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Good afternoon,
everyone, and thank you for joining us.

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My name is Allyson Cornett,

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and I am the Director of Research here
at Trellis Strategies.

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And I’m joined today by Dr.

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Paula Kim-Christian from EdTrust in Texas.

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And today’s session is called On the Books
Off Their Radar:

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Closing the Gap
for Student Parents in Texas.

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Just a few quick housekeeping items one.

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We are recording today’s session
and we will share both the recording

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and the slides
with everyone who registered.

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Please feel free to drop your questions
in the Q&A box as they come up,

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rather than waiting until the end,
because we have saved about ten minutes

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here at the end for as many questions
as we can get to.

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And if you have a technical question
or issue

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about zoom or anything else, the chat
would be the best place for that.

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And with that, let’s
go ahead and get started here.

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So just a quick word on who we are.

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Trellis Strategies is a research
and technical assistance partner

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that is focused on education and workforce
development.

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We’ve been supporting student success work
for more than four decades,

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and have surveyed over 9 million students
since 2018,

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and have worked with about 525 partners
since 2023.

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And then a little bit about me and Paula.

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I have been at Trellis since 2017,
which is really hard to believe

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as we’re coming up on ten years here
and I lead our

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mixed
methods and qualitative research team.

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My background is actually in applied
anthropology

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and public health and that really shapes
how I look at this work.

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I think of higher education as one of the
strongest predictors that we have

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of long term health, stability
and quality of life, which means that

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the barriers we’re talking about today
aren’t just academic problems.

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This lens is also personal.

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I watched my own parents
work, stretch their budgets,

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and sacrifice to finish their degrees
while raising me.

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So the students that we’re discussing
today aren’t abstract to me.

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My research

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typically focuses on basic
needs, mental health, financial wellness,

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and the experiences of student parents
and other modern learners.

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Recently,
Bryan Ashton, my Managing Director,

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and I coauthored a chapter
in Mental Health in College,

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which is out from Harvard
Education Press earlier this year.

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And the chapter was on how rising
college costs drive financial stress

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and form mental health,

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particularly for caregivers and students
facing basic needs insecurity.

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And with that, I will hand it to Paula.

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Thanks, Allyson.

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Good afternoon everyone.

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I’m so glad that you’re here today
joining today’s conversation.

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My name is Paula Kim-Christian,
and I’m the higher

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education policy research fellow
with EdTrust in Texas.

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EdTrust is a national nonprofit
based in Washington, DC,

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and is celebrating 30 years
as the nation’s leading voice

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for education excellence by improving
federal and state systems and advocating

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to ensure all students,
especially those too often overlooked

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and underserved, can access the
educational opportunities they deserve.

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We’ve had a presence here
on the ground in Texas since 2020,

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partnering with students, families,
educators, and other advocates

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to advance policies
that expand opportunity

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from early childhood
through college and career.

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We envision a Texas
where every student learns in a safe

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and welcoming environment,
is supported by effective educators,

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attends well-resourced schools and
institutions, and graduates with a clear

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pathway to economic opportunity.

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Perfect.

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So before we get into the Texas
specific data,

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I just want to give some context
and who we’re talking about today.

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So we know that parenting students
are not a niche population.

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Roughly 1 in 5 students
nationwide is raising a child

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while they’re enrolled in post-secondary
education.

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That’s a substantial presence
on nearly every campus in the country.

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Whether or not that institution knows it.

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What makes the experiences of student
parents different is that their motivation

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or their ability
is that they are managing coursework

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on top of caregiving, employment,
and running a household.

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And the through line
and almost everything we hear from

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these students is simply time scarcity.

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There just isn’t enough time
to get everything done.

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So we know that parenting students
are highly motivated.

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They maintain GPAs comparable to their non
parenting peers.

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So again, this is not a story
about academic preparation or capability.

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But they’re also more likely to attend
part time and be older.

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Student parents are nearly twice
as likely to stop out.

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And they make up 35% of adults

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across the country
who have some college and no credential.

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Unfortunately, only 18% of student parents

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earn a bachelor’s or associate degree
within six years,

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compared with 27% of independent students

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and 54% of dependent students
who are not parenting.

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So again, the gap here
isn’t how in how these students perform.

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It’s in whether the structures around them
are set up to let them succeed

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and finish.

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And Texas is actually done
something about this.

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We had three bills passed in 2023.

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And they are kind of the backbone

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of everything
that we’re going to talk about today.

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So first with HB 1361, it does two things.

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One, HB 1361 requires institutions

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to designate a campus liaison
for parenting students.

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So someone who can connect them
to childcare, transportation,

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public benefits,
financial aid, and academic support.

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HB 1361 also requires institutions

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to collect and report data
on parenting students for the first time.

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We also have SB 459.

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This is also passed in 2023,
which extends priority registration

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to parenting students when institutions
already offer it to other student groups.

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And this is a really a key factor here,
because scheduling is often

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the single hardest constraint
that these students

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And lastly,
Senate Bill 412 prohibits discrimination

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and requires reasonable accommodations
related to pregnancy

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and childbirth.

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And so going back to HB 1361
this data requirement,

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it was what gives us
our first real statewide picture.

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And it’s where Paula
is going to pick up in these slides here.

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The liaison and priority registration
pieces are what

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I will come back to you later when we look
at whether students actually know

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whether these supports exist
and if they’re using these supports.

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And with that, I’ll hand it off to Paula
to take it away.

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Thanks, Allyson.

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So let’s start with the high level view

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of what we know or have estimated
about parenting students.

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The SPARK Collaborative estimates
that there are over 3 million

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undergraduates across the United States
who are student parents.

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So roughly 1 in 5 based on nationwide data
from 2020.

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9% of undergraduates in public four year

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institutions and 22% of undergraduates
in community and technical colleges

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are student parents,
though they note that this is likely

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an undercount due to data collection
interruptions related to Covid.

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New America also produced

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they produced state level estimates

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also being very conservative
in their methodology.

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Importantly,
the 229,600 estimate for Texas

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reflects parents enrolled in undergraduate
degree programs only

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and does not include those enrolled
in certificate programs.

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And as Allyson described earlier,
Texas passed HB 1361

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in June 2023 to support pregnant
and parenting students.

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HB 1361 requires

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public higher education institutions
to document student parenting enrollment

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and collect academic and demographic info.

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HB 1361 also requires institutions

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to designate
an employee to serve as a liaison.

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So a few notes about our methodology.

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We brought together three data sources.

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The Parenting Student Survey
conducted by the Texas Higher Education

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Coordinating Board in spring 2025.

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Spring 2025
six state has not yet publicly available.

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The spring 2025
certified enrollment count and

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the THECB 2025 Almanac.

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This descriptive snapshot reflects
a sample of 85 public institutions.

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We chose not to include public health
related institutions.

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Only half submitted data to the THECB

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though it’s unclear why this was the case.

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We also did
not include three institutions due

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to excessive missing data
or reports of very low enrollment.

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And we also chose not to include
some academic measures.

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Due to mass data,

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small counts of enrolled student parents,
and definitional ambiguity.

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So here we have
our top line findings at the state level.

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So again this is a descriptive snapshot
that reflects the student

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parents identified
among the sample of institutions

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and is therefore an undercount

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of the actual number of student
parents in Texas higher education.

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So I encourage us to exercise caution
when interpreting these numbers.

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They shouldn’t be viewed as definitive,

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but they do present
an informative partial picture.

