Understanding Student Parent Outcomes Act of 2025

The Understanding Student Parent Outcomes Act of 2025 would make parenting status a formal data focus within federal postsecondary data collection and fund a study to identify best practices for supporting student parents. It defines a “parenting student,” requires new IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) data elements to capture various aspects of parenting students’ enrollment, finances, workloads, and child-related supports (including campus childcare), and mandates disaggregation by race/ethnicity and gender starting in the 2026-2027 data year. The bill also expands technical assistance to states and colleges on collecting and using this data and directs a Secretary of Education-led study—covering enrollment, persistence, childcare availability, program integration, and other supports—to inform what works best for student parents. Findings would be reported to Congress and publicly shared within two years of enactment.