For Laura Ann Castillo, the rhythm of a college education is dictated not by the academic calendar, but by the school bell at her 11-year-old son Mason’s elementary school. A 39-year-old student at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio, Castillo’s life is a complex exercise in logistical precision. Every Monday and Wednesday, she navigates a commute that consumes nearly an hour of her day, ensuring she is back in time for the school pickup.
For Castillo, the stakes of scheduling are high. A misaligned class time doesn’t just mean missing a lecture; it means risking the stability of her family’s daily structure. Recently, she found a lifeline in priority registration—a benefit that allows her to secure the specific course times that fit her narrow windows of availability. Yet, despite the life-changing impact of this policy, Castillo remains a vocal critic of the way these resources are communicated.
"I have used it, and it’s an amazing opportunity for parenting students to get the classes that they need," Castillo says. "It’s something that should be talked about more, because I don’t think many students are aware of it or know how to access it."
Castillo’s experience is far from unique. It is a symptom of a systemic disconnect across Texas higher education, where state-mandated supports for parenting students are failing to reach the very population they were designed to assist.
The Policy Framework: A Legislative Intent
In 2023, Texas lawmakers sought to formalize support for the state’s growing population of parenting students. The legislative session produced two landmark mandates aimed at removing barriers to completion for these students.
The first mandate requires public colleges and universities that offer priority registration to any specific student group—such as athletes or honors students—to extend that same privilege to students who are also parents. The second mandate mandates that these same institutions designate a "parenting student liaison." This individual is intended to serve as a singular point of contact, helping students navigate the maze of childcare, transportation assistance, public benefits, health services, and academic accommodations.
These policies were rooted in a simple, data-driven premise: parenting students, who often juggle employment, financial strain, and caregiving, are at a higher risk of dropping out. By providing them with predictable schedules and a dedicated advocate, the state hoped to bolster retention and graduation rates. However, new research suggests that while the laws exist on the books, their presence in the hallways and on the websites of Texas colleges remains largely invisible.
The Data Gap: A Chasm of Unawareness
A recent study conducted by Trellis Strategies, a postsecondary research and consulting firm, has shed light on the extent of this implementation failure. By surveying nearly 400 parenting students across 49 Texas institutions between mid-June and early July, researchers uncovered a disturbing lack of awareness.
Key Findings:
- Priority Registration: 62 percent of respondents were unaware if their institution even offered priority registration, and a staggering 79 percent did not know they were legally entitled to it.
- The Liaison Gap: Nearly 88 percent of students were unaware that their college was required to designate a parenting student liaison.
- Interaction Rates: Only 3 percent of the surveyed students reported ever interacting with a liaison, and only 10 percent knew how to initiate that contact.
The numbers reveal that even when resources are available, they are effectively inaccessible. When students were asked to find the contact information for their institution’s liaison on their respective college websites, 45 percent reported that the information was either unavailable or buried so deeply as to be undiscoverable.
The "Puzzle Work" of Parenting
Allyson Cornett, the director of research at Trellis Strategies, emphasizes that for a student-parent, the difference between a successful semester and a dropped course often comes down to timing.
"For a parenting student, the right course at the wrong time isn’t a viable course at all," Cornett explains. "It has to fit into the puzzle work of their life and their responsibilities outside of school. By offering priority registration and letting students take advantage of that, it gives them a better chance to align what they’re doing in school to the rest of their lives outside."
The "puzzle" is often interrupted by the unpredictable nature of parenting. Nearly half of the survey respondents reported that childcare conflicts have forced them to drop, miss, or rearrange their classes. When institutions lack flexibility—such as failing to offer hybrid or online options—students are forced to choose between their education and their children.
"When parenting students have to make these decisions, sometimes it is that choice between, ‘Do I go to class or do I stay home and take care of my sick child?’" Cornett notes. "When institutions don’t allow that flexibility to let a student attend online or a hybrid version for that class, that’s when we see students have to make these hard trade-offs."
Navigating Institutional Friction
The research indicates that the problem is not merely one of "communication," but of "navigation." The administrative burden placed on students is significant. Currently, many colleges require students to search multiple web pages, contact different departments, and repeatedly disclose their status as a parent to prove eligibility for different services.
For a student working 20 hours a week and managing a household, this "administrative friction" acts as a deterrent.
"If a parenting student has to search multiple web pages, contact several offices or repeatedly self-identify or share personal information about themselves and their families, that creates additional friction for someone that’s already balancing work and caregiving," Cornett says.
The consequences of this friction are dire. One-third of the students surveyed expect it will take longer to graduate than they originally planned, and fewer than half feel truly supported by their institutions. This sentiment suggests that the current disconnect is not just a policy failure, but an existential one that leaves many parents feeling alienated from the academic community.
Official Responses and The Path Forward
While the study paints a bleak picture of current implementation, it also offers a roadmap for improvement. Among the few students who did access the liaison services, 61 percent found the experience helpful or extremely helpful. Similarly, 94 percent of those who managed to utilize priority registration found the process easy. This indicates that the systems work—provided they are actually utilized.
Experts argue that institutions must shift from a "passive" model of resource availability to an "active" model of integration.
Recommended Strategies for Institutions:
- Centralization: Colleges should create a single, prominent web portal for parenting students that consolidates all available resources, including liaison contacts, childcare information, and financial aid links.
- Automated Access: To reduce friction, institutions should aim for "single-disclosure" systems where a student identifies their parenting status once, and the institution automatically grants them access to all relevant benefits, such as priority registration.
- Embedded Information: Information regarding these supports should be woven into the fabric of the student experience—appearing in orientation materials, course syllabi, and directly within learning management systems like Canvas or Blackboard.
- Proactive Outreach: Rather than waiting for students to find the liaison, institutions should integrate the liaison into the advising process. When a student registers for classes, their advisor should be equipped to ask, "Do you have children, and are you aware of the support services available to you?"
Implications: A Broader Academic Mandate
The challenge faced by Texas colleges is not isolated. Across the United States, higher education institutions are grappling with how to accommodate a student body that is increasingly older, working, and raising families. As the cost of childcare rises and the economic necessity of a college degree grows, the "traditional" student demographic is becoming a minority.
If colleges and universities intend to remain relevant and equitable, they must de-stigmatize the experience of being a student-parent. By treating these resources as a core component of the "normal student experience" rather than an optional add-on, institutions can begin to bridge the gap.
For students like Laura Ann Castillo, the policy is more than just a legislative win—it is the difference between completing her degree and being forced to abandon it. As the state moves forward, the focus must shift from the passage of laws to the practical, human-centered implementation of them.
"What institutions can do is just make the support part of the normal student experience, rather than another system that these student parents must independently discover," Cornett concludes. "That will also help these resources and support feel open, accessible and destigmatized."
Until these barriers are lowered, the "invisible" work of parenting students will continue to be a silent, yet significant, obstacle to the promise of higher education for all.
