“Running when everyone else is walking”: How college student mothers perceive their intersecting identities, navigate barriers, and define success

Abstract

There are nearly 3.5 million mothers currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in the United States. Despite the substantial number of student mothers on college campuses, there are significant gaps in the extant literature on this student population. The purpose of this phenomenological study was twofold. First, to explore how college student mothers make meaning of their intersecting identities, particularly those of race, class, and marital status. The second purpose of this study was to identify systemic barriers student mothers encounter at four-year colleges and universities in the United States and to understand how college student mothers define success. The findings suggested that college student mothers experienced barriers than their non-parenting peers did not and that the intersecting identities of race, class, and marital status changed the college experience for student mothers. Further, the definition of success college student mothers have for themselves are diverse, and often contradict the definition of success used by researchers and higher education institutions. Recommendations are provided for higher education administrators and campus leadership to improve their policies and procedures to dismantle existing barriers college student mothers experience and challenge the current definitions of success, allowing space for this population to construct their own definitions.