By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
College students with children may soon get some relief.
Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College, which has a health campus in Glasgow, was one of the public higher-learning institutes awarded a $60,000 grant from the Kentucky Student Success Collaborative. The grant is to “increase support for undergraduate students who are parents.
“Last year, there were over 16,000 students working toward an undergraduate credential at a Kentucky public college or university while also parenting,” said Lilly Massa-McKinley, the collaborative’s executive director and assistant vice president for student access and success at the Council on Postsecondary Education. “This effort will help parents stay enrolled and engaged in school, which will ultimately benefit their children as well.”
Campuses will participate in a nine-month continuous improvement process to identify strategies to improve outcomes for students balancing coursework with childcare responsibilities. These strategies include affordable childcare solutions, either through campus-based centers or partnerships with community-based services and early childhood providers.
“This grant represents an important first step toward addressing the childcare challenges our students face,” said John Thomerson, Retention & Resource Coordinator of the SKY RISE Title III Programs at SKYCTC. “We are committed to building lasting systems of support so that parenting students never have to choose between their families and their education.”
Over the three-year grant period, SKYCTC will:
- Conduct a Parenting Student Needs Assessment to review current supports, barriers, and demographic data.
- Develop cross-sector partnerships with community organizations, early childhood providers, and student services.
- Create a Childcare & Support Solutions Action Plan with clear strategies and sustainability models.
- Launch a pilot implementation project.
- Produce a Final Report and Sustainability Roadmap to guide long-term improvements.
Grant administrators will attend a statewide seminar later this month to begin the planning process, according to the college.
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