Student Parent Needs during the COVID-19 Pandemic: "When Time Is Not Your Own"

Background: As the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic levels in March 2020, schools and higher education institutions raced to adapt curricula to an online format. Yet, with digital instruction becoming the norm, much of the responsibility for children’s academic success and social-emotional learning fell on their parents or caregivers. Furthermore, some research has found that the pandemic has widened gender disparities, with females disproportionately impacted by school closures. This study explores the experiences of navigating dual parent-child education systems, particularly online education. The following research questions guided this study: 1) What barriers to academic success have student parents faced? 2) How have student parents navigated new work-family-school responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic? and 3) How can institutions of higher education support student parents during the pandemic and beyond?

Methods: This study used mixed-methods cross-sectional data to explored student parents’ needs and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study participants were students recruited from a large public, Hispanic-serving university in a Southern state. The authors sent a recruitment email including an anonymous survey link to program directors in each department to forward to their student listservs. The survey was open between June and August 2020. Overall, a total of 135 student parents completed the survey. Most survey respondents were female (n = 111; 82.2%), White (n = 68; 50.3%), and enrolled in a master’s degree program (n = 79; 58.5%). Of these, 48 entered their contact information to schedule an interview. The research team contacted all students who expressed interest in an interview. Of these, 15 students (all mothers) consented and participated in an in-depth interview in summer 2020. Interviews lasted between 30 and 60 minutes. The Institutional Review Board at the authors’ institution approved all procedures.

Results: The most frequently reported barriers from the surveys were struggles with work-life balance (n = 88; 57.9%), problems with childcare (n = 82; 53.4%), mental health issues (n = 52; 34.3%), and overall lack of support (n = 49; 32.0%). From the qualitative interviews, three themes emerged related to how student parents navigated “new responsibilities” during the pandemic: 1) managing dual academic responsibilities; 2) pandemic parenting and pedagogy; and 3) adapting to online learning.

Conclusion and Implications: The current COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many barriers to achieving academic success already faced by student parents at higher education institutions. Consistent with research that has found exacerbated gender disparities during the pandemic, the majority of our respondents were female, many of whom explored themes of balancing multiple roles including taking on most childrearing responsibilities. This study establishes implications for policy and practice, including adopting more flexible university policies, offering affordable on-campus childcare, and equipping students and instructors with the skills needed to navigate technological issues. Supporting student parents can help address gender inequities and promote student success, particularly during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.