Sarah Kaba has slowly worked toward her associate degree since 2019. If all goes well, she’ll have an associate degree in science by December 2024 at 31 years old.
A lot has to go well.
On top of her studies, she works part time and mothers three children with her husband. But Ibrahima Kaba works long hours in a warehouse, so Sarah Kaba must juggle taking care of her family, working part-time, and finishing her degree.
Kaba is among 1,109 student parents at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, making up about 12% of the student body. Single parents make up 9%. In 2019, the Minnesota Department of Higher Education reported that student parents made up about 15% of all Minnesota undergraduate students in higher education; 9% of students are single parents.
“I have a lot to do,” Kaba said. “I can’t meet deadlines, sometimes I feel like I’m on the verge of a mental breakdown.”
But her biggest relief comes from knowing she’s not shouldering her duties alone.
At MCTC she qualifies for several aid programs, making sure that she can continue pursuing higher education while still remaining employed and keeping her family cared for. Counseling services, child care grants, and food pantries are organized and provided by the college to ensure that at-risk students can remain afloat and prioritize their education. “I don’t pay for anything,” Kaba said.
MCTC’s Student Support Center, which provides services for at-risk or vulnerable students to ensure their academic success, administers many of the assistance programs. Help ranges from organizing toy drives for students with children to connecting students with counseling or veterans services.
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Alberto Gomez[/image_credit][image_caption]Al Ramos running through a grocery check-in list with other volunteers in the food drive's pantry at MCTC.[/image_caption]
The drive remains available to students two semesters after graduation, and Osmanovic said every other week, students can also receive hygiene products like toothpaste, shampoo, antiperspirant, and more. Every week the drive offers menstrual products.
“I think ‘basic needs drive’ is a better way to describe it,” she said.
According to Osmanovic, the summer typically brings about 50 students to the drive a week; she recognizes between 10-20 of those students as parents. She added that about 80% of the student parents on campus are eligible for federal PELL grants.
During the academic year, the Student Support Center operates a Student Parent Center, a mix between a study and short-term child care space. Students can come in with their children, let them play and read, while the student focuses on classwork and their studies.
“The kids get really into the toys, drawing, their books,” said Osmanovic. “It’s a really safe space for the students.”
So long as student parents stay in the center, staff will help handle child care.
Donations might come in for the parents, but not as often as parents sometimes need, Osmanovic said. “We provide baby wipes, shampoo and bodywash; we don’t have a lot of diapers right now. Rarely we have formula donations,” she said.
Outside of college, the Student Support Center helps connect parents with professional child care services. Coordinators like Osmanovic will help find qualified services near students, perform background checks, and pay the providers through grant money from the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program.
When she has the time, Kaba does front desk work for MCTC’s Student Support Center. The Support Center offers Kaba hours that can fit perfectly into her schedule; one of her 2-year-old twins needs her to stay home? The center encourages her to take the time she needs to care for her child. Classes begin overwhelming her? The Center will reduce her workload.
Part of Kaba’s work is helping hand out groceries during the center’s Wednesday food drive to students like Chantel Castile. Castile pursued an associate degree in accounting and business management in 2012, earning it in 2017. She recently started work on a second associate degree.
[image_credit]MinnPost photo by Alberto Gomez[/image_credit][image_caption]Chantel Castile checks in for MCTC's food driven.[/image_caption]
Castile credits MCTC’s assistant programs for helping her succeed, saying “there are so many resources for students.”
Castile now works in the Academic Success Center as a digital lit technician.“I try to help a lot of students going through what I did,” she said.
Great article about a great idea and great program. I am hopeful that other higher education and secondary schools can learn from this.
MCTC was Minnesota Community College, MCC, when I attended in the early 90’s. Its always been a great place thats been helping adult learners for a long long time. I was in drug treatment and after making a comment about wanting to go to college was told to come to the next meeting with a college application form. I went to MCC to get the application and walked out a couple hours later signed up to start class in less than a month. They were super supportive, helped me every step of the way with financial support, student job and eventually an actual job. Counselors and a special exchange program got me into Augsburg. My four year degree and the experience working at MCC got me a great job with a large tech firm in the area and the rest is history. Places like MCTC make a real difference in our city and our state. Money invested is returned many times over in many ways not the least of which is increased tax collection from the higher wages earned by graduates.