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But that said, we found that 8% of all
enrolled students

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were identified as student parents
among reporting institutions.

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4% students Student parents represented
4% of statewide

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enrollment and four year
public institutions in spring 2025.

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And this is not that far off from SPARK

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Collective’s national estimate of 9%,
as mentioned earlier.

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And we found that 10% of statewide
enrollment in two year public institutions

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in Texas were student parents,

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which is less than half of SPARK
collaboratives national estimate of 22%.

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We’re not

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quite sure why these numbers are lower
than the National Estimate.

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The total 86,635

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student parents, as reported by HB
1361, is much smaller than New America’s

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estimate of nearly 230,000
undergraduates in Texas.

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It’s possible that there’s
a learning curve associated

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with identifying student parents
as required by HB 1361.

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The next wave of data for spring 2026,

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which I noted

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earlier, is not yet publicly available,
but we expect it to be very informative

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to see if this is a trend
or if there’s a if there’s,

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improved reporting from the institutions.

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If we can go to the next slide.

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So let’s take a quick
look at the characteristics of student

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parents identified in this sample
of of 85 public institutions.

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We found that 67%
are 25 years old or over.

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So they’re considered adult learners.

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77% are students of color.

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76% are women.

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And if we go to the next slide,

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we can see that 66% are part

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time students and 75% attend two year
public institutions.

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So this slide and the following one looks

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at the prevalence of student parents
at the institution level.

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The y axis represents the percentage of
student student parents in an institution.

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The blue vertical bars
represent the public four year

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institutions in our sample.

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And the eight vertical bar.

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The orange vertical bars represent public
two year institutions of technical

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two year
colleges and technical institutions.

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The horizontal lines

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indicate the estimated percentage
of student parents nationwide.

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So the dashed blue line, is the estimated

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9% of student parents
in public four year institutions.

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The dashed orange line is the nationwide

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estimate of 22%
for public two year institutions.

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Among the 85 in our sample, three

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community college and technical colleges

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reported a greater percentage of students

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being student parents
than the national estimate.

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And we have nine four year institutions
that reported

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having more than 9% of their student body,
being student parents.

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In this scatterplot, builds on
the information from the previous slide.

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So y axis again

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reflects the percentage of student parents
in an institution.

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While the x axis is the number of student
parents enrolled.

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The orange dots
represent two year institutions

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and the blue dots
represent four year institutions.

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And if we can see in the top left
we can see that blue dots.

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So four-year
institutions reported higher percentages

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of student of their student body
being student parents.

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But if you look

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at the right side of the scatterplot,
we find that five institutions

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with the largest number of student parents
enrolled

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were all community college systems.

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And with that, I’ll hand

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it back over to Allyson.

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Thanks, Paula.

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So what does administrative data
can’t tell?

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What administrative data tells us
is that these students,

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who they are
and roughly how many they are,

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you know, we do anticipate
that there is an undercount.

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00:14:21,360 –> 00:14:24,320
Just based on the first year
of the survey

237
00:14:24,320 –> 00:14:27,160
and also some missing institutions.

238
00:14:27,160 –> 00:14:30,160
But what this data can’t tell us
is whether these students know

239
00:14:30,200 –> 00:14:33,160
any of these supports exists.

240
00:14:33,160 –> 00:14:36,000
So that is where our survey work comes in,

241
00:14:36,000 –> 00:14:38,800
where we are drawing on two surveys today.

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00:14:38,800 –> 00:14:44,120
The first is our 2025 Student
Financial Wellness Survey or SFWS.

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00:14:44,120 –> 00:14:45,960
This includes.

244
00:14:45,960 –> 00:14:50,800
This administration
includes 65,816 undergraduates

245
00:14:51,000 –> 00:14:55,640
across 153 colleges and universities
in 23 states.

246
00:14:56,240 –> 00:15:01,120
For today,
we have narrowed that down to 3,925

247
00:15:01,120 –> 00:15:04,280
parenting students
at 42 Texas institutions.

248
00:15:05,280 –> 00:15:08,280
The second survey is a little bit newer.

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00:15:08,320 –> 00:15:11,880
This summer, we fielded a Texas
Parenting Student Survey

250
00:15:11,920 –> 00:15:14,920
specifically to look at the

251
00:15:16,080 –> 00:15:19,120
kind of different supports
from those bills

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00:15:19,120 –> 00:15:22,320
that Paula and I just walked through.

253
00:15:22,360 –> 00:15:26,200
So this included 397 currently enrolled

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00:15:26,200 –> 00:15:30,000
parenting students
across 49 Texas institutions.

255
00:15:30,200 –> 00:15:33,320
And we’re really pleased
to see the respondent demographics

256
00:15:33,480 –> 00:15:36,920
line up pretty closely
with previous statewide estimates.

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00:15:37,160 –> 00:15:41,120
Although we did have our mothers
slightly overrepresented.

258
00:15:41,160 –> 00:15:44,040
So keep that in mind as we go.

259
00:15:44,040 –> 00:15:46,920
And the reason that both of these surveys
matter

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00:15:46,920 –> 00:15:52,440
is that this data can fill a gap
that administrative data can’t by itself.

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00:15:52,840 –> 00:15:55,880
A compliance report
might tell you that a student exists,

262
00:15:56,160 –> 00:15:59,720
but it doesn’t tell you
whether the student knows

263
00:15:59,760 –> 00:16:04,000
the liaison on her campus exists
or if she views those supports.

264
00:16:06,760 –> 00:16:08,120
So to kind of put this

265
00:16:08,120 –> 00:16:11,960
into context for us,
these are just some data points

266
00:16:11,960 –> 00:16:15,520
that our team pool together on Texas
parenting students.

267
00:16:15,720 –> 00:16:20,640
So these are all sourced from either the
2025 Student Financial Wellness Survey.

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00:16:20,680 –> 00:16:25,920
Among those 3,925 parenting students, or

269
00:16:27,400 –> 00:16:30,320
from our 2026 Summer

270
00:16:30,320 –> 00:16:33,160
Texas Parenting Student Survey.

271
00:16:33,160 –> 00:16:36,200
So not going to read this whole slide,
but just want to

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00:16:36,240 –> 00:16:38,080
have y’all take some time to digest.

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00:16:38,080 –> 00:16:41,080
And I am going to pull out a few numbers
that kind of set

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00:16:41,080 –> 00:16:44,080
the context here
for our discussion today.

275
00:16:44,280 –> 00:16:48,080
One obviously up here at the top left 80%.

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00:16:48,080 –> 00:16:52,000
So 4 or 5 of these student parents
experienced financial challenges

277
00:16:52,160 –> 00:16:56,160
while they were enrolled in college,
and 73% would have trouble

278
00:16:56,200 –> 00:17:00,160
getting $500 in cash or credit
in case of an emergency.

279
00:17:00,720 –> 00:17:04,120
So these students are often
financially vulnerable,

280
00:17:04,360 –> 00:17:07,360
maybe living on the edge a little bit.

281
00:17:07,680 –> 00:17:11,520
This translates into experiencing
basic needs insecurities, where we saw

282
00:17:11,520 –> 00:17:17,040
61% of our student parents in Texas report
experiencing housing insecurity.

283
00:17:17,320 –> 00:17:21,200
A similar percentage,
56%, had experienced food

284
00:17:21,200 –> 00:17:24,680
insecurity
within 30 days prior to taking the survey.

