US Government Accountability Office report: More Information Could Help Student Parents Access Additional Federal Student Aid

Highlights:

“About 1 in 5 undergraduates were raising children in 2015-16, according to the Education Department. Child care costs can make it harder for them to graduate. An Education program helps students with low incomes pay for child care.

Among other things, we found:

  • Education is not accurately calculating program outcomes, such as the graduation rate.
  • Student parents may be eligible for bigger loans to cover child care but about two-thirds of the college websites we reviewed did not mention this.

We recommended that Education accurately calculate program results and encourage schools to publicize potential loan increases to cover child care.

About 56 percent of undergraduate student parents had a child aged 5 or younger in school year 2015-16.”

 

Read the full report: https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-19-522