MCC Expands Partnerships to Better Support Single Moms Pursuing a College Credential
September 13, 2023
College held up as a “promising example” of innovative work, is featured in newly released documentary about student-parents
BRIGHTON, N.Y. – Monroe Community College is one of four U.S. community colleges helping raise completion rates for single-mother learners by 30 percent by summer 2024 in collaboration with the national nonprofit Education Design Lab. (Visit EDL’s website.)
MCC’s work in the Education Design Lab’s Single Moms Success initiative was recently noted as a “promising example” of how innovative and scalable solutions are being developed to significantly improve completion rates for single mothers.
“Sometimes single moms can feel like they’re out there on an island for themselves. We know from all the research that occurred across higher education that when students feel connected, when they feel a sense of belonging, when they identify with others in affinity groups like them, it leads to better outcomes. … We want to make sure that the holistic needs of our students are met,” MCC President DeAnna R. Burt-Nanna said in Challenging odds: Single moms at Monroe Community College, one in a series of newly released films produced by WorkingNation on what several U.S. colleges are doing to help single-mom learners persist and graduate.
MCC student Courtney Bleier gets a back hug from her son Malcolm on a bridge in the Rochester area. (Eric Clark Photography)
MCC is one of seven U.S. community colleges – and the only college in the East Coast – featured in the films. (Watch WorkingNation’s 6 1/2-minute film and hear MCC students Millibel Cotto and Courtney Bleier talk about their journeys.)
One in five MCC students is a student-parent, and most of the student-parents are single mothers. While overall student enrollment at MCC declined from spring 2022 to spring 2023, the proportion of single parents and single mothers pursuing an education and training at the college increased. Of the 1,277 student-parents – or 16.8 percent of the student body – MCC served in spring 2023:
- 77 percent were single parents, an increase from 69 percent a year ago.
- 64 percent were single moms, up from 57 percent in 2022.
Among the top needs of single parents and single mothers at MCC are access to emergency grants, affordable child care, and flexible course and service delivery modalities, according to findings of a 2021 MCC survey. Many MCC student-parents said they prefer online courses and remote access to services to better balance school and family/work responsibilities.
Launched in spring 2022 in response to students’ needs, the Single Moms Success program at MCC provides critical holistic supports and referrals to community resources for single-mom learners. In addition to offering increased opportunities for emergency grants and scholarship awards as well as flexible course options, some of the enhanced supports include:
- family-friendly orientation;
- personalized coaching from a dedicated support team;
- an inclusive environment including family-friendly study rooms;
- cohort-based courses in which students learn as a group; and
- expanded partnership with the Child Care Council, an organization that connects single mothers to quality child care options and information about subsidies for which they may qualify.
MCC is considering a pilot family housing program in the residence halls for fall 2024.
The most recent data available show that 18 percent of first-time, full-time, matriculated single-mom learners at MCC graduated within six years from fall 2016, compared with MCC’s overall completion rate of 30.9 percent. None of the single-mom learners who graduated during this period were in the Single Moms Success program in spring 2022.
MCC’s efforts to better support single moms align with Gov. Hochul’s initiative to increase access to child care services for parents pursuing an education or joining the workforce. A portion of the $4.5 million in state funding went to MCC and was used to help recruit and retain child care staff, including increasing starting hourly wages to $15, and hire student interns each semester to assist in the classrooms. (Learn more about Gov. Hochul’s initiative online.)