend society or technical colleges compared to percent of non-parenting students Parenting students are also much more likely to attend for-profit institutions with roughly percent studying at such schools according to a summary from Aspirant Parents Action Carrie Welton senior director of framework and advocacy for anti-Poverty and basic demands at the Institute for College Access and Success knows firsthand the challenges that low-income pupil parents face At she gave birth to her son a month later she graduated from high school But the road to higher teaching was far more fraught Pursuing a college coaching is often a lifeline out of poverty Although she had originally planned to join the National Guard that was no longer on the table Instead she cobbled together a mix of part-time and full-time work populace benefits and learner loans to put herself through school eventually completing her bachelor s degree after grueling years Welton explained she fought so hard to get her degree because she requested a better life for herself and her young son The thing that gets lost in these conversations is for people who come from low-income backgrounds and from marginalized and minoritized communities pursuing a college mentoring is not about just having a fulfilling career she disclosed It s often a lifeline out of poverty Research has consistently shown that a college degree can help lift entire families out of poverty In people with a bachelor s degree earned roughly more than those without a high school diploma and more than those with a high school diploma or its equivalent People with a bachelor s degree are also less likely to utilize cabinet assistance programs The effects of obtaining a degree are also generational Children of college graduates are much more likely to earn a bachelor s degree themselves and have higher lifetime earnings For Turner this isn t just an attack on access to higher teaching it s an attack on reproductive rights One of the tenets of reproductive justice is the right of parents to raise their children in a safe and healthy context she revealed The administration s proposed cuts to college trainee child care programs hinder parents ability to do that If parents don t have access to quality affordable child care it limits their access to instruction and the workforce which impacts their well-being the well-being of their families and communities and the overall commercial sector Even without these cuts Turner revealed that CCAMPIS is at the moment critically underfunded A congressional analysis in identified that only students received CCAMPIS grants despite the fact that roughly million students are raising children Under the Biden administration it was still underfunded It has been for a very long time and so it s really fundamental to fully fund the scheme so that it can truly meet the requirements of aspirant parents declared Turner Related Republicans Claim to Love Both Mothers and Children Their Policies Prove They Love Neither Not every apprentice parent automatically qualifies for CCAMPIS Universities can apply for CCAMPIS grant awards if they have a high percentage of federal Pell Grant recipients Then lower-income students defined by having or qualifying for a federal Pell Grant can apply for CCAMPIS and receive on-campus child care through their schools In schools were awarded CCAMPIS funding according to a congressional document However visibility is a major barrier to students entering the plan Katie Conte who as a parenting aspirant established the pilot campaign for Bergen Neighborhood College s student-parent fellowship reported the effort isn t well advertised even on campuses where it s available Conte went back to school when her kids were past preschool age but noted she wouldn t have waited had she known the activity existed I would have been able to go to college and start a career where I was truly making money being able to sponsorship myself and my kids disclosed Conte who was widowed when her youngest son was suddenly leaving her the only provider To justify ending the plan the Trump administration claimed that it was made redundant by other child care grants Turner noted that the administration was trying to claim that CCAMPIS was made duplicative by the Child Care Advancement Block Grant initiative a federally funded block grant undertaking that provides low-strings funding to states for child care subsidies for low-income families Because it s a block grant states are able to add various eligibility requirements including work requirements that can make it complicated for parenting students to get access to it Without CCAMPIS multiple students will have to drop out of school warned Tanya Ang executive director of The present day s Trainee Coalition They won t be able to finish a post-secondary credential or they will never be able to start one commented Ang Multiple of these students are living day to day paycheck to paycheck Being forced to drop out without a degree could set these students back even further financially Broadly parenting students have lower completion rates than their non-parenting peers and the peril of pursuing training and then dropping out without a credential means somebody doesn t have a credential but they have aspirant debt on top of it commented Welton An analysis from the Center for American Progress ascertained that almost half of scholar parents who borrowed a federal candidate loan defaulted within years of enrolling That s twice the rate of default for borrowers without children Women and people of color will bear the brunt of the impact An analysis from the Institute for Women s Procedures Research detected that nearly three-quarters of parenting students are women and the majority of undergraduate participant parents are people of color Possible cuts to CCAMPIS are not the only current pitfall to students Turner mentioned that the proposed Trump budget would have a disastrous impact on lower-income college students including parenting students In addition to ending CCAMPIS the proposed budget would eliminate billion in spending on programs supporting low-income students and preparing them for college Trump has also begun recollecting defaulted aspirant loans Funding for CCAMPIS occurs during the annual appropriations process which typically happens at the end of the year so for now the venture is not imminently on the chopping block Access to mentoring is largely under assault announced Turner If I hadn t had things like the Pell Grant and trainee loans and things like that then I wouldn t have been able to go to college So it s really not just an access issue it s an equity issue The post Trump Finds a New Way to Attack Training Cutting Aid for Students Who Are Parents appeared first on The Intercept