The FamilyU Cohort:
Transform your institution to better serve student parents

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Applications are due on May 13, 2026 by 11:59 PM EST.

About

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 our peer learning convenings and campus-focused independent coaching sessions.

Generation Hope has launched five FamilyU Cohorts since 2021 comprised of institutions that are leading the way in innovative supports for this population.

Want to learn more before you apply? Join us for a virtual info session to meet the team and get your questions answered:

March 4, 2026 at 11am ET

April 29, 2026 at 2pm ET

Our Core Competencies for Student Parent Success

Data

Create a more comprehensive and utilitarian student parent-centered data collection system. In addition to walking you through best practices, we will connect you with experts on how to enhance your data collection methods and provide recommendations based on their lessons learned.

People

Assess the staff, faculty, and administration’s knowledge of student parents and identify strategies to increase awareness, training, and understanding that will lead to transformative support. We will walk you through individual practices that can either marginalize or encourage student parents.

Policy

Analyze institutional policy using a student-parent lens, develop a plan to amend policies that negatively impact student parents, and create policies to help this population thrive. We will also encourage you to think strategically about integrating state and federal policy into your student parent supports.

Culture

Develop and implement strategies that foster a welcoming environment for student parents. From the physical campus environment to the unspoken traditions or practices that define a culture, we will partner with you to unpack what messages you are sending to parenting college students each day.

Join the FamilyU Cohort

What Cohort Members Receive

A customized campus work plan guided by the Student Parent Campus Capacity Assessment Tool.
A dedicated coach to analyze assessment results, support and facilitate student parent efforts, and assist with problem-solving over the two-year cohort.
Eight interactive, quarterly cohort meetings aligned to the Core Competency Areas: Data, Policy, Culture, and People, using facilitation techniques centered on reflective dialogue, learning, collaboration, and results.
Fifteen one-on-one, customized coaching sessions over two years, engaging representatives from across departments.
One Student Parent Fellow to support the implementation phase of your institution’s work, trained and compensated by Generation Hope.
One executive session with your governing body and/or executive leadership team to report on progress.

FamilyU Cohort Outcomes

Increased awareness of the student parent population on your campus and their needs for college completion.
Increased student enrollment, retention, and completion rates.
Stronger, institution-wide student parent efforts engaging multiple departments and key stakeholders.
Deep relationships with peer institutions and field experts working to improve student outcomes.
Improved data collection methods and tools to better track students’ parenting status.
Development and implementation of racially equitable, parent-friendly policies across campus.
Cultivation of student-parent champions to drive systems-change efforts.

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"Generation Hope has been the ultimate acountability partner...There's a lot of brain power in [the cohort], so you can be really strategic in where you focus your attention — that's crucial to moving the work forward."

- Dr. Ja’Bette Lozupone, Director of Student Affairs, Montgomery College

FamilyU Cohort Institutions

To date, 24 colleges and universities have participated in the FamilyU Cohort, representing a diverse mix of community colleges, four-year institutions, and minority-serving institutions across the country. Together, these institutions are committed to building more inclusive, parent-friendly campuses that improve student parent success and overall student outcomes.