285
00:17:25,240 –> 00:17:27,720
And we also saw one
and two of these student parents

286
00:17:27,720 –> 00:17:29,680
reported receiving public assistance.

287
00:17:31,120 –> 00:17:32,480
These students are also

288
00:17:32,480 –> 00:17:36,640
putting in a lot of hours
across a lot of different buckets here.

289
00:17:36,720 –> 00:17:40,600
So 63% of these student
parents are working 40 hours a week

290
00:17:40,600 –> 00:17:42,520
if they have a job.

291
00:17:42,520 –> 00:17:44,840
A similar percentage,
almost three in five,

292
00:17:44,840 –> 00:17:47,840
are providing over 40 hours
of care a week.

293
00:17:47,920 –> 00:17:52,800
And then this leads to in our summer 2026
Texas Parenting Student Survey,

294
00:17:53,040 –> 00:17:57,040
47% of our respondents to that
survey said that they admit or change

295
00:17:57,040 –> 00:18:00,040
classes due to childcare conflicts.

296
00:18:01,520 –> 00:18:05,120
So this last one is kind of a number
I’d like us to sit with for a minute.

297
00:18:05,240 –> 00:18:08,560
These are students who are actively
missing out on instruction

298
00:18:08,560 –> 00:18:12,320
and class activity,
not because they’re disengaged,

299
00:18:12,320 –> 00:18:15,320
but because their childcare fell through.

300
00:18:18,240 –> 00:18:19,400
And then on this

301
00:18:19,400 –> 00:18:22,680
next slide, I just wanted to highlight
some student voices.

302
00:18:22,720 –> 00:18:26,720
So these are student quotes
from two parenting students

303
00:18:26,720 –> 00:18:30,640
who wrote in to the 2025 Student
Financial Wellness Survey.

304
00:18:31,040 –> 00:18:34,120
And you can kind of read them here, but

305
00:18:34,720 –> 00:18:37,640
really making sure that we are

306
00:18:37,640 –> 00:18:40,640
highlighting what these students
are saying in their own words.

307
00:18:40,640 –> 00:18:45,200
So the first student said college is hard
with children, but if you push through,

308
00:18:45,240 –> 00:18:49,120
your kids will be able to witness
their parent doing something amazing.

309
00:18:50,160 –> 00:18:51,400
The second student said

310
00:18:51,400 –> 00:18:54,840
it’s very hard to continue studying
while taking care of a child.

311
00:18:55,120 –> 00:18:59,040
If there are on-campus supports available
the opportunity for parents

312
00:18:59,040 –> 00:19:02,040
to study and work dramatically increases.

313
00:19:04,240 –> 00:19:07,240
Now let’s get into some survey
findings here.

314
00:19:07,440 –> 00:19:11,280
So Texas law says that parenting students
get priority registration

315
00:19:11,320 –> 00:19:14,280
when institutions
offer it to other groups.

316
00:19:14,280 –> 00:19:17,080
And here’s what students told us.

317
00:19:17,080 –> 00:19:19,920
62% did not know whether their institution

318
00:19:19,920 –> 00:19:22,920
offer priority registration at all.

319
00:19:23,160 –> 00:19:25,680
79%, so nearly four in five

320
00:19:25,680 –> 00:19:29,160
were unaware that they might be entitled
to that priority registration.

321
00:19:29,280 –> 00:19:31,960
What is offered to other student groups.

322
00:19:31,960 –> 00:19:35,640
And only 18%,
so fewer than 1 in 5 reported

323
00:19:35,680 –> 00:19:39,400
actually receiving priority registration
at the time of the survey,

324
00:19:39,560 –> 00:19:44,800
which was about two and a half years
after implementation of these laws.

325
00:19:47,640 –> 00:19:49,520
But some positives here.

326
00:19:49,520 –> 00:19:53,520
The students who received a priority
registration

327
00:19:53,560 –> 00:19:58,880
had a good experience,
so 94% said that the process was easy

328
00:19:59,200 –> 00:20:03,880
and nearly 80% said that priority
registration had helped them align

329
00:20:03,920 –> 00:20:07,840
their class schedule with their child care
availability and set up.

330
00:20:07,920 –> 00:20:09,400
Which is right.

331
00:20:09,400 –> 00:20:13,200
The ultimate goal of of this law in
these bills

332
00:20:13,200 –> 00:20:17,520
is to make these color
scheduling work for these students.

333
00:20:18,680 –> 00:20:21,320
So this isn’t a policy that doesn’t work.

334
00:20:21,320 –> 00:20:25,560
It is directly addressing a scheduling
problem that these students face.

335
00:20:25,720 –> 00:20:28,800
It’s just a policy that most students
don’t know exists.

336
00:20:32,240 –> 00:20:35,320
The liaison picture
here is a little bit starker.

337
00:20:35,320 –> 00:20:37,360
So when we checked in
on the parenting student

338
00:20:37,360 –> 00:20:41,720
liaisons that are required by law
for public institutions in Texas,

339
00:20:41,960 –> 00:20:44,880
12% of our parenting students were aware

340
00:20:44,880 –> 00:20:50,480
of a liaison requirement, 10%
knew how to contact the liaison,

341
00:20:50,760 –> 00:20:54,240
but only 3% had actually interacted
with a liaison.

342
00:20:55,040 –> 00:20:58,800
And among those very small
group of students who didn’t know

343
00:20:58,800 –> 00:21:04,800
about the liaison, 45% said
the contact information was hard to find.

344
00:21:06,520 –> 00:21:07,240
Again, a

345
00:21:07,240 –> 00:21:11,320
positive finding here among
those 3% of students who had interacted

346
00:21:11,320 –> 00:21:17,160
with a liaison, 61% said that interaction
was helpful or extremely helpful.

347
00:21:17,920 –> 00:21:21,520
So again, these supports work
when students reach it,

348
00:21:21,680 –> 00:21:24,680
but almost none of them
are actually getting to that step.

349
00:21:25,040 –> 00:21:28,280
And then this brings us
to our kind of research

350
00:21:28,280 –> 00:21:31,360
to practice slide on what to do about it.

351
00:21:31,440 –> 00:21:34,280
And I would like to highlight for things
here.

352
00:21:34,280 –> 00:21:37,680
One making supports
visible and accessible.

353
00:21:38,600 –> 00:21:42,480
I think this is the the biggest lever
that we have and the cheapest one.

354
00:21:42,560 –> 00:21:45,800
So putting parenting student supports
on a central web page

355
00:21:45,880 –> 00:21:49,560
in the student portal,
highlighting this at orientation,

356
00:21:49,560 –> 00:21:52,760
and also in syllabi statements
can really help here.

357
00:21:54,400 –> 00:21:59,000
Also, we want to recommend that folks
embed these supports in everyday

358
00:21:59,040 –> 00:22:00,040
touchpoints.

359
00:22:00,040 –> 00:22:01,320
So registration

360
00:22:01,320 –> 00:22:04,800
and advisor communications are
where these students are already are at.

361
00:22:05,240 –> 00:22:09,120
And if you have staff across
financial aid, student affairs

362
00:22:09,240 –> 00:22:10,520
and or faculty,

363
00:22:10,520 –> 00:22:14,200
if they know how to identify a parenting
student and make that warm referral

364
00:22:14,240 –> 00:22:16,400
to the liaison,
that can make all the difference

365
00:22:16,400 –> 00:22:18,680
for these students
who are strapped for time

366
00:22:18,680 –> 00:22:22,000
and might not have time to search out
for this liaison on their own.

