I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6309 

To improve data collection related to student parents pursuing higher 

education, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 8, 2023 

Ms. ROSS (for herself and Mrs. MCBATH) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To improve data collection related to student parents 

pursuing higher education, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Understanding Stu5 dent Parent Outcomes Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DATA ON STUDENT PARENTS PURSUING HIGHER 

7 EDUCATION. 

8 (a) IPEDS DATA ELEMENTS.—The Commissioner of 

9 Education Statistics shall— 


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1 (1) not later than 2 years after the date of the 

2 enactment of this Act, develop data elements related 

3 to the parental status of students attending institu4 tions of higher education for the surveys conducted 

5 as a part of the Integrated Postsecondary Education 

6 Data System (IPEDS) to collect data related to stu7 dents who are parents or caregivers of dependent 

8 children, including— 

9 (A) the number of students who identify as 

10 a parent; 

11 (B) the number of students who identify as 

12 a caregiver; 

13 (C) the enrollment, retention, and comple14 tion rates of students who are a parent or care15 giver; 

16 (D) the average individual net price (cal17 culated in the same manner as the average indi18 vidual net price of such institution is calculated 

19 under section 132(h)(2) of the Higher Edu20 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1015a(h)(2))) 

21 charged to students who are a parent or care22 giver; 

23 (E) with respect to students who are a 

24 parent or caregiver— 


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1 (i) the marital status of such students 

2 (reported in aggregate by marital status 

3 categories); 

4 (ii) the number of such students who 

5 are employed for all or part of the aca6 demic year while enrolled; 

7 (iii) the median income of such stu8 dents, and the number of such students in 

9 each income category (determined in ac10 cordance with section 132(i)(6) of the 

11 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

12 1015a(i)(6)); 

13 (iv) the total number of such students 

14 who are enrolled in an associate, bacca15 laureate, or graduate degree program, or a 

16 certificate program; 

17 (v) the total number of such students 

18 who are enrolled full-time, part-time, or 

19 less than part-time; 

20 (vi) the total number of such students 

21 who are Federal Pell grant recipients; and 

22 (vii) the total number of such stu23 dents who use campus-based childcare 

24 services; and 


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1 (2) beginning with academic year 2024–2025 

2 and annually thereafter, collect information regard3 ing the data elements described in paragraph (1) 

4 with respect to at least all institutions of higher edu5 cation participating in programs under title IV of 

6 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070 

7 et seq.). 

8 (b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary of 

9 Education, in consultation with the Commissioner of Edu10 cation Statistics, shall provide technical assistance to 

11 States and institutions of higher education related to de12 veloping and carrying out State and institutional data col13 lection mechanisms for data on the parental status of stu14 dents collected in accordance with subsection (a), includ15 ing— 

16 (1) how to leverage existing systems, surveys, 

17 and other data collection mechanisms to collect and 

18 report such data, and examples and best practices 

19 related to data collection and privacy; 

20 (2) integration and reporting of such data with 

21 State information systems, including Statewide Lon22 gitudinal Data Systems; 

23 (3) how to account for data elements that 

24 change over time; and 


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1 (4) recommendations of best practices to insti2 tutions of higher education related to communicating 

3 with students about data use and privacy, including 

4 how data will be used to help students who are par5 ents or caregivers of dependent children. 

6 SEC. 3. STUDY ON IMPROVING STUDENT PARENT OUT7 COMES. 

8 (a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Education shall con9 duct a study of a demographically and geographically rep10 resentative sample of institutions of higher education (as 

11 determined by the Secretary) on best practices of institu12 tions of higher education that improve outcomes for stu13 dents attending institutions of higher education who are 

14 parents or caregivers of dependent children. Such study 

15 shall include qualitative and quantitative research on— 

16 (1) the enrollment, persistence, and retention of 

17 students attending institutions of higher education 

18 who are parents or caregivers of dependent children, 

19 disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, income, and 

20 the type of program in which such students are en21 rolled (such as an associate, baccalaureate, or grad22 uate degree program, or a certificate program); 

23 (2) the effects of the availability of campus24 based childcare services on such outcomes of stu25 dents who are parents or caregivers of dependent 


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1 children, including a comparison of students whose 

2 children are served by the campus-based childcare 

3 services with students whose children are not served 

4 by campus-based childcare services; 

5 (3) enrollment trends of students who are par6 ents or caregivers of dependent children to attend 

7 certain institutions or types of institutions, and 

8 whether such trends and preferences are based on 

9 the availability of institutional support services for 

10 such students, such as campus-based child care, stu11 dent parent centers, and Child Care Access Means 

12 Parents in School Program grants; 

13 (4) the percentage of children served by cam14 pus-based childcare services who are the children of 

15 students, compared to the percentage of such chil16 dren who are children of faculty, staff, and other 

17 community members, disaggregated by— 

18 (A) race, ethnicity, gender, employment or 

19 student status (including faculty, staff, commu20 nity member, and student status), and family 

21 income of the parent of such children; and 

22 (B) only with respect to students who are 

23 parents of such children, the type of program in 

24 which the student is enrolled (such as an assoVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:15 Nov 16, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6309.IH H6309

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1 ciate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree pro2 gram, or a certificate program); and 

3 (5) the strategies used by institutions of higher 

4 education for integration of on-campus services for 

5 students who are parents or caregivers of dependent 

6 children with other State and institution-provided 

7 services, such as the supplemental nutrition assist8 ance program established under the Food and Nutri9 tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.), the pro10 gram of block grants for States for temporary as11 sistance for needy families established under part A 

12 of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 

13 et seq.), the special supplemental nutrition program 

14 for women, infants, and children under the Child 

15 Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786), workforce 

16 programs including adult education and literacy ac17 tivities (as defined in section 203 of the Workforce 

18 Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3272)), 

19 and Head Start and Early Head Start programs 

20 carried out under the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 

21 9831 et seq.). 

22 (b) REPORT AND DISSEMINATION OF FINDINGS.— 

23 Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment 

24 of this Act, the Secretary of Education shall report the 

25 findings of the study conducted under subsection (a) to 


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1 Congress, and make such findings publicly available. Such 

2 findings shall include information on the best practices 

3 identified by the Secretary to be most effective at improv4 ing outcomes for students attending institutions of higher 

5 education who are parents or caregivers of dependent chil6 dren. 

Æ 


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