A TAMU-CC program easing burdens and supporting parenting student is offering help with child care, licensure fees, transportation, and more.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A grant-funded program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is providing new support and resources for students who are also raising children.

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The effort stems from Texas House Bill 1361, which requires public colleges and universities to designate a liaison officer to assist parenting students.

University leaders say the Islanders Caring for Parenting Students program is helping meet those needs by offering expanded resources, including assistance with testing and licensure fees, child care and transportation.

Dakota Cloud, a sophomore nursing major, is among the students benefiting from the program. She is raising three children while working full time and attending school.

“Even though you are a parent, that doesn’t mean that you have to give up your dreams,” Cloud said.

Cloud said her journey into nursing was shaped by her son’s health challenges. Her 11-year-old was diagnosed with Common variable immunodeficiency, a condition that makes it harder for the body to fight infections.

“We started getting closer to a diagnosis for my son and I was missing, so I reached out, I got referred to Karyn, and we spoke and then it’s really been uphill from there,” Cloud said.

Her son began showing symptoms at just six months old, but it took years before doctors reached a diagnosis. That experience motivated Cloud to pursue a degree in nursing.

“Whenever my son got sick and no one could figure it out and I just felt like, I was already nursing at home without a degree pretty much for my own child,” Cloud said. “And advocating for someone else and their own children is just really something that I find dear to me.”

Balancing school, a full-time job at a psychiatrist’s office and raising three children is not easy, Cloud said, but access to campus resources has made a difference.

Associate Dean of Students Dr. Claudia Ayala, who leads the program, said many parenting students face financial barriers beyond tuition.

“Affording child care can be a barrier for a student. The educational costs, you know, it costs not just for books and software that you might need for a class, but sometimes you need to have funds to test for licensure,” Dr. Ayala said.

The program is currently supporting about 250 student-parents, helping them stay enrolled and on track to graduate. Dr. Ayala said efforts are underway to secure additional funding to continue the program beyond the current grant.

Cloud said she hopes other parents will be encouraged to pursue their goals.

“We are there as parents to show them that you can overcome anything you put your mind to, and if going back to school to get a degree is something that you’ve been thinking about, I think that you should really do it,” she said.

University officials encourage parenting students to reach out and fill out the form on the program’s website for support and take advantage of available resources.