The FamilyU Seal:
Honoring institutions and organizations that champion
student parents

The 2023 application is now closed. The FamilyU Seal application will open again in the summer of 2024.

A national certification for higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations
making significant strides in intentionally serving student parents.

What is the FamilyU Seal? Generation Hope has created the FamilyU Seal, a national certification for higher education institutions making significant strides in intentionally serving parenting students. In addition to certifying colleges and universities, the FamilyU Seal recognizes nonprofit organizations that are directly serving parenting students and in doing so are achieving outstanding outcomes. To evaluate inclusivity and support of student parents, we use our FamilyU technical assistance framework that helps colleges and universities build their capacity to better serve this population.

The purpose of the Seal program is to:

Identify institutions and organizations that are actively investing in student parent success across the country
Inspire other institutions and organizations to invest in student parent success
Increase awareness of the student parent population

Through all of our work, we have seen the importance of investing in parenting students and centering their voices in all that we do; the connection between student parent work and racial justice work; and the evidence that when institutions and organizations intentionally support student parents, everyone benefits.

The 2023 application is now closed. The FamilyU Seal application will open again in the summer of 2024.

Meet the FamilyU Seal Recipients

FamilyU Seal Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

FamilyU SEAL Review Committee

Dr. Michelle Jasczynski, PhD, EdM
Department of Behavioral and Community Health
University of Maryland, College Park

Dr. Christine Bailie
Director of Institutional Strategy
Texas Success Center at the Texas Association of Community Colleges

Fabiola Mora
Senior Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant
University of Colorado- Boulder

Bernadette Illusion Muñiz
Undergraduate student of Psychology, BS
Minor in Human Rights and Migration
University of California, San Diego

Morgan Farrier
Undergraduate student of Cognitive Science, specialization in Neuroscience, BS
University of California, San Diego

FamilyU Seal Eligibility & Process

Eligibility:

Higher Education Institutions: Any two- or four-year nonprofit postsecondary institution (public or private) within the United States and its territories can apply. Higher education districts with multiple independently operated and led institutions (rather than a district of campuses that operate as one institution) cannot apply for the Seal. However, an individual institution within that district can apply.

Nonprofit organizations: Any nonprofit organization that is directly serving parenting college students in the United States and its territories can apply.

Individuals are not eligible to apply.

Awards:

While there is no cap on the number of institutions and organizations that will receive a seal (the number will be determined by how many meet the baseline criteria), we will select one exemplar institution to receive a $25,000 award, and one exemplar nonprofit to receive a $15,000 award to support their continued student parent work.

Application Review and Fee:

A Review Committee composed of student parents, funders, advocates, educators, and other stakeholders will assist in reviewing and scoring applications. Generation Hope staff will compile scores and make final decisions regarding FamilyU Seal recipients.

The FamilyU Seal application fee is $250 to support the administrative costs associated with the program and must be paid by credit card at the time of application submission.

Post-Selection Activities for Recipients:

The FamilyU Seal is a three-year designation. Institutions and organizations that are selected in 2023 will be showcased as a recipient through the 2025-2026 academic year. At the end of the three-year cycle, institutions and organizations must reapply for the FamilyU Seal. The FamilyU Seal opportunity will be available on an annual basis.

All FamilyU Seal Recipients must:

Display the official FamilyU Seal on the certification page of their website and on any student parent web pages
Share the promotional materials provided by Generation Hope during the September 2023 announcement of all recipients

The exemplar institution and organization must also:

Use the funds to advance their student parent work
Provide a brief explanation of how the funds have been used six months after the funds are distributed
Send at least one representative to Generation Hope’s national conference March 13-15, 2024 in New Orleans, LA to accept the award

To learn more about applying for the FamilyU Seal, please see our Frequently Asked Questions.

Information Sessions & Timeline

Application Webinar

Our FamilyU Seal Application Webinar was held on May 16, 2023 from 3:00-4:00 pm EST via Zoom. A recording of the webinar is posted below.

Four Components of the FamilyU Seal

Policy

Institutions/organizations have positive momentum among three key policy areas:

Crafting policies that specifically support student parents
Including student parents in governance and policy creation
Removing or revising policies that exclude/marginalize student parents

Data

Institutions/organizations have accurate data and positive momentum among six key student parent data areas:

Actively tracking parenting status of students
Retaining students
Disaggregating data to identify equity gaps
Providing financial support
Reporting degree completion
Translating data into evidence-based programs

People

Institutions/organizations demonstrate people practices that lead to improved student parent success in the following three areas:

Continuously training of faculty/staff on the needs and experiences of student parents
Ensuring diverse representation in administration, faculty, and staff to reflect the institution’s/organization’s student population
Implementing hiring practices that include an understanding of the student parent population

Culture

Institutions/organizations demonstrate a culture that embraces student parents through the following four areas:

Creating intentional family-friendly spaces that are accessible to students
Ensuring representation of student parents in internal and external communications
Including student parents in strategic objectives of the institution/organization
Including student parent work in the institution’s/organization’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work

What is the FamilyU Cohort?

The FamilyU Cohort is a comprehensive, customized, evidence-based, two-year capacity-building experience designed to build and refine institutional competencies to improve student parent success. In partnership with institutional staff and student parents, colleges and universities participate in peer learning convenings and campus-focused independent coaching sessions.

Eleven institutions have participated in Generation Hope's FamilyU Cohort to date, advancing student parent success across the country. Learn more about our first FamilyU Cohort and second FamilyU Cohort.