Excerpts from the brief:
Of the over 6 million students earning college credit at community colleges, 1.7 million (27 percent) are parents. Of those, about 1 million (16 percent) are single parents, more than twice the proportion at 4-year institutions. Three-quarters of single parents in college are women.
One study of student parents attending community college found that over 80 percent reported that the availability of child care was very important in the decision to attend college and 46 percent reported that campus child care was their first priority when enrolling. Nearly 60 percent of respondents reported they could not have continued college without child care and 95 percent reported that child care allowed them to increase their class load.
A survey of campus children's centers found that 90 percent of centers maintain waiting lists; the average center serves 110 children per week but has another 90 children on its waiting list. Less than half of centers (48 percent) offer care for infants under a year of age, only 13 percent of centers provide evening care, and only 3 percent of centers provide care on weekends.