The Jed Foundation takes actionable steps to bring strategic
and evidence-based recommendations to campuses nationwide
[April 24, 2025 — New York, New York] – The Jed Foundation (JED), a leading nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for teens and young adults, announced today a mental health collaborative designed to enable community colleges to better support students who are parents. The JED Campus Collaborative for Student Parents builds on Improving Mental Health of Student Parents: A Framework For Higher Education, a set of recommendations developed by JED and Ascend at the Aspen Institute.
Research shows over three million undergraduates, or 18% of the student population in the United States, are student parents — and they are largely understudied and underserved. Student parents earn grades on par, but are less likely to complete their degrees. At least three in 10 student parents report symptoms of depression and/or anxiety disorders, while 40% report being unaware of mental health information provided by their schools. Among student parents, 38% considered dropping out of school, compared to 25% of nonparents.
This collaborative, community-driven project puts research into practice by using a technical-assistance model, rooted in JED’s proven Campus programming, to help schools implement strategies from the recommendations, with the goal of enhancing mental health and well-being of students who are parents. Through a peer community approach, participating colleges will collaborate to share best practices, address barriers, and create meaningful systems-level interventions at their respective institutions.
The ten community colleges currently participating in the Collaborative are:
Anticipated learning outcomes for community college participants include:
“Student parents face unique challenges and responsibilities, sometimes leading to their mental health being sidelined. We’re proud to launch this Collaborative as a way to provide tailored and strategic support for a large and often overlooked population of college students,” said John MacPhee, JED’s CEO. “The Collaborative brings a special opportunity for participating community colleges to better promote emotional well-being and provide a community of care for students who have dependent children. JED plans to expand this service across higher education institutions nationwide to ensure that student parents can achieve their educational goals without compromising their wellbeing and mental health.”
“Student parents are creative, versatile, flexible, and determined — all while balancing the dual responsibilities of school and family,” said Marjorie Sims, Managing Director of Ascend at the Aspen Institute. “That balancing act can come with immense stress, and colleges acknowledging these unique challenges is only the beginning of mitigating that stress. We are proud to see JED’s new Collaborative building on our initial framework on student-parent mental health — a meaningful step toward real action. Mental health support for student parents must be intentional, integrated, and sustained. We hope this effort to help colleges strengthen their systems of care offers student parents new opportunities to thrive — academically, emotionally, and in their roles as caregivers.”
For information about recent program enhancements to JED Campus and personalization by school type, including community colleges, click here.
The JED Campus Student Parent Collaborative is generously supported by ECMC Foundation. To learn more about this initiative or JED’s work with higher education institutions, visit our website.
Representatives from JED and participating colleges, as well as local student-parents, are available for media interviews upon request.
About The Jed Foundation (JED)
JED is a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults. We’re partnering with high schools, colleges, and school districts to strengthen their mental health, substance misuse, and suicide prevention programs and systems. We’re equipping teens and young adults with the skills and knowledge to help themselves and each other. We’re encouraging community awareness, understanding, and action for young adult mental health.
Connect with JED: Email | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Snapchat | YouTube
About Ascend at the Aspen Institute
Ascend at the Aspen Institute Founder Anne Mosle set out with a mission to spark and spread breakthroughs in how we achieve intergenerational family prosperity and well-being. For a decade, Ascend has catalyzed a modern two-generation (2Gen) approach: one that intentionally focuses on children and the adults in their lives together, honors lived experience, and encompasses racial, gender, and economic equity through an intersectional lens. We are a community of leaders — well-connected, well-prepared and well-positioned — building political will that transforms hearts, minds, policies, and practices. Today, over 160 Ascend Fellows are transforming the leadership landscape. Through the Ascend Network, over 600 organizations work directly with families to operationalize 2Gen approaches and design new tools in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico as well as across the globe in Ireland, Rwanda, and Guatemala. Together, we have ignited a movement reaching 15 million families.
Media Contact
Justin Barbo
Director of Public Relations, The Jed Foundation
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