Students in Professor Jason Jordan’s communications course at Metropolitan State University of Denver were learning how to take ethnographic field notes.
Seated at a desk next to his mom, 9-year-old Nolan Kersey leaned in and whispered, “What’s ethnography?”
Mariyah Younger, 31, smiled at her son and helped him look up the definition — a research method in which someone studies a social or cultural group — on his tablet.
During class, Jordan tasked his students with wandering the university halls to take notes on their surroundings as if they were performing an ethnographic field study of the building.
Nolan and his mom walked through the Plaza Building on the Auraria campus, he with his tablet and she with a notebook and pen, documenting the world around them. They noticed Braille on the numbered signs posted outside each classroom. Specks on the ceiling tiles. Flyers advertising Spanish club events on bulletin boards.
Back in the classroom, Nolan’s hand was the first to shoot up when Jordan asked students to share their findings. The professor called on the 9-year-old first.
“I noticed vending machines on every floor of the building,” Nolan said.
Jordan praised the young boy’s observation. The class nodded in affirmation, some cracking small smiles as Nolan turned his attention back to the handmade worksheet his mother had created, instructing him to write down what he had learned that day and how he was feeling.
About one in 10 students at MSU Denver is also a parent, according to university data. One in five college students across the country has children, according to national nonprofit Generation Hope, which aims to ensure all student parents succeed.
Younger is determined to make the pursuit of a degree at MSU Denver more accessible for students raising children. She is a new student fellow for Generation Hope’s FamilyU program, which works with college leaders, staff and students to make campuses more friendly to scholars taking care of kids.
MSU Denver is among five universities in the country selected to participate in the program, which focuses on improving policies, resources and support systems for parenting students.
If Younger couldn’t bring her son to class when needed, the communications major is not sure what she would do. The struggle of finding consistent child care is one hurdle preventing college-going parents from earning degrees.
“MSU is family-friendly, and we’re making it even more inclusive for families,” Younger said. “It’s wonderful to be a part of this. My kiddos know mommy goes to college, and now they’re inquisitive about college, too.”
Jordan’s willingness to go above and beyond, encouraging Nolan to participate, is just one example of the university’s commitment to families.
“At MSU Denver, we believe that a student’s role as a parent is a strength, not a barrier,” President Janine Davidson said in a statement. “Through FamilyU, we are committed to creating a space where parenting students are fully seen, supported and empowered.”
Helping future parents
Younger works with departments throughout MSU Denver, including financial aid, student affairs and faculty, looking for ways to improve existing policies or procedures in the eyes of a mom, dad or caregiver.
So far, she has helped develop an online hub with resources all in one place and planned events, including a “bring your kid to school” day welcoming parents and their children to campus. That event allowed kids to see the place where their caregivers learn, featured a kids’ clothing drive and free family portraits, and allowed the university to educate parents on what resources exist for them.
The program has also given parents the option to self-identify during school orientation for better data-keeping and so the university can email them resources and updates.
Surveying students and parents across the country, Generation Hope found that many felt disconnected from their college community, did not see family-friendly characteristics on their campuses and felt that student services like financial aid offices weren’t properly educated on how to serve parents. For example, child care expenses can be included to determine a student’s financial aid award, which many students — like Younger — didn’t know.
Younger has two toddlers in daycare while Nolan is in school.
The online hub educates parents and pregnant students about medical accommodations they might qualify for, child care options on campus, lactation rooms, policies regarding students’ return to classes after childbirth, financial aid information and summer camp suggestions.
“We’re examining all of our policies and we are working with student parents to get their input on what policies are needed,” said Kristen Lyons, MSU Denver psychology professor and one of the faculty representatives on the FamilyU team. “When you support a student parent, you’re supporting their kids, and it directly impacts the whole family.”
Being a part of the FamilyU program provides a coach to analyze your institution, a customized work plan for your campus, quarterly cohort meetings, a paid student parent fellow and a meeting between Generation Hope and the university’s executive leaders.
