Supporting Student Parents

A Resource for Faculty, Staff, and Student Leaders

Student parents face unique challenges in navigating the university experience. The Innovation Hub partnered with the Family Care Office to create Supporting Student Parents, a virtual tool kit of actionable suggestions for leaders and administrators to support student parents by reducing the barriers to their full engagement in academic and student life at the University of Toronto.

About This Virtual Toolkit

Based off findings of our report “Understanding Experiences of Student Parents”, you’ll find resources and checklists that provide tips for making spaces, events, and university culture more student-parent friendly.

Supporting Student Parents, Together

A graphic illustration of a parent and their child, connected with a heart. Behind them is an armchair and an open window.

Spaces

Create supportive spaces.

A graphic illustration depicting two adults with a child between them and speech bubbles above them. The speech bubbles are interconnected with a heart.

Events

Enable participation in events.

A graphic illustration of a parent and a child beside each other with a big open book behind them. A graduation cap hangs on top of the book.

Experience

Foster a family-friendly culture.

Envisioning a Future without Barriers

Becoming a parent expands one’s worldview, and students who are parents bring invaluable knowledge, dedication, and thought leadership to the academic community. Student parents reported constantly facing impossible choices between the needs of their child(ren) and the demands of their academic program, leaving them to feel that they couldn’t thrive in either role. We envision a future where university leaders work together to ensure that policies, programming, and practices support student parents by reducing the barriers to their success.

We recognize that the needs of student parents are not uniform. Many student parents experience compound barriers due to their intersecting identities – for example, international, BIPOC, first-generation, students with disabilities and/or with family members with disabilities, and single parents. We envision a university that provides additional supports to enable student parents with compound barriers to fully participate in university life.

Understanding Experiences of Student Parents

In partnership with Family Care Office, the Innovation Hub explored the needs of students who are also parents as they navigate their multiple roles and responsibilities while studying.

Through interviews and research, we found that student parents bring valuable perspectives to academic life, but often feel isolated and overwhelmed as they balance parenting and studies.

Read the Report