Cal State East Bay Pushes to Make Higher Education Work for Parents

For Cal State East Bay students balancing college and parenthood, finding community can be as valuable as finding academic support. With a new $5,500 grant, the university will create family-friendly gatherings that help student parents connect, build community and access campus resources.

Cal State East Bay is one of 11 CSU campuses awarded a $5,500 microgrant through the Pregnant and Parenting Students Initiative. The initiative addresses challenges students who are also parents face through locally developed projects that embody each campus's needs. The Michelson 20MM Foundation funds the one-time grants, and the CSU Basic Needs Initiative administers them.

At Cal State East Bay, kid-friendly gatherings will give student parents opportunities to socialize with peers and feel more included in university life. These efforts build on work already underway to support these students. Cal State East Bay also has a webpage with information on priority registration, WIC, and Cal Fresh and it educates students on their rights if they are pregnant or nursing and need accommodations.

According to the latest data, nearly one in five undergraduate students are raising children while enrolled. These students are more likely to drop out than those without children, even though they tend to achieve at higher academic levels. For them, managing coursework happens alongside caregiving, working, and financial responsibilities.

The CSU's microgrant program recognizes that small changes can remove barriers that interfere with students' progress toward graduation. "Kid-friendly gatherings and resources such as priority registration, WIC, and pregnancy and nursing accommodations help student parents feel supported, connected, and included as they pursue their degrees," stated Cal State East Bay Associate Vice President and Dean of Students, Dr. Martin Castillo.

In addition to supporting students directly, the projects will help the CSU learn more about how its 23 campuses can better serve pregnant and parenting students over the long term. As campuses assess their programming, they will also share lessons and build partnerships that might help inform future systemwide strategies.

"Supporting student parents is an investment with ripple effects," said Carolyn O'Keefe, CSU's systemwide director of Student Wellness and Basic Needs. "When pregnant and parenting students have the resources they need to succeed, they model resilience and pass down the value of higher education to their children. By investing in their success, we are fostering future college-going families and helping to strengthen communities and the state."

Across the CSU, the microgrant projects will include welcome kits for student parents, family resource fairs, community celebrations, wellness and parent engagement programming, basic-needs distributions, family education workshops and expanded resource navigation. These efforts also aim to increase student parents' visibility and reduce the seclusion that can accompany parenting while in college. Because students may not always identify themselves as parents to classmates, faculty or staff, their needs can remain largely unseen.