CEW+ is partnered with our sponsored student organization MCaSP, which is the home to the cross-campus Student Caregiver Excellence Committee and facilitates the caregivers and student parents ally group. We are thankful for the members of the Michigan community who are working with us and looking forward to all we can accomplish. If you would like to learn more about the resources available to student caregivers, click here. Please feel free to share this link with other faculty, staff, and students that can utilize this information.

• Three established groups focused on different types of advocacy for student caregivers: The Student Caregiver Excellence Committee, Student Caregiver Advisory Council, and Faculty & Staff Allies of Student Caregivers
• An updated list of resources specifically for student caregivers
• Development of Student Parent and Caregiver Study Rooms at Shapiro Library and in the CEW+ Library.
• Best Practices for Supporting Student Caregivers: This guide lists best practices for anyone working with student caregivers, as well as specific recommendations for both staff and faculty.
• Creating a Child-Friendly Space: This checklist of ideas is for faculty and staff interested in making their office/spaces on campus welcoming to students caring for children.
• Syllabus Statement: Creation and growing adoption of a student caregiver syllabus statement, now including a Title-IX specific statement detailing pregnancy and related conditions.

• Between 2002 and 2007, CEW+ led the Committee on Student Parent Issues and its successor, the Student Parent Policy Committee. These university-wide committees worked to address several key barriers to success experienced by U-M students with children. Through these committees, CEW+ contributed to the following outcomes:
  • Developing an estimate of the percentage of students with children (approximately 20%) based on two surveys of all U-M graduate and professional students, as well as undergraduates whose FAFSA forms indicated they had a dependent.
  • Creating the Students with Children website which now directly links to CEW+
  • Developing the U-M Campus Child Care Homes Network of state-licensed, home-based childcare providers
  • Recommending more part-time enrollment options for U-M graduate and professional students who must work to support their families.
  • Supporting the creation of a policy for paid parental leave for graduate student parents. 
  • Expanding the number of U-M bathrooms with diaper changing tables and “personal rooms” for lactation.

Printable resource card for distribution to student caregivers

CEW+ Program Assistant Selected as Parent Advisor for the Aspen Institute

Ascend at the Aspen Institute announced that 11 new Parent Advisors have joined its Postsecondary Success for Parents initiative to help shape Ascend’s expanded agenda to improve higher education policy and practice for student parents. Parent Advisors, who are current or former student parents, will be leading voices in the growing movement to address the needs of the one in five college students in the U.S. raising children.  From New York City to North Dakota and beyond, the new cohort of 2023 Parent Advisors reflect the varied experiences and dreams of students raising children.

Student Parent and Caregiver Study Room opens in Shapiro Library

The Shapiro Undergraduate Library opened the Student Parent and Caregiver Study Room on March 11 to provide a space for members of the Michigan Caregivers and Student Parents (MCaSP) group to study in comfort with their children.

Making Space for Caregivers

Pelton, who’s president of the Student Parent Advisory Board, decided to find a solution for herself and other students in her position. Working with her colleagues at CEW+, where she is a student parent program assistant, and the U-M Library, she helped create a dedicated study space in the Shapiro Library for student parents and caregivers. It’s a space where Pelton and others can go without worrying that they’ll draw unwanted attention or disrupt the work of others.

“I feel like I am almost a burden”: Student parents face hardships with in-person, virtual pandemic accommodations

The Michigan Daily spoke to student parents regarding their experience after the first month of in-person classes. Each student said they had to weigh many factors — like the age and number of their children and their access to family support — when deciding how to proceed this fall.

Michigan Caregivers & Student Parents (MCaSP)

• City officials, parents discuss decrease of child care options in Ann Arbor at town hall
  

  Michigan Caregivers and Student Parents (MCaSP) sat down with elected officials and child care providers on Friday evening to discuss the state of child care in Washtenaw County. The panel discussed how the pandemic affected and revealed disparities in the availability of child care and the need for increased federal and state funding.

