Theses and Dissertations

ORCID

0009-0006-7970-8897

Advisor

Oswalt, Katie

Committee Member

Coats, Linda

Committee Member

Cutler White, Carol

Committee Member

King, Stephanie

Date of Degree

8-12-2026

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Community College Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Technology, Leadership, and Design

Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive quantitative study is to determine the type and distribution of parental student support services available at Texas public community colleges, using data collected from the fall of 2024 and 2025. This study was conducted using secondary archival quantitative data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (2024), Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (2024), Texas Association of Community Colleges (2025), National Student Clearinghouse (2025), U.S. Department of Education (2025), and Texas community college websites. The study collected the following concerning the 52 public Texas community colleges: location, enrollment, student support services available (e.g. campus childcare, family housing), student demographics (gender, race), student financial demographics (FAFSA dependent-independent filing, in-district and off-campus expenses), and student academic status (full-time, part-time), which allowed for an analysis of these characteristics and patterns to see the distributions of non-traditional student services (e.g. childcare, family housing) availability among Texas community colleges. Research questions regarding the prevalence, distribution and types of non-traditional student services offered among Texas community college campuses and their regions guided the analysis of the data. The results showed that out of the 52 public Texas community colleges, only 2 colleges offered on-campus family housing, 1 college offered off-campus family housing, 5 colleges implemented off-campus scholarships or vouchers for housing partner programs, and 44 colleges offered no family housing as student support services. 17 community colleges were found to offer on-campus childcare centers, 11 offered some type of off-campus childcare assistance through programs and/or scholarships to receive childcare off-campus, and 24 of the community colleges did not offer childcare as a parental student support service. The results indicate that regional location matters, with findings suggesting that Metro-area colleges were substantially more likely to offer childcare than the East & Central region colleges or the South, West, & Plains colleges. Even though the results fell short of statistical significance due to the small population of 52 colleges, the effect size was meaningful. Additionally, findings concluded that the proportion of independent (non-traditional) students attending the colleges does not predict whether that college offers childcare, meaning that childcare infrastructure at Texas community colleges is not aligned with where non-traditional parental students are concentrated.

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