“My hope is that people who are thinking about returning to college or starting it here at MSU Denver know the university is here to support them and their success,” Lyons said. “I hope that our student parents get to complete their dream of an education.”
Laura Delmonico’s three children have watched their mom plow through a psychology major with a minor in human development and family studies at MSU Denver.
Her 8-year-old walked in on her taking an online test last month. The little girl said, “You’re going to do great, Mom. I’m proud of you, and you got this.”
According to 2022 data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the group most likely to have attended college three years after high school were students with at least one parent who had a bachelor’s or other degree and who believed their family could afford college. The group least likely to have attended college during that same timeframe was students whose parents had a high school diploma or less and who believed their family could not afford it.
“They see me staying up late and working hard, and they know what that means,” Delmonico said. “They know what hard work looks like. They see what it takes to do something you’re passionate about.”
Delmonico, 32, went to the University of Hawaii right out of high school but found it wasn’t quite the right fit. She moved back to Colorado without her degree, and then life — work, having three kids — happened.
When Delmonico decided she wanted to prioritize her college degree again, MSU Denver seemed like a good fit for the single mother: more affordable, flexible and used to working with non-traditional populations.
Delmonico is an online student and a teaching assistant in addition to being a mother.
College is a different experience this time around.
“When I first went to college, it was about having fun and meeting new people and sometimes going to class,” Delmonico said. “When you’re a parent, you don’t have time for that extra stuff. You are there to learn. You’re there to get work done. You do your best and stay up late and get up early, and you just get your stuff done.”
Delmonico is now involved in the student-parent advocacy work at MSU along with Younger and other parents. She enjoys the camaraderie of meeting other student parents and bonding over how exhausted they are, she said while laughing.
“I want to help lay some groundwork and get some things going because I want it to be better for all the parents that come after me,” Delmonico said. “When I cross the finish line, I want to make sure I’m turning around and helping all the waves behind me get across, too.”
A different journey
When Younger emailed Jordan earlier this semester to let him know that managing her child care needs along with in-person classes was proving difficult, he told her that his policy has always been that there’s no reason not to bring kids to class.
“It’s been awesome,” Jordan said. “I really like it when the kids are there. It gets the enrolled students participating a little more actively, as well. I think that meeting any students where they’re at is a really important part of teaching and makes class more accessible and meaningful.”
Jordan’s own experience growing up might influence his policy.
When the professor was in first grade, his mom started taking basic courses at a San Diego community college — something no one in his family had done.
“My first memories of what college was as a concept were hanging out with my mom in a composition class,” Jordan said. “As someone who didn’t have college grads in my family, it normalized (that) this is a thing adults can go do to learn things and better their life.”
Now, 9-year-old Nolan sits in Jordan’s class, taking in the college experience for himself.
College, he said, is “really cool.” The people are “extra polite” and sometimes you walk around campus and find people performing or making art or playing games. His favorite thing about college so far is the Starbucks on campus, he said as his mom rolled her eyes and laughed, promising a sweet treat after class.
In the mornings, it’s a mad dash out the door for Younger and her three children as she gets the younger two to preschool and Nolan to elementary school. She downloads her class readings and listens to them in the car on the way to morning drop-offs.
Once a week, she picked up Nolan from school late as she raced out of her college courses and fought traffic. His school told her they’d have to call Child Protective Services if she was late again, so she decided to pick him up early once a week and bring him to class with her.
“I had a sense of guilt about it, but I am doing the best I can, and he is engaged here and learning so much,” Younger said. “He is doing his homework, and I make him worksheets, and I know he is getting a lot out of it. I am a mom and a student, and I take both of those jobs seriously.”
After Younger graduates in the spring, she plans to pursue her master’s degree and eventually work in higher education so she can help other student parents like herself earn their degrees and better their futures.
“You get there when you get there, and it’s OK that the journey looks different than those around you,” Younger said. “My goal is to see parenting resources become institutionalized.”
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