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The legislature finds that Washington lacks a formal, consistent system to identify or track parenting students across institutions of higher education. As a result, parenting students are often invisible in policy development, budgeting decisions, and student support planning, limiting the ability of institutions and the state to understand their needs, measure outcomes, or design effective supports.
The legislature further finds that parenting students represent a significant portion of the postsecondary population and face distinct barriers to enrollment, persistence, and completion. Without reliable data, institutions cannot consistently identify student parents, evaluate access to existing resources, or coordinate supports related to child care, basic needs, and financial aid.
The intent of this act is to establish consistent, statewide data collection protocols to better understand the experiences and outcomes of parenting students. By improving data quality and coordination, the legislature seeks to support evidence-based policymaking, advance educational equity, and strengthen Washington's future workforce by improving postsecondary completion for student parents and their families.
The council shall work with institutions of higher education, as defined in RCW 28B.10.016, to develop formal data collection protocols to identify parenting students. Data collection may occur where it is the most feasible, cost-effective, and accurate, such as during enrollment, and should be updated through other annual means. Participating institutions of higher education shall send their data to the council annually.
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The council shall convene a work group to provide recommendations for identifying students' parenting status to inform the implementation of subsection (1) of this section.
The work group must include members from the following entities:
An organization representing the presidents of the public four-year institutions;
The state board of community and technical colleges;
The Washington student association or an organization that coordinates advocacy for students from public institutions of higher education;
Communities for our colleges; and
Other entities as necessary and appropriate with relevant experience in educational persistence and support for parenting students.
The work group shall develop recommendations of campus and community partnership practices supportive of parenting students pursuing postsecondary education and submit them to the appropriate committees of the legislature by December 1, 2026, in accordance with RCW 43.01.036.
The council may adopt rules to implement this section.