367
00:22:23,760 –> 00:22:24,440
Then if we can

368
00:22:24,440 –> 00:22:28,520
also kind of highlighting here
reducing administrative friction.

369
00:22:28,600 –> 00:22:31,600
So just setting clear eligibility
processes,

370
00:22:31,760 –> 00:22:34,800
automating priority registration
when that’s possible,

371
00:22:35,040 –> 00:22:39,200
and stop making students kind of disclose
their situation over and over.

372
00:22:39,320 –> 00:22:43,440
Ideally students are kind of signaling
just once a semester

373
00:22:43,440 –> 00:22:46,440
if they are a parenting
or pregnant student.

374
00:22:46,560 –> 00:22:50,200
And then again
strengthening state and system support.

375
00:22:50,360 –> 00:22:54,440
So having model language,
common reporting expectations,

376
00:22:54,560 –> 00:22:58,080
implementation
checklists, and pamphlets for two-

377
00:22:58,080 –> 00:23:01,480
and four-year institutions to share
what is working with their peers.

378
00:23:02,040 –> 00:23:06,880
Also want to highlight continued data
collection here, so we can eventually see

379
00:23:07,120 –> 00:23:10,000
whether greater awareness
of these resources actually

380
00:23:10,000 –> 00:23:13,000
moves persistence and completion.

381
00:23:13,160 –> 00:23:17,400
And that last point, and data is actually
a really good handoff to Paula

382
00:23:17,480 –> 00:23:19,080
who’s got some data to share on

383
00:23:19,080 –> 00:23:22,120
one of the biggest public
assistance levers that we have out there.

384
00:23:22,960 –> 00:23:24,200
Thanks, Allyson.

385
00:23:24,200 –> 00:23:28,800
So now we’re pivoting slightly,
but still building from the graphic

386
00:23:28,840 –> 00:23:33,560
that Allyson highlighted earlier,
particularly the point that 56% of student

387
00:23:33,560 –> 00:23:37,920
parents reported food insecurity,
and that one of the codified

388
00:23:37,920 –> 00:23:42,680
roles for liaisons is to help students
connect with public benefits programs.

389
00:23:42,920 –> 00:23:47,120
So one resource that is potentially
available to students parents is SNAP,

390
00:23:47,240 –> 00:23:51,160
formerly known as Food stamps,
to help low income households buy food.

391
00:23:51,160 –> 00:23:54,160
EdTrust received data from HHSC

392
00:23:54,440 –> 00:23:58,080
through a public information request
to see how Snap eligibility

393
00:23:58,120 –> 00:24:01,120
among students in higher education
had changed over time.

394
00:24:01,400 –> 00:24:04,680
And eligibility is determined
by enrollment status.

395
00:24:04,920 –> 00:24:09,040
Students enrolled less than half time
qualify through other requirements.

396
00:24:09,320 –> 00:24:14,520
Students enrolled at least half time
are not immediately eligible for SNAP,

397
00:24:14,600 –> 00:24:17,360
and they need to qualify
through student exemptions.

398
00:24:17,360 –> 00:24:22,000
And this data reflects a subset
of students enrolled at least half time.

399
00:24:22,400 –> 00:24:25,400
So the headline here is

400
00:24:26,240 –> 00:24:29,320
on SNAP eligibility among students
enrolled at least have time,

401
00:24:29,320 –> 00:24:33,200
is that there has been a steady increase
in the number of SNAP applicants that met

402
00:24:33,240 –> 00:24:37,200
eligibility requirements as you can see
represented by the blue line.

403
00:24:37,560 –> 00:24:41,000
Between fiscal year 2021 and 2025,

404
00:24:41,080 –> 00:24:45,240
the number of eligible applicants
increased by more than 4.7 times.

405
00:24:45,560 –> 00:24:50,120
In fiscal year 2021 we had above

406
00:24:50,840 –> 00:24:55,240
just under 17,000 SNAP applicants
who are eligible.

407
00:24:55,320 –> 00:25:00,040
And by 2025,
that number had increased to over 78,000.

408
00:25:00,480 –> 00:25:03,720
The most dramatic spike
the most dramatic spike increase

409
00:25:03,760 –> 00:25:07,320
occurred in 2025,
nearly doubling year over year.

410
00:25:07,480 –> 00:25:11,920
And interestingly, the count of SNAP
applicants found ineligible

411
00:25:12,000 –> 00:25:15,120
has remained steady at under 900
students, as

412
00:25:15,120 –> 00:25:18,120
can be seen in the Orange Line.

413
00:25:18,400 –> 00:25:22,560
We’re not sure what’s driving this spike,
and we don’t know if this is a fluke,

414
00:25:22,560 –> 00:25:25,840
but it’ll be interesting to see
if this trend

415
00:25:26,720 –> 00:25:29,720
remains the same in the next fiscal year.

416
00:25:30,080 –> 00:25:35,840
There are multiple exemption categories
for students to become eligible for SNAP.

417
00:25:35,960 –> 00:25:39,240
Here, this in this graph, we focus on

418
00:25:39,760 –> 00:25:42,720
as exemptions associated with caregiving.

419
00:25:42,720 –> 00:25:45,720
There are others associated
with employment.

420
00:25:45,720 –> 00:25:49,440
But here we’re looking at single parents

421
00:25:49,440 –> 00:25:52,840
in identified as the bold blue line.

422
00:25:52,960 –> 00:25:56,520
Who are students enrolled

423
00:25:56,520 –> 00:25:59,680
full time
and caring for a child under 12 years old.

424
00:25:59,760 –> 00:26:02,760
Cares of of dependent children

425
00:26:03,240 –> 00:26:06,240
identified in the bold orange line

426
00:26:06,320 –> 00:26:09,960
are defined as caring for a student
for a child.

427
00:26:09,960 –> 00:26:10,400
Excuse me?

428
00:26:10,400 –> 00:26:13,360
Under 12 years old
and lacking necessary care support.

429
00:26:14,320 –> 00:26:15,560
So we can see that there’s a

430
00:26:15,560 –> 00:26:20,200
general upward
trend between fiscal year 2021 and 2025.

431
00:26:20,320 –> 00:26:25,760
And in fiscal year 2025,
single parents accounted for 61% of care

432
00:26:25,880 –> 00:26:31,400
related exemptions, and cares
of dependent children comprise 39%.

433
00:26:32,000 –> 00:26:36,520
And the number of eligible
SNAP applicants who were single parents

434
00:26:36,520 –> 00:26:41,400
increased by more than 6.6 times
between 2021 and 2025.

435
00:26:41,560 –> 00:26:45,880
And exemptions for cares of a dependent
child increased over ten times,

436
00:26:46,040 –> 00:26:49,760
and both are greater than the overall
trend of

437
00:26:49,760 –> 00:26:52,760
4.7 times shared in the previous slide.

438
00:26:53,280 –> 00:26:57,400
So I know we took a quick detour
to share some findings about SNAP,

439
00:26:57,600 –> 00:27:01,200
but we wanted to bring things back
to student parents.

440
00:27:01,360 –> 00:27:07,040
We view data as an essential resource
to inform policy and practice,

441
00:27:07,200 –> 00:27:10,440
but the data must be accurate,
accessible,

442
00:27:10,440 –> 00:27:13,440
and actionable for decision makers
and practitioners.

