Official Blog | UCGPC

On Tuesday, March 25, 2025, UCGPC Policy Fellow and Student Regent Josiah Beharry, Student Regent Designate Sonya Brooks, and Executive Director Patriccia Ordoñez-Kim met with Basic Needs Leaders from the 10 campuses to learn more about resources already available to graduate and parenting students. Graduate students who are also parents face a unique set of challenges that often go unnoticed in broader conversations about higher education. While the University of California system has made strides in addressing basic needs, the support for parenting graduate students remains fragmented and uneven. Drawing on insights from the UC Basic Needs Managers Exploratory Session, this article explores the gaps, vulnerabilities, and potential paths forward for this underserved group.

WIC Access: A Case Study in Outreach and Barriers

The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program provides critical nutritional assistance to low-income families, but its accessibility within UC campuses is inconsistent. While some universities have made efforts to promote WIC, others lag behind.

Santa Barbara offers a blueprint for effective outreach:

• Collaborating with student health centers to increase visibility.
• Educating students about WIC’s eligibility criteria, particularly its lack of citizenship requirements—a crucial detail for international student parents.
• Targeting international students who may be unaware of available resources due to cultural or institutional barriers.

This model underscores the importance of intentional outreach strategies tailored to diverse student populations.

Structural Gaps in Support for Parenting Graduate Students

1. Lack of Dedicated Resources

Parenting graduate students often find themselves navigating a system designed with undergraduates in mind:

• No orientations or programming specifically for graduate student parents exist across most campuses.
• Resources aimed at parenting students are sparse and unevenly distributed.
• The absence of consistent policies creates inequities across the UC system, leaving many students to fend for themselves.

2. International Student Vulnerabilities

International graduate students face compounded challenges:

• Limited access to funding opportunities exacerbates financial strain.
• Basic needs programs often exclude international students due to eligibility restrictions or lack of tailored outreach.
• These students are frequently perceived as revenue generators rather than individuals with unique needs, resulting in minimal institutional support.

These gaps highlight systemic oversights that disproportionately affect parenting graduate students, particularly those from marginalized groups.

Recommendations for Graduate Student Associations (GSAs)

Graduate Student Associations (GSAs) are uniquely positioned to advocate for parenting graduate students and address systemic gaps in support. By leveraging their influence within campus governance structures, GSAs can drive meaningful change:

1. Prioritize Basic Needs Funding: Advocate for increased funding allocations specifically targeted at parenting graduate students, including childcare subsidies and housing assistance programs.
2. Collaborate with Campus Administrators: Push for the creation of dedicated programming and orientations tailored to the needs of graduate student parents.
3. Expand Outreach Efforts: Work with basic needs offices to improve communication about existing resources like WIC, food pantries, and rental assistance programs—especially for international students who may face additional barriers.
4. Institutionalize Flexible Support Options: Advocate for virtual advising services and peer mentorship programs that accommodate the schedules of parenting students.

Campus Innovations Worth Scaling

Some UC campuses have implemented creative solutions that could serve as models across the system:

Campus	Initiative
UC Santa Cruz	Diaper assistance program targeting parenting students.
UC Davis	Exploration of rental subsidies to address housing affordability issues.
UC Santa Barbara	Virtual advising appointments during late-night and early-morning hours.

These initiatives demonstrate that small-scale programs can have outsized impacts when thoughtfully designed.

The Bigger Picture

The fragmented nature of support systems for parenting graduate students reflects broader structural issues within higher education. While universities increasingly recognize the importance of addressing basic needs, their efforts often fail to account for the specific challenges faced by graduate student parents—especially those from international or low-income backgrounds.

Call to Action: Empowering GSAs as Advocates

Graduate Student Associations must take the lead in advocating for systemic changes that address the needs of parenting graduate students:

• Push for Policy Reforms: Work with campus administrators to institutionalize consistent policies and programming across all UC campuses that specifically support parenting graduate students.
• Amplify Student Voices: Serve as a conduit between parenting graduate students and university leadership by collecting feedback and sharing it at decision-making tables.
• Secure Dedicated Funding Streams: Advocate for campus budgets that prioritize basic needs funding tailored to families, such as childcare subsidies and housing stipends.
• Build Collaborative Networks: Partner with other GSAs across campuses to share best practices and create a unified voice advocating for equitable support systems throughout the UC system.

By shifting the responsibility from individual students to organized bodies like GSAs, institutions can begin addressing these systemic inequities more effectively—ensuring that parenting graduate students are no longer an afterthought in higher education policy.

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