{"id":8948,"date":"2020-09-16T15:28:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T19:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/?p=8948"},"modified":"2020-10-23T14:33:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T18:33:03","slug":"survey-results-students-with-children-and-family-responsibilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/2020\/09\/survey-results-students-with-children-and-family-responsibilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Survey Results: Students with Children and Family Responsibilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"We have conducted a survey of Trinity students to learn more about how many are also caring for children or have other family responsibilities.\u00a0 165 students participated in the survey, arrayed by school as the graphic above illustrates.\u00a0 [For readers not familiar with the acronyms:\u00a0 (CAS) College of Arts & Sciences, (NHP) School of Nursing and Health Professions, (SPS) School of Professional Studies, (EDU) School of Education, (BGS) School of Business and Graduate Studies.\u00a0 Note that CAS is full-time daytime undergraduate women. Also, the units SPS\/BGS\/EDU are clustered now into the coed School of Professional and Graduate Studies and these programs serve students who are largely working professionals attending part-time.]<\/p>\n

We know that these kinds of responsibilities pose large issues for time management, financial stress, and the kinds of services and policies that Trinity might develop to be more supportive.<\/p>\n

This survey occurs in tandem with the release of a new toolkit Generation Hope_20.21 Higher Ed Toolkit for Supporting Student Parents<\/a> from our great partner Generation Hope<\/a> on how to support student parents in college along with a recent Generation Hope report discussing results of a national survey of student parents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Below are the survey results.\u00a0 Your comments are welcome in the comments section, or send me your thoughts on email president@trinitydc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Q2:\u00a0 How many children do you have?<\/strong><\/h2><\/span>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The graphics above include all student responses (left) and the responses of CAS students (right).\u00a0 We are breaking CAS out throughout this analysis because those are full-time undergraduates whose ages tend to be younger (18-25 generally) than students in the professional units.<\/p>\n

As the graphs illustrate, for all students responding, about half (50%) have one or more children.\u00a0 Among CAS students responding, about 30% report having children.<\/p>\n

The age range of the children is from newborn to late 20’s, but most clustered in younger ages into teens.<\/p>\n

Several respondents noted that they are pregnant and expecting another child within the next few months.\u00a0 We urge those students to be in touch with Health Services to be sure they are getting good care, and also to speak with their academic advisors to be sure they have a good plan for academic support.<\/p>\n

Q3: What other family responsibilities do you have?<\/strong><\/h2><\/span>\n

\"\"For all respondents and also for CAS students, the top family responsibility is contributing money to support the family.\u00a0 Caring for siblings is a very large part of the responsibility that CAS students have, along with caring for elders.\u00a0 CAS students are less likely to have a partner to share responsibilities and also less likely to be the heads of their households.<\/p>\n

Our students have an extraordinary range of family responsibilities, and a great deal of stress that accompanies those duties and financial worries.\u00a0 A small sample of the many comments:<\/p>\n

A CAS student writes:<\/em>\u00a0 “I am coming from [another state]. Due to my husband’s job, my family couldn’t move with me to DC. My mother is taking care of my child while my husband works. Although I am a little far from home, in a way I feel financially responsible. I try not to spend too much money because my baby still has many needs such as diapers.”<\/p>\n

An NHP student writes:\u00a0<\/em> “I live with my wife, my mom and 3 kids. I have a very busy schedule making sure the kids are taken care of , which range from bathing, feeding, outdoor plays and school runs. I also make sure the rents are paid and the groceries are stocked. Its been quite challenging having to balance this out and at the same time going through nursing school.”<\/p>\n

An SPS student writes:<\/em> “I am a single mother trying to juggle college (having to write a 25 page paper for senior seminar, a 11 page paper for a 200 level class which is insane to me) , work, homeschooling my 8 year and chasing a busy 1 year old around. All while trying to keep my household in order!”<\/p>\n

Q4: Please rate your experience with Trinity’s support for your family responsibilities:<\/strong><\/h2><\/span>\n

\"\"Of all the questions we asked in the survey, this one provides the most critical information and challenges Trinity to think harder and more expansively about how we provide services and support for students with children and family responsibilities.\u00a0 There was virtually no difference in the response pattern for CAS students so we are just presenting all responses here.<\/p>\n

Before providing some of the sample comments, here are some of the most critical issues:<\/p>\n