• 5 key issues facing child care in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County
  

  A cross section of child care workers and advocates from Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan were joined by elected leaders from the city of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County and the state Friday, Oct. 29, at the Michigan Union to brainstorm ways to promote higher wages for child care workers and how to better support child care providers in the area. The event was hosted by Michigan Caregivers and Student Parents.

CEW+ News: Fall 2021

In this issue, we highlight our current work to advocate for student caregivers and share the voices of U-M student caregivers past and present. You will read about students excelling at Michigan while raising children or caring for their aging parents. You meet the members of our Student Parent Excellence Committee (page 10) and learn how we can all work to ensure an inclusive definition of caregiving (page 18). We are proud to work side by side with administrators, staff members and faculty who want to lift up these student stories to create greater change and help U-M live into our promise of the “uncommon education” for all.

Student parents face hardships with in-person, virtual pandemic accommodations

Tiffany Marra, director of Center for the Education of Women+, said she empathizes with the extra struggles that student parents face this fall. “A lot of the accommodations that were provided while campus was closed are starting to be retracted,” Marra said. “It is complicated for students and staff with children younger than age 12. There are shortages at childcare centers because of lack of workers because of low pay. Title IX protects pregnant students and they can have accommodations. The same rights don’t extend to student parents, unfortunately. Some schools recognize student parents under Title IX (but) we haven’t gotten there at U-M.”

Student parents talk struggles of academia, work-life balance during the pandemic

To address the issue of work-life balance with children during the pandemic, Micol said she would urge the departments and faculty to reach out to their non-traditional students with children and ask how they can help. “I think for non-traditional students, it’s a real struggle in academia to feel like you belong,” Micol said. “And I feel like the pandemic has made it so we’re kind of sitting silently in our anguish, and it’s like proof they don’t want us here, and that’s really hard. But just asking, even if there’s nothing that they can do, feels like, ‘I want you here and I want to figure out how I can help you.’”

Promoting the Success of Students Who Are Parents

“Having a more balanced perspective about the diversity of students in the classroom can lead to greater inclusion, especially when those insights lead to changes in pedagogy that validate unique life experiences. Students will often hide their identity as parents for fear of being perceived as less committed to their coursework by the instructor or peers. In reality, student parents are some of the most focused and resourceful students on campus, as demonstrated by their ability to balance school, work, and parental responsibilities. In many cases, student parents also commute to campus so they can live near affordable childcare.”

Hidden Population: Undergraduate student parents advocate for more resources

“Nationally, student parents make up a significant population of college students, representing more than 1 in every 5 undergraduates. About 70 percent of those student parents are mothers. Of the 3.8 million undergraduate student parents in the country, approximately 17 percent attend public, 4-year universities like the University of Michigan.”

Op-Ed: Supporting parents during the COVID-19 pandemic

“Student parents comprise a largely invisible population at the University of Michigan, despite hundreds of us being enrolled in undergraduate, professional and graduate programs. When the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the closure of childcare centers and K-12 schools, we were left to our own devices to figure out how to complete coursework, teach remotely, conduct research and make progress on our dissertations while simultaneously caring for and educating our own children. With no access to childcare, our academic progress has taken a serious hit. Here are our stories.”

CEW+ Guide: “Helping Students with Children Graduate: Taking Your College Services to the Next Level”

Under the Michigan Partners Project grant, CEW+, lead by former CEW+ staff member Beth Sullivan, created the guide “Helping Students with Children Graduate: Taking Your College Services to the Next Level“ to help Michigan colleges build and improve their support programs for student parents. The report outlines unique challenges faced by these students and links readers to model programs in the areas of academic & social support, child care, financial support, housing, and health care. It also identifies and links to sources of state, federal, and non-profit assistance.

The Student Caregiver Excellence Committee (SCEC) is led by CEW+ in collaboration with partners across campus. We are working to reduce or eliminate obstacles for student parents and caregivers demonstrating excellence.

