If you’re among the 12 percent of single parent college students you understand the difficulty of balancing home, school and study.  Now an analysis of government data by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research(IWPR) reveals the depth of the problem.  Researchers found single parent college students have few financial resources, need more financial aid and have greater unmet needs after receiving financial aid.

IWPR Senior Research Analyst Kevin Miller says, “Postsecondary credentials should be a pathway out of poverty, not a source of decades of debt.”  But that’s apparently the case.  Single student parents have 20-30 percent more debt one year after they graduate, according to the report.  And ten years after graduation, they owe three times as much as their classmates.

No quick fixes are on the horizon. Barbara Gault, VP and Executive Director of IWPR says, “Keeping student interest rates low will… be critical to maintaining opportunities for low income parents to pursue college and economic self-sufficiency.