Issue Brief: North Carolina Student Parents

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Student-parents represent a significant and largely untapped segment of North Carolina’s workforce pipeline. An estimated 1.2 million North Carolinians under age 65 have some college experience but no degree, and a substantial portion are parents whose family responsibilities have made credential completion difficult to sustain. Persistent barriers such as the high cost of childcare, limited scheduling flexibility, and financial constraints contribute to stop-out rates among this population. Targeted investment in student-parents yields benefits that extend beyond individual attainment. Research consistently shows that children of college-educated parents are more likely to enroll in and complete postsecondary education themselves. Increasing credential completion among student parents can therefore strengthen workforce participation in the near term while advancing long-term economic mobility and educational attainment across generations.