443
00:27:13,440 –> 00:27:16,240
So in closing,
you want to share a few opportunities

444
00:27:16,240 –> 00:27:17,160
that we think are worth

445
00:27:17,160 –> 00:27:20,160
pursuing to strengthen data
for student parents in Texas.

446
00:27:20,360 –> 00:27:25,240
First, I want to emphasize the vital
importance of elevating student voices.

447
00:27:25,240 –> 00:27:28,920
And I’m so glad that Allyson
spotlighted a couple here today.

448
00:27:29,320 –> 00:27:32,680
In the near term, in the near term,
we encourage

449
00:27:32,840 –> 00:27:35,720
sharing promising collection
methods across institutions

450
00:27:35,720 –> 00:27:37,840
like those being developed within the Data

451
00:27:37,840 –> 00:27:40,960
to Action Campaign for Parenting Students
that’s being spearheaded

452
00:27:41,400 –> 00:27:42,840
by the Urban Institute.

453
00:27:42,840 –> 00:27:47,240
We encourage seizing opportunities
to link internal sources, including

454
00:27:47,240 –> 00:27:50,240
financial aid data, when institution

455
00:27:50,240 –> 00:27:53,560
updates their data management systems.

456
00:27:53,680 –> 00:27:56,560
And we encourage in the near term
to incorporate robust

457
00:27:56,560 –> 00:27:59,720
data already
collected through Apply Texas,

458
00:27:59,720 –> 00:28:03,360
including the number and age of students,
of children, of student parents.

459
00:28:04,160 –> 00:28:08,440
In the longer term, we encourage
leveraging existing THECB collection

460
00:28:08,440 –> 00:28:12,760
methods like Apply Texas to provide
institutions with student parent reports

461
00:28:12,760 –> 00:28:16,600
so that data collection and data
reporting is a two way street.

462
00:28:17,520 –> 00:28:20,160
We also encourage utilizing

463
00:28:20,160 –> 00:28:24,440
THECB data infrastructure
to pull in additional metrics

464
00:28:24,440 –> 00:28:28,760
like economic need,
and specific credential completion.

465
00:28:29,080 –> 00:28:33,120
And finally, we encourage the long term
to advance interagency

466
00:28:33,160 –> 00:28:37,040
data sharing to incorporate relevant
elements, including public benefits

467
00:28:37,040 –> 00:28:40,680
received like SNAP through HHSC and child

468
00:28:40,760 –> 00:28:43,760
care assistance through the TWC.

469
00:28:44,120 –> 00:28:44,520
Perfect.

470
00:28:44,520 –> 00:28:48,640
So before we open it up for questions,
I just wanted to point everyone

471
00:28:48,640 –> 00:28:49,640
to one more resource.

472
00:28:49,640 –> 00:28:55,440
So the brief on your screen here covers
our summer Texas Parenting Student Survey.

473
00:28:55,600 –> 00:28:59,960
So the priority registration and liaison
findings that we walked through.

474
00:29:00,240 –> 00:29:03,600
You can download it from the Trellis
Strategies Research Hub.

475
00:29:03,800 –> 00:29:06,200
And we will also include
this link in the follow up

476
00:29:06,200 –> 00:29:09,760
email along with the slides
and the recording for today,

477
00:29:10,160 –> 00:29:14,360
and then for the
for The Coordinating Board analysis

478
00:29:14,400 –> 00:29:19,480
and the SNAP data that Paula shared,
the best route is to reach out to or her

479
00:29:19,480 –> 00:29:23,520
colleague Andrea directly,
and their contact information

480
00:29:23,560 –> 00:29:27,520
is on the next slide here, where

481
00:29:27,560 –> 00:29:32,200
you can reach out to any of
us if you have any questions.

482
00:29:33,200 –> 00:29:36,360
So we’ve got plenty of time for questions
here.

483
00:29:36,400 –> 00:29:39,640
Running about ten minutes
ahead of schedule, so that’s great.

484
00:29:39,720 –> 00:29:42,400
Our contact information is on the screen.

485
00:29:42,400 –> 00:29:46,480
So if we don’t get to your question
or if you have a question

486
00:29:46,480 –> 00:29:50,320
that you’d rather get answered offline,
please feel free to reach out directly.

487
00:29:50,960 –> 00:29:54,480
And then I am going to go ahead and stop

488
00:29:54,720 –> 00:29:57,720
sharing my screen here.

489
00:29:57,880 –> 00:30:00,080
one question has come in.

490
00:30:00,080 –> 00:30:03,360
And I’m going to kick this over to Paula.

491
00:30:03,360 –> 00:30:06,640
Someone writes something
that has never been clear to me is

492
00:30:06,640 –> 00:30:12,320
what kind of data colleges are collecting
on parenting students for HB 1361.

493
00:30:12,560 –> 00:30:16,280
Is that only demographics, retention
rates, or age of children?

494
00:30:16,440 –> 00:30:19,440
What is the data required?

495
00:30:19,720 –> 00:30:22,600
Yeah, thank you for the question, Rachel.

496
00:30:22,600 –> 00:30:29,040
So by far the the the the data that’s
being collected is around demographics.

497
00:30:29,040 –> 00:30:33,720
So, so not only do we have like
the number of parenting students

498
00:30:33,720 –> 00:30:37,480
enrolled in a given, in a, in a semester,

499
00:30:37,480 –> 00:30:43,080
we also have, like, their age, like,
whether they fall into specific buckets

500
00:30:43,120 –> 00:30:46,360
like below 18 years, 18 to 21
and so on and so forth,

501
00:30:46,400 –> 00:30:49,800
their race, and their gender.

502
00:30:49,800 –> 00:30:52,160
We also get to see

503
00:30:52,160 –> 00:30:55,160
their enrollment status,
whether they’re part time or full time.

504
00:30:55,360 –> 00:30:59,160
There are a couple of academic measures,

505
00:30:59,160 –> 00:31:02,440
including the number of parenting students
who transferred in

506
00:31:02,440 –> 00:31:05,840
and the number of parenting students
who have withdrawn,

507
00:31:05,840 –> 00:31:10,360
and the number of parenting students
who graduated in the previous semester.

508
00:31:10,680 –> 00:31:16,040
But we didn’t include those
more academic measures in our analysis

509
00:31:16,120 –> 00:31:19,040
because of,
like, missing data and because of,

510
00:31:20,200 –> 00:31:22,000
just like I,

511
00:31:22,000 –> 00:31:27,040
I think there’s something going on
with the reporting that like, shows that

512
00:31:27,040 –> 00:31:30,440
that doesn’t really provide
a clear picture of what we’re seeing

513
00:31:31,040 –> 00:31:33,000
with student parents.

514
00:31:33,000 –> 00:31:35,560
We don’t get to see like the ages of

515
00:31:35,560 –> 00:31:39,120
of the children of student parents.

516
00:31:39,320 –> 00:31:44,280
I believe that that data is collected
through Applied Texas.

517
00:31:44,560 –> 00:31:48,120
Someone please correct me
if that’s mistaken, but that’s not data

518
00:31:48,120 –> 00:31:52,720
that’s linked to
data collected by HB 1361.

519
00:31:52,720 –> 00:31:55,600
And so would have to be pulled
in separately.

520
00:31:55,600 –> 00:31:58,280
All right. So another question.

521
00:31:58,280 –> 00:32:01,280
Additionally the student parents
are self-identified correct?

522
00:32:01,320 –> 00:32:05,000
So there may be student parents
who are not being captured by the data.

