Single Mother College Enrollment Has Doubled: Single Mothers Are 19 Percent Of College Enrolled Women, But Graduate At Half The Rate Of Non-Parenting Women: Time For Colleges To Have Daycare, Child Friendly Spaces, Supportive Services

From Institute For Women’s Policy Research, "Single Mothers in College: Growing Enrollment, Financial Challenges, and the Benefits of Attainment" by Melanie Kruvelis, Lindsey Reichlin Cruse, M.A., and Barbara Gault, Ph.D:

Single student mothers are growing in both absolute numbers and as a share of the college population.
***The number of single mothers in college more than doubled between the 1999-00 and 2011-12 school years, to reach nearly 2.1 million students—or 11 percent of all undergraduates—as of 2012. The growth in single mothers in college was more than twice the rate of growth seen among the overall undergraduate student population (42 percent) over the same time period. Among female undergraduates, 19 percent were single mothers as of 2011-12.

Source: Institute For Women’s Policy Research

Women of color in college are especially likely to be single parents. Nearly two in five Black women (37 percent) and over one-quarter of American Indian/Alaska Native women (27 percent) are raising a child without the support of a spouse or partner while in college, compared with 19 percent of Hispanic women, 17 percent of women of two or more races, 14 percent of White women, and 7 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander women. These data demonstrate the importance of supporting single mothers’ postsecondary attainment to improving equity in higher education access and success.

Source: Institute For Women’s Policy Research

***Single Mothers are Less Likely than their Peers to Complete CollegeSingle mothers have low rates of college degree attainment: as of 2015, just 31 percent of single mothers ages 25 and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 54 percent of comparable married mothers and 40 percent of comparable women overall.

Once enrolled, single mothers are much less likely than married mothers and women without children to complete college. Only 28 percent of single mothers who entered college between 2003 and 2009 earned a degree or certificate within 6 years, compared with 40 percent of married mothers, and 57 percent of women students who were not parenting. [Footnotes and Citations Omitted]