St. Cloud State University has earned funding from two state agencies to support student parents.
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The Minnesota Office of Higher Education has announced that it will fully fund the St. Cloud State Student Parent Support Initiative for 2017-18. The $126,000 award will fund the initiative, which serves pregnant and parenting St. Cloud State students and their families.
The initiative has increased participation by more than 200 percent since 2015. In the past this program was funded by the U.S. Office of Adolescent Health.
The Minnesota Department of Education is providing $75,000 in a two-year Pathway II Early Learning Scholarship to provide funds for evening and weekend care to support student parents taking evening classes or working evenings.
The funding will also fund tuition buy-downs for low-income student parents.
Lindsay Gilbertson, a single mother credits the Pathway II scholarship with helping her to complete her graduate degree in college counseling and student development.
“I was able to take all of my classes day and night without having to work an additional job to pay for child care,” she said. “Not only was I able to attend class, but I was also able to drop my son off or have him stay longer so that I could have time to study.”
The Department of Education previously awarded the university with this two-year grant in 2015.
Lindgren Child Care Center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