523
00:32:05,320 –> 00:32:06,520
Is that right?

524
00:32:06,520 –> 00:32:12,280
So on the survey data,
where we for the survey

525
00:32:12,280 –> 00:32:15,600
that Trellis fielded,
that is self-reported, we ask students

526
00:32:15,600 –> 00:32:20,560
to identify themselves as a parent,
a caregiver or legal guardian to a child.

527
00:32:21,800 –> 00:32:24,440
But I will kick that over to Paula about

528
00:32:24,440 –> 00:32:29,320
if the students in the
THECB survey are self-identified.

529
00:32:30,400 –> 00:32:32,320
So I don’t believe that.

530
00:32:32,320 –> 00:32:35,320
I think they’re identified
by the institution.

531
00:32:36,880 –> 00:32:38,040
So but for sure.

532
00:32:38,040 –> 00:32:38,840
Absolutely.

533
00:32:38,840 –> 00:32:42,960
Like there are students
who aren’t being captured

534
00:32:42,960 –> 00:32:48,360
and the HB 1361, like the what we shared
today is, isn’t doesn’t reflect

535
00:32:48,680 –> 00:32:52,960
all institutions in Texas,
and it doesn’t reflect

536
00:32:53,040 –> 00:32:56,280
students in like credentialing programs

537
00:32:56,320 –> 00:32:59,320
in certain certain credentialing programs.

538
00:33:00,240 –> 00:33:03,480
Like, if it doesn’t lead to a degree,
it doesn’t.

539
00:33:03,560 –> 00:33:06,520
So, you know, it really is an undercount.

540
00:33:06,520 –> 00:33:09,520
That’s something
we want to make really clear.

541
00:33:09,560 –> 00:33:13,560
I also want to
I also see that Heather has asked

542
00:33:13,600 –> 00:33:16,600
if we ran TANF student numbers.

543
00:33:17,680 –> 00:33:20,680
So I’m guessing this is related
to the snap eligibility.

544
00:33:20,720 –> 00:33:25,680
Among students enrolled
at least half time in higher education.

545
00:33:25,720 –> 00:33:28,520
So we did not run TANF numbers.

546
00:33:28,520 –> 00:33:31,600
I mean, so that that also

547
00:33:32,840 –> 00:33:35,240
it so it was a little.

548
00:33:35,240 –> 00:33:38,240
So that number was reported

549
00:33:38,240 –> 00:33:40,920
like in the public
information request, but

550
00:33:40,920 –> 00:33:43,920
it was unclear whether or not

551
00:33:43,920 –> 00:33:45,960
those students

552
00:33:45,960 –> 00:33:50,080
were counted under TANF versus SNAP.

553
00:33:50,120 –> 00:33:53,880
Like it was, it was unclear
like which bucket they fell into.

554
00:33:53,920 –> 00:33:57,640
So again like for the in the interest
of like clarity and precision,

555
00:33:57,680 –> 00:34:01,560
like we have that data,
but it didn’t seem to match like

556
00:34:01,600 –> 00:34:05,680
the broader overall narrative
that the overall trends.

557
00:34:05,680 –> 00:34:08,960
So we chose not to include
that in our analysis

558
00:34:08,960 –> 00:34:11,960
for today.

559
00:34:11,960 –> 00:34:13,280
Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense.

560
00:34:13,280 –> 00:34:16,280
And I just want to circle
back to the question about,

561
00:34:16,600 –> 00:34:19,600
if students were

562
00:34:20,320 –> 00:34:22,400
student
parents are self-identified, right.

563
00:34:22,400 –> 00:34:27,440
And so when institutions
are taking The Coordinating Board survey,

564
00:34:27,520 –> 00:34:30,480
they are utilizing, usually like

565
00:34:30,480 –> 00:34:34,320
voluntary self-identification forms
or other kind of tracking systems.

566
00:34:34,360 –> 00:34:36,480
And so institutions don’t have,

567
00:34:37,760 –> 00:34:40,240
you know, there
isn’t some magical database that updates

568
00:34:40,240 –> 00:34:44,000
when a student has a child
or if a student becomes pregnant.

569
00:34:44,640 –> 00:34:49,360
And so these are really like
self-identified student parents

570
00:34:49,360 –> 00:34:54,120
that the institution is
then reporting to The Coordinating Board.

571
00:34:54,360 –> 00:34:57,680
And, you know, looking at kind of

572
00:34:57,720 –> 00:35:02,160
how undercounted
we believe student parents are in Texas,

573
00:35:02,280 –> 00:35:03,760
a lot of that could have been,

574
00:35:03,760 –> 00:35:06,880
you know, just that
this is the first implementation

575
00:35:07,240 –> 00:35:11,640
of the survey that that Paula and team ran
the analysis on.

576
00:35:12,520 –> 00:35:13,200
But also,

577
00:35:13,200 –> 00:35:15,800
this is the first time institutions
are having to do this kind of count.

578
00:35:15,800 –> 00:35:19,880
And so I anticipate when that spring 2026
data becomes available,

579
00:35:19,960 –> 00:35:23,760
that I’m hopeful that it will be
a little bit more aligned

580
00:35:23,760 –> 00:35:30,160
with our previous kind of representative
estimates from NPSAS 2020

581
00:35:30,520 –> 00:35:34,760
and other sources that say, you know,
the student parents is closer to that

582
00:35:34,760 –> 00:35:38,920
1 in 5 number than the 4% four years

583
00:35:38,920 –> 00:35:43,400
and the 10% two years that we were able
to glean from that spring 2025 survey.

584
00:35:44,960 –> 00:35:47,800
Yeah,
cosign everything that Allyson mentioned.

585
00:35:47,800 –> 00:35:52,440
Like there might be a learning curve
associated with institutional reporting.

586
00:35:53,040 –> 00:35:56,720
Also like
the number is only reported once a year.

587
00:35:56,760 –> 00:35:59,080
Like, so,

588
00:35:59,080 –> 00:36:01,320
you know, life happens all around us.

589
00:36:01,320 –> 00:36:03,120
And so, you know, there’s a, you know,

590
00:36:03,120 –> 00:36:07,040
folks can find out there pregnant
after the numbers reported and so on

591
00:36:07,040 –> 00:36:09,600
and so forth.
So it is a tool that we have.

592
00:36:09,600 –> 00:36:12,760
But like with the important caveat
that it’s, it’s a

593
00:36:12,760 –> 00:36:15,760
it’s a snapshot in time.

594
00:36:16,280 –> 00:36:16,520
Yeah.

595
00:36:16,520 –> 00:36:20,520
It looks like Rachel asks
when will the spring data be available?

596
00:36:21,480 –> 00:36:22,320
Unclear.

597
00:36:22,320 –> 00:36:25,280
We are awaiting the data with bated
breath.

598
00:36:25,280 –> 00:36:29,440
The second that we get it,
and will be a really exciting time

599
00:36:29,440 –> 00:36:32,000
because again,
as Allyson mentioned at the top,

600
00:36:32,000 –> 00:36:36,200
like this is the first look
that we’ve had into state level data.

601
00:36:36,200 –> 00:36:40,360
And so it’ll be really interesting to see,
you know,

602
00:36:40,400 –> 00:36:45,160
what trends rallies like between like 2025
and 2026 will look like?

603
00:36:45,320 –> 00:36:47,240
We really don’t know.

