A Profile of Undergraduate Student Parents in Canada

Abstract

Student parents are a significant minority population on Canadian post-secondary campuses. As research exploring this population has been extremely limited to date, this study provides the first national profile of Canadian student parents. We explore student parent enrolment patterns over time and examine current demographic characteristics. The data for this study were drawn from two datasets collected by Statistics Canada: the Labour Force Survey 1976–2005 and the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics 2004 cross-sectional data file. Student parents accounted for between 11% and 16% of all post-secondary enrolment between 1976 and 2005. Further analyses explore participation patterns based on type of institution (college/university), study status (full-/part-time study), age, gender, and marital status. Future research directions and implications for policies and institutional practice are discussed.

Why Go Back to School? Investigating the Motivations of Student Parents to Pursue Post-Secondary Education

“…Researchers have demonstrated that student parents have some advantages to being non-traditional learners including benefitting from their level of maturity and life experiences by being more focused on what they want to pursue in their future career, having a greater awareness of their likes and dislikes, and being better prepared to make informed decisions regarding their education (Holmes, 2005;Murphy & Roopchand, 2003). At the same time, student parents experience unique challenges related to their circumstances and obligations including having less flexibility in continuing their academic studies (often related to class scheduling), family -related roles and commitments, child care responsibilities, and additional financial commitments (Butlin, 1999;van Rhijn et al, 2011).…”

“…Student parents, those enrolled in post-secondary study that have dependent children, represent a unique subset of non-traditional students. Student parents are a minority population of Canadian post-secondary students and accounted for between 11% and 16% of total enrollment between 1976(van Rhijn, Smit Quosai, & Lero, 2011. Compared to traditional students (typically non-parents), student parents are more likely to be married or in a long-term partnership, studying on a parttime basis, and work longer hours for pay while studying (Holmes, 2005).…”

“…Compared to traditional students (typically non-parents), student parents are more likely to be married or in a long-term partnership, studying on a parttime basis, and work longer hours for pay while studying (Holmes, 2005). In addition, student parents are more likely to be female and are older than traditional students with more than 60% of Canadian student parents being 30 to 44 years of age (van Rhijn et al, 2011).…”

Le rêve inachevé d’étudier et de socialiser en français en toute sécurité linguistique : les perspectives d’étudiants franco-ontariens

“…C'est en Ontario que l'on retrouve le plus grand nombre de francophones hors Québec; en effet, le recensement de 2006 dénombrait plus de 500 000 Franco-Ontariens (Office des affaires francophones, 2009). Tandis que plusieurs études canadiennes examinent les expériences au niveau postsecondaire d'immigrants (Kilbride & D'Arcangelo, 2002), d'autochtones (Hampton & Roy, 2002;Pidgeon, Archibald, & Hawkey, 2014), de parents qui concilient leurs responsabilités parentales et les études (Van Rhijn, Quosai, & Lero, 2011), ainsi que d'étudiants ayant un handicap (Dwyer, 2000), celles des minorités de langue officielle sont moins souvent étudiées (Labrie & Lamoureux, 2016). Cet article analyse les préoccupations soulevées par des étudiants de communautés francophones ontariennes en situation minoritaire dans une étude exploratoire qualitative.…”

Navigating Intersecting and Conflicting Identities: Experiences of Immigrant Mothers at a Canadian College

“…And yet, community college students, even more so than university students, face competing caregiving responsibilities. For example, although student-parents, including immigrant student-parents, are enrolled at every level of post-secondary education in Canada, they compose the greatest proportion of the student population at two-year colleges (van Rhijn et al, 2011). Estimates of the percentage of college students with dependent children range from 17% (Lero et al, 2007) to 22% (Holmes, 2005).…”