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It’s officially back-to-school season, and parent spending on school clothing and supplies to ready their K-12 children for the ‘24-’25 school year is expected to once again top $31 billion, averaging $586 per student.

However, what about costs for the parents who themselves are students? I recently interviewed Nicole Lynn Lewis, the founder and CEO of nonprofit Generation Hope, who told me that one in four college students across the country are also parents—and they comprise an “invisible” constituency that she says both presidential candidates need to keep in mind.

“These are the students falling through the cracks, not because they don’t have the cognitive abilities or the drive and ambition but because our systems are not set up for them to be successful,” Lewis said. “We talk about childcare so much as it relates to workforce, but there’s also a big piece of this where, if you’re a mother or father and you want a postsecondary credential, you’re not going to be able to do that if you can’t get affordable and quality childcare.”

It’s not just the American presidential candidates and government that need to better mind this population, Lewis says; colleges........

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