604
00:36:47,240 –> 00:36:49,880
I mean, hopefully
we would see like better reporting.

605
00:36:49,880 –> 00:36:53,800
And you would, you know,
and that would help us

606
00:36:53,840 –> 00:36:56,840
like better support student parents.

607
00:36:56,840 –> 00:37:01,040
When we have like a better picture
and when institutions themselves

608
00:37:01,040 –> 00:37:04,920
have a better picture of,
student parents and their student body.

609
00:37:07,200 –> 00:37:08,280
Great.

610
00:37:08,280 –> 00:37:08,960
Okay.

611
00:37:08,960 –> 00:37:12,320
And then it looks like
we got a question in the chat.

612
00:37:12,680 –> 00:37:15,360
In light of some of these policies,
are either of you familiar

613
00:37:15,360 –> 00:37:18,640
with any interesting
or innovative practices that colleges

614
00:37:18,640 –> 00:37:22,040
are undertaking on the ground
to support parenting

615
00:37:22,040 –> 00:37:25,040
students?

616
00:37:26,400 –> 00:37:30,480
So, I can kind of take a first stab here.

617
00:37:30,720 –> 00:37:33,600
So we,

618
00:37:33,600 –> 00:37:35,160
there’s a lot of institutions

619
00:37:35,160 –> 00:37:38,360
doing some really cool stuff
across Texas.

620
00:37:38,440 –> 00:37:41,360
Specifically, one institution

621
00:37:41,360 –> 00:37:44,640
that I always like to
highlight is Texas Woman’s University.

622
00:37:44,680 –> 00:37:48,960
They have been doing a lot of innovative
work to support student parents for

623
00:37:50,520 –> 00:37:52,800
quite a long time here.

624
00:37:52,800 –> 00:37:57,320
And then,
what some of the stuff that they do that

625
00:37:57,320 –> 00:38:00,920
I think is really interesting
is that they have, like a family friendly

626
00:38:01,000 –> 00:38:04,680
graduation
where as a special graduation ceremony

627
00:38:04,680 –> 00:38:06,960
just for student parents
and their families.

628
00:38:06,960 –> 00:38:09,840
And where they can
all come out and celebrate in,

629
00:38:09,840 –> 00:38:13,160
the children can walk across the stage
with their parents.

630
00:38:13,360 –> 00:38:15,480
And it’s just super
testing and heartwarming.

631
00:38:15,480 –> 00:38:19,040
And then they also,
you know, are doing all the good things,

632
00:38:19,080 –> 00:38:23,440
to make sure that students have access
to the support that they need.

633
00:38:23,480 –> 00:38:26,440
So always like to highlight Texas Woman’s.

634
00:38:26,440 –> 00:38:29,920
Also highly recommend
checking out our research hub.

635
00:38:30,080 –> 00:38:34,800
Put the chat link in the wrong chat, but

636
00:38:35,840 –> 00:38:36,600
just drop

637
00:38:36,600 –> 00:38:39,720
this to everyone so you can find the
the brief

638
00:38:39,720 –> 00:38:43,480
that I mentioned and other student
parent resources in our research hub.

639
00:38:43,600 –> 00:38:47,600
I also highly recommend
checking out the SPARK Collaborative.

640
00:38:47,640 –> 00:38:51,360
That is one of the places
other organizations that Paula

641
00:38:51,400 –> 00:38:54,760
mentioned as having their own estimates
of student parents.

642
00:38:54,800 –> 00:38:57,800
This is kind of a,

643
00:38:58,120 –> 00:39:01,000
collaboration with multiple organizations
that is all

644
00:39:01,000 –> 00:39:05,040
about highlighting student parents
and helping them succeed.

645
00:39:05,080 –> 00:39:09,200
So really recommend checking them out
and the work that they do.

646
00:39:09,400 –> 00:39:13,680
I’m not sure, Paula,
if you have any other kind of innovation

647
00:39:13,680 –> 00:39:18,440
or interesting examples that we might want
to kind of highlight here.

648
00:39:19,000 –> 00:39:20,320
Yeah. Thanks, Allyson.

649
00:39:20,320 –> 00:39:25,200
So, EdTrust does have a brief coming out
featuring Northwest Vista College.

650
00:39:25,200 –> 00:39:28,080
You can see a preview video.

651
00:39:28,080 –> 00:39:31,560
I’ll drop the link below.

652
00:39:32,160 –> 00:39:34,760
But that’s EdTrust went in

653
00:39:34,760 –> 00:39:40,160
and interviewed a bunch of folks and,
and put together, like,

654
00:39:40,200 –> 00:39:44,600
a clear narrative, like,
this is what, Northwest Vista College

655
00:39:44,600 –> 00:39:48,520
is doing to serve as sort of a,
like an illustrative

656
00:39:48,520 –> 00:39:51,920
example of of supports
that have been put into place.

657
00:39:52,360 –> 00:39:53,640
Yeah. And be on the lookout, too.

658
00:39:53,640 –> 00:39:53,920
There.

659
00:39:53,920 –> 00:39:59,360
There should be, and accompanying,
brief to go along with with the video.

660
00:39:59,600 –> 00:40:03,960
Someone asks if they can use the
infographic for presentations, citing us.

661
00:40:03,960 –> 00:40:06,600
Of course, they are presenting on student
parents next week

662
00:40:06,600 –> 00:40:09,120
and our information is more thorough
than what they have.

663
00:40:09,120 –> 00:40:10,560
Yeah, absolutely.

664
00:40:10,560 –> 00:40:14,040
That is the dream for for us.

665
00:40:14,120 –> 00:40:17,000
Honestly,
anytime that we can put out data

666
00:40:17,000 –> 00:40:22,640
that is useful and can be highlighted,
I love that.

667
00:40:22,680 –> 00:40:28,560
We do have a full infographic on student
parents on the Trellis Strategies website.

668
00:40:28,560 –> 00:40:31,960
That also highlights a few things
that we didn’t go into today, like

669
00:40:32,000 –> 00:40:36,240
the high percentage of student parents
were using buy now, pay later services.

670
00:40:36,240 –> 00:40:41,360
We estimate that about 44% of student
parents across the Student

671
00:40:41,440 –> 00:40:44,440
Financial Wellness Survey are using buy
now, pay later

672
00:40:44,440 –> 00:40:47,440
services
like PayPal Credit, Klarna, Affirm.

673
00:40:47,440 –> 00:40:50,760
So that I think is something
that we should really be

674
00:40:50,800 –> 00:40:53,960
paying attention to,
especially as those sources.

675
00:40:53,960 –> 00:40:55,720
I don’t know if y’all have seen this.

676
00:40:55,720 –> 00:40:59,440
But those I’ve seen pay

677
00:40:59,680 –> 00:41:04,840
buy now, pay later resources come up
as a method to pay for college tuition.

678
00:41:05,040 –> 00:41:08,840
And so some students are seeing that
on their campus where they can use

679
00:41:08,840 –> 00:41:11,840
by now, pay later
to pay for their tuition and fees.

680
00:41:11,880 –> 00:41:16,160
Which just makes me a little nervous
because, that source

681
00:41:16,200 –> 00:41:20,000
can kind of get away from you
when you’re not able to pay off

682
00:41:20,080 –> 00:41:22,760
what you’re you’re borrowing in full.

683
00:41:22,760 –> 00:41:23,440
Okay.