Group Leads:
Barbara Anderson, Ronald Freedman Collegiate Professor, Sociology & Population Studies
Paul Artale, Program Manager-Graduate Student Engagement, Rackham
Nicole Banks, Dean of Students Office, Student Life
Beth Dutridge-Corp, LSA Dean’s Office
Tu’Rone Elliott, Medical School, Academic Counselor, Medical School
Kelley Emerson, Assistant Director, Science Learning Center
Allyson Flaster, ICPSR. Institute for Social Research
Reginald Hammond, Program Manager, Medical School
Paula Hathaway, Manager of Graduate Education, LSA
Melissa Lee, Student Support, Michigan Engineering
Tom Lehker, Ombuds, Student Life
Stephanie Leiser, Lecturer, Ford School of Public Publicy
Tiffany Marra, Director, CEW+
Alice Mishkin, Graduate Student, LSA
Jeanne Murabito, Director, Office of Student Affairs, Michigan Engineering
Analidis Ochoa, Graduate Student, SSW
Jessica Pelton, Student Caregiver Coordinator, CEW+
Yatesha Robinson, Director, Lecturer IV in Social Work, School of Social Work
Lyss Shumaker, Alumni, LSA
Taylor Sims, Director, LSA Opportunity Hub, College of Lit, Science, & Arts
Amy Szczepanski, Work-Life Resource Center, Human Resources
Ida Faye Webster, Director of Program Review, Rackham

Interested in becoming a member of SCEC?  Complete this form

Faculty and Staff Allies drive change by providing guidance to students, faculty & staff in their unit about how to best support student caregivers.  Are you seeking guidance on how to support student caregivers or are you a student caregiver in need of support? Find an ally in your unit

The Allies group is comprised of:

• Lecturers, Tenure track, Tenured Faculty, Clinical Faculty, Research Faculty, Post-docs
• Staff
• Members from all units

The goals of the Allies group are to:

• Assist student parents as they navigate challenges and provide warm referrals to resources on campus.
• Provide support to colleagues who may have questions about how to best support student parents.

Interested in becoming an ally?  Complete this form

The Student Caregiver Advisory Council is led by student parents and caregivers across campus with support from CEW+. The SCAC is working to reduce and eliminate obstacles for student parents and caregivers. 

Members of the Student Caregiver Advisory Council:
Anj Anatalio, Graduate Student, Social Work
Andre Fils Antoine, Graduate Student, Applied Physics
Jill Charbonneau, Undergraduate, Cognitive Science & Sociology
Michael Cloud, Graduate Student, Education
Nyimasata Damba Danjo, Graduate Student, Biology
Monica Dibley, Graduate Student, Chemistry
Sumeyra Emre, Postdoc Research Fellow, Chemical Engineering
Bethany Emery, Graduate Student, Nursing
Kerrigan Fitzpatrick-Pellerito, Graduate Student, Educational Studies
Patrick Gallagher, Undergraduate Student, Philosophy, Politics, and Econ
Shantaisa King, Undergraduate, Information
John Kopelman, Undergraduate Student
Caitlin LaFontaine, Graduate Student, Higher Education
Julia Martinez-Hussein, Graduate Student, Public Health
Kinjal Mavani, Graduate Student, Dentistry
Jessica Pelton, Student Caregiver Liaison, CEW+
Danae Ross, Graduate Student, Social Work & Sociology
Yael Ross, Graduate Student, Educational Studies
Mariama Salifu, Graduate Student, Biomedical Engineering
Melissa Scully, Graduate Student, Nursing
Morgan Singleton, Undergraduate, Psychology
Alexis Tait, Graduate Student, Information
Sam Toia, Undergraduate Student, Sociology
Marie Tuyisenge, Graduate Student, Nursing
Tisha Tyson, Graduate Student, Public Policy
Aissa Wandarama, Graduate Student, Public Policy
Brandon Watson, Undergraduate, Information
Jennifer Zamudio, Graduate Student, Industrial & Operations Engineering

Interested in joining the SCAC?  Complete this form