Partnering to Support Single-Parent Students
Raise The Barr (RTB), in partnership with Minneapolis College, is excited to launch a new initiative to support single-parent students and their families. This coordinated care program will initially assist up to five families, with plans to expand in the coming years. Eligible single-parent students will receive critical resources, including $1,000 per month in rental subsidies, career coaching, and access to holistic support services.
Minneapolis College’s Student Parent Center staff will collaborate closely with RTB’s Whole Family Program Coordinators to strengthen and expand access to campus and community-based resources for families. Single-parent students will benefit from Raise The Barr’s whole-family model, which enhances student persistence by simultaneously supporting both parents and children.
This innovative approach includes activities such as peer-to-peer support, mental health and wellness services, fostering healthy relationships, job training and career development, and financial empowerment. Emphasizing strategies to reduce financial burdens, stabilize expenses, and build long-term wealth, the program is designed to promote sustainable success for single-parent students and their families.
Lead project funding is provided by a grant from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.
Lori Barr, co-founder of Raise The Barr said, “We are very excited to launch this new program. We hope it will serve as a scalable, cost-effective model program for community colleges across the state, pairing wrap-around services with housing subsidies to increase the 6-year attainment rate for single-parent students. We are profoundly grateful to the Office of Higher Education for their support, which enables us to dedicate efforts toward increasing college access for students who are young single parents.”
Nationally, estimates suggest one out of five undergraduate students is a parent, with about half of them single parents. Student parents are more likely to identify with one or more marginalized communities; students are more likely to be first-generation students, identify as women and BIPOC, and live at or below the poverty line.
What’s more, single-parent students are much less likely to graduate compared to other undergraduate students, and those who are successful in degree completion frequently carry more student debt. Promoting college success among single-parent students is critical to improving racial, ethnic, and gender equity in higher education.
“Education is a powerful catalyst for success, and we are proud to partner with Raise The Barr to empower single-parent students as they overcome extraordinary challenges and work toward brighter futures for themselves and their families,” said Minneapolis College President Sharon Pierce.
Applications are now available for the January cohort.
Discover more about Raise The Barr.