684
00:41:23,440 –> 00:41:25,760
And then just another comment

685
00:41:27,120 –> 00:41:28,120
came in

686
00:41:28,120 –> 00:41:32,000
about the data collection,
where Rachel thinks it’s

687
00:41:32,000 –> 00:41:36,200
because the new process
and it will be more robust in the future.

688
00:41:36,200 –> 00:41:37,920
I hope so.

689
00:41:37,920 –> 00:41:43,200
Rachel, I do think this is an interesting
opportunity for the state

690
00:41:43,240 –> 00:41:47,360
where if we do see that the numbers are
similar, are pretty flat again

691
00:41:47,360 –> 00:41:50,800
in that 2026 administration,
that that might be a good signal

692
00:41:50,800 –> 00:41:53,800
for the state to consider what we are
highlighting

693
00:41:53,800 –> 00:41:57,640
in our research practice recommendations
on this, in this presentation,

694
00:41:57,720 –> 00:42:01,800
where the state might be able
to come in, and provide

695
00:42:02,480 –> 00:42:06,520
some kind of model or example of common
reporting expectations

696
00:42:06,560 –> 00:42:09,560
and checklists to help them implement
the survey on campus

697
00:42:09,680 –> 00:42:14,520
and then chances to share what works,
but also highlight

698
00:42:14,560 –> 00:42:19,560
the data to action campaign
that Paula mentioned.

699
00:42:19,680 –> 00:42:24,000
There is a version of that for Texas

700
00:42:24,000 –> 00:42:27,480
specifically that the Urban Institute
has been working through.

701
00:42:27,480 –> 00:42:30,640
And I’m really fortunate
to serve on the board of advisors

702
00:42:30,800 –> 00:42:34,880
for that initiative and just really
strongly believe that we are able to,

703
00:42:36,680 –> 00:42:37,040
the more

704
00:42:37,040 –> 00:42:41,360
that we can do to pull institutions
into a room together and let them discuss

705
00:42:41,360 –> 00:42:44,920
and have that dialog and come up
with best practices that work for them.

706
00:42:45,120 –> 00:42:46,480
I think the better.

707
00:42:46,480 –> 00:42:49,480
Another thing that I’m really excited
about is that here at Trellis,

708
00:42:49,480 –> 00:42:55,240
we are launching the Rural Student
Parent Pathways Project, or RSP3.

709
00:42:55,400 –> 00:42:59,320
We love acronyms here in higher Ed,
but that is a project

710
00:42:59,320 –> 00:43:04,880
that is specifically focused at 16 rural
serving institutions here in Texas

711
00:43:04,960 –> 00:43:08,520
and helping them better understand
their student parent population

712
00:43:08,520 –> 00:43:11,680
and then providing them a custom TA work,
where they’re also going to be able

713
00:43:11,680 –> 00:43:14,200
to come together
as a community of practice

714
00:43:14,200 –> 00:43:17,640
and learn from each other,
and also potentially learn from the data

715
00:43:17,640 –> 00:43:20,880
to action campaign schools as well,
that just finished that cohort.

716
00:43:21,040 –> 00:43:24,960
So I think there’s a lot of all of us
to say, there’s a lot of really cool,

717
00:43:25,360 –> 00:43:28,840
interesting things happening in Texas
to support student parents.

718
00:43:28,920 –> 00:43:31,920
And I think once we can get this
data collection figured out

719
00:43:31,920 –> 00:43:35,400
and have an accurate count of the student
parents that we have in Texas.

720
00:43:35,440 –> 00:43:39,000
I think that is going to make advocating
for this group even easier.

721
00:43:39,160 –> 00:43:43,560
And hopefully lead to some sustainable
change for this population

722
00:43:43,840 –> 00:43:46,640
that really, you know, I think

723
00:43:46,640 –> 00:43:51,320
with only 18% of student parents
getting a degree in six years,

724
00:43:51,440 –> 00:43:55,480
there’s a lot of work that we can do
as practitioners, as folks in the field,

725
00:43:55,680 –> 00:43:58,160
as campus leaders,
to make sure that we are highlighting

726
00:43:58,160 –> 00:44:01,280
and supporting these students
from matriculation to graduation.

727
00:44:02,240 –> 00:44:05,120
You know, I think I, you know,
I think you’ve said it really well,

728
00:44:05,120 –> 00:44:10,400
you know, hopefully we can get the data
collection processes streamlined,

729
00:44:10,800 –> 00:44:14,720
like built up, reinforce and

730
00:44:14,720 –> 00:44:17,720
and like that, that can only help

731
00:44:17,760 –> 00:44:20,880
folks get a sense of like how to support

732
00:44:21,160 –> 00:44:24,600
students and,
you know, ideally like be able to expand,

733
00:44:24,800 –> 00:44:27,760
you know, data collection
to consider, like, you know,

734
00:44:27,760 –> 00:44:31,440
not just child care but or like food
insecurity, as we mentioned earlier, but

735
00:44:31,480 –> 00:44:35,840
like everything that goes into getting to
and through,

736
00:44:35,960 –> 00:44:40,320
a higher ed, whether it’s transportation

737
00:44:40,320 –> 00:44:43,880
and you know, food insecurity, etc..

738
00:44:44,640 –> 00:44:47,240
You know, I think that, you know,

739
00:44:47,240 –> 00:44:50,400
the just really underscoring
what Allyson said at the top, like,

740
00:44:50,440 –> 00:44:54,840
you know, these are really motivated,
talented students.

741
00:44:54,840 –> 00:44:57,600
And they deserve all the support.

742
00:44:57,600 –> 00:45:01,560
And, you know,
I think showing the quantitative

743
00:45:01,560 –> 00:45:04,680
analysis is just one way of
of boosting that mission.

744
00:45:04,960 –> 00:45:09,520
And thank you to everyone for dropping
in their their resources in the chat.

745
00:45:10,520 –> 00:45:13,520
It’s really helpful.

746
00:45:13,720 –> 00:45:14,920
Yeah, it’s it’s super great.

747
00:45:14,920 –> 00:45:17,880
I love to see the,
the chat being so engaged.

748
00:45:17,880 –> 00:45:20,600
And I’m not seeing any new questions
coming in.

749
00:45:20,600 –> 00:45:23,440
So we can go ahead
and start to wrap up for today.

750
00:45:23,440 –> 00:45:26,760
But thank you guys everyone
so much again for joining us.

751
00:45:26,960 –> 00:45:29,240
And thank you to Dr.

752
00:45:29,240 –> 00:45:32,240
Kim-Christian
and the EdTrust in Texas team.

753
00:45:32,440 –> 00:45:35,280
We will send out the slides and recording

754
00:45:35,280 –> 00:45:38,560
for today’s presentation
once those are available.

755
00:45:38,560 –> 00:45:39,360
But again,

756
00:45:39,360 –> 00:45:42,040
please feel free to reach out to us
if there are any questions

757
00:45:42,040 –> 00:45:43,880
that you might come up
with after you leave,

758
00:45:43,880 –> 00:45:46,280
or if there’s anything that we didn’t
get to today.

759
00:45:46,280 –> 00:45:49,760
But once again, thank you all
for spending some time with us

760
00:45:49,760 –> 00:45:53,640
on this Tuesday, and I hope everyone
has a really great rest of their day.

761
00:45:54,280 –> 00:45:55,080
Thanks so much.

762
00:45:56,640 –> 00:45:59,640
Thank you everyone.

763
00:48:10,720 –> 00:48:11,840
Thank you everyone.