The State of Childcare in the Great 58

At the 2025 Spring Conference there were many discussions regarding childcare, and your executive board heard you. Throughout the 2025-2026 academic year we have been researching, and working with the system office regarding how we can help with this initiative, and what we have found is that this issue is widespread for students, and layered for students of North Carolina Community Colleges.

In a childcare focus group done by the N4CSGA in conjunction with the North Carolina Community College system office late last year many students stated that they postponed their education, due to lack of childcare. One participant even stated they had plans of quitting their program due to the effect the cost of childcare had on their family. These are unfortunately not new experiences. According to the report How Childcare impacts North Carolina’s Workforce Productivity and the State Economy by US Chamber of Commerce Foundation in conjunction with the NC Chamber of Commerce Foundation, 46% of student parents had some sort of disturbance to their education due to childcare issues, including changing to part status, stopping attendance, and being dropped from their program.

Another issue that we have found is the financial burdens that have been created regarding the cost of childcare, and needs regarding caring for dependents. In the N4C one of the main issues that students had with finding childcare was the overall cost. According to the Trellis Strategies Dual Roles, Double Pressure: Caregiving Students in the 2024 Student Financial Wellness Survey, 65 percent of student parents agreed that they worry about paying monthly expenses. They also found that 72 percent of caregivers experiencing at least one form of basic needs insecurity. While there are many resources available to students to help with childcare including childcare subsidy and finish line grants, participants in the focus group named the shame surrounding using these resources, saying “almost feel guilty, you know, for asking for help.” Another participant stated they had trouble obtaining the funds due the restrictions on how they are given out. This is mirrored in the report Multiple Responsibilities, Single Mission: Understanding the Experiences of Community College Parenting Students by Center for Community College Student Engagement. They found that over a third of student parents have never used financial aid advising and 91% have never used child-care services.

The last main issue that we have noticed is the effect that the dual responsibilities of both parenting and being a student has on people's mental health. However, according to the survey done by the Center for Community College Student Engagement, one third of student parents stated that they did not feel that their college supports them as a parent or caregiver. In the focus group done in conjunction with the system office, one parent shared their experience feeling out of place in classes, due their age. Another participant added “the mental load, it is really heavy because I have to rearrange schedules and ask for favors and you know that just adds a lot of stress to that.” One student brought up the idea of expanding support groups for student parents, such as the one at Fayetteville Technical College known as Parents For Higher Education PFHE.

Other options for ways to support students' parents were brought up, such as a tutoring program for children of students to be able to do their homework, with a trusted adult giving the student time to do theirs. Another student brought up changes to the way childcare funding is granted and disputed. When students were asked what would mean to have childcare on campus the overall consensus was relief and peace of mind. One student even stated that they considered driving one hour away to a different community college simply because they offered on-site daycare to students. However, in order for the N4C to help advocate for these changes we need your help and your voices!

We have recently released two childcare surveys, one for students and one for college administration. We need you to market these to your students, and to your administration, so we can gain data and stories that will help us make changes across the state. If you have something you would like to share to help us with this, whether it's research, or personal stories, please reach out. We need your help! Are you up for the challenge?

Sources:

• Plumb, May Helena and Welton, Carrie R. (2025). Dual Roles, Double Pressure: Caregiving Students in the 2024 Student Financial Wellness Survey. Trellis Strategies. Retrieved 2025, from https://www.trellisstrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/SFWSF24-Caregivers-Report_FINAL.pdf

• Center for Community College Student Engagement. (2025). (rep.). Multiple Responsibilities, Single Mission Understanding the Experiences of Community College Parenting Students. Retrieved 2025, from https://ccsse.org/reports/parenting-students.pdf.

• US Chamber of Commerce Foundation. (2024). (publication). NC Untapped Potential in North Carolina Untapped Potential: How Childcare Impacts North Carolina’s Workforce Productivity and the State’s Economy. Retrieved from https://ncchamber.com/wp-content/uploads/Untapped_NORTHCAROLINA_053124_DIGITAL.pdf.

Written by Paxton Sutton, Special Populations Chair, N4CSGA 25-26

Date: January 27, 2026

Thank you for taking the time to read! Stay engaged, make your voice heard, and keep leading in your community. For questions or to get involved in upcoming initiatives, feel free to reach out at n4csga@gmail.com or follow us on @n4csga.