Listening First: Johnston Community College
Using Student Voice to Build a More Family-Friendly Campus
How Johnston Community College partnered with student parents to better understand their experiences—and used those insights to strengthen institutional supports, services, and culture.
Read the StoryAre Our Supports Aligned with What Student Parents Actually Need?
Every year, community colleges invest significant time and resources into supporting student parents. They create programs, connect students to community resources, and expand services intended to make college more accessible and sustainable for families balancing coursework, childcare, employment, and life.
Yet one important question often remains unanswered: Are these supports aligned with what student parents actually need? Johnston Community College recognized that answering this question required more than collecting survey data. It required inviting student parents into the design process as partners whose lived experiences could guide meaningful institutional improvement.
This realization became the foundation for a fundamentally different approach—one centered on listening before designing.
"You can't design the right solution until you've truly heard the people you're trying to serve."
Anonymous
•Student parents represent one of the most resilient—and most underserved—populations in higher education. Their voices deserve a central place at the table.
Meaningful Co-Design Begins Before the First Conversation
Meaningful co-design doesn't begin with a focus group. It begins by creating the conditions for authentic partnership—building trust, establishing shared purpose, and preparing institutional culture to genuinely receive and act on what it hears.
Johnston Community College's readiness for this work was not accidental. It was built upon several earlier initiatives that helped prepare the institution to engage student parents as true collaborators rather than survey respondents.
Trust-Building Infrastructure
Prior investments in student support relationships created the interpersonal trust necessary for candid conversation and genuine co-design.
Institutional Readiness
Leadership alignment and staff capacity ensured the institution was prepared to act on what it learned—not just listen and move on.
A Culture of Inquiry
A commitment to continuous improvement meant that student voices were already valued as a source of institutional knowledge and direction.
Student Parents: A Population Worth Centering
Student parents are among the most motivated learners on any campus—and among those facing the greatest structural barriers to completion. They navigate competing demands that most traditional students never encounter: childcare gaps, inflexible work schedules, financial instability, and the emotional weight of being responsible for others while pursuing their own futures.
At community colleges, student parents represent a significant and often undercounted share of enrollment. Their success has generational implications—not only for their own economic mobility, but for the children and families who watch them persist through difficulty toward a degree.
~1 in 5
Community College Students are raising childrenLower
Completion rates compared to non-parenting peersHigher
Motivation and sesne of purpose when supportedFrom Data Collection to Genuine Partnership
Traditional needs assessments ask student parents what they lack. A co-design approach asks something more powerful: What would it look like if this institution truly worked for you? Johnston Community College committed to this harder, richer question.
This progression—from passive data collection to active co-creation—represents a meaningful shift in how institutions relate to the students they serve. It positions student parents not as recipients of institutional goodwill, but as experts in their own experience whose insight is essential to institutional improvement.
Themes That Emerged from Listening
Time as a Scarce Resource
Student parents described time as their most constrained resource. Scheduling conflicts between class times, childcare hours, and work shifts created cascading challenges that even well-intentioned programs couldn't resolve.
The Need to Feel Seen
Many student parents reported feeling invisible on campus—neither fully recognized as parents nor fully included as students. They wanted to be acknowledged as whole people, not just enrollment numbers.
Navigation Gaps
Knowing that resources exist is not the same as being able to access them. Student parents frequently described difficulty connecting the dots between available services and their own specific circumstances.
Peer Connection Matters
Student parents expressed a strong desire to connect with others who shared their experience. Community and belonging—not just services—emerged as a meaningful driver of persistence and wellbeing.
Turning Insight into Action
Listening is only the beginning. What distinguishes a co-design process from a one-time focus group is the institution's commitment to acting on what it hears—and doing so transparently, in continued partnership with the community that shared its experience.
Johnston Community College used the themes that emerged from student parent conversations to reexamine existing services, identify gaps in institutional culture, and prioritize improvements that would have the broadest and most meaningful impact. Student parents were kept informed and involved throughout, reinforcing the message that their voices had genuine weight.
Streamlined Navigation
- Simplified pathways to connect student parents with the resources most relevant to their situation—reducing friction and confusion.
Scheduling Flexibility
- Expanded options for accessing advising, services, and support at hours compatible with parenting and work responsibilities.
Community Building
- Created intentional spaces and opportunities for student parents to connect with peers who share their experience and challenges.
Beyond Programs: Changing How the Institution Shows Up
Sustainable improvement for student parents requires more than adding a new program or expanding a service. It requires a shift in institutional culture—in how staff communicate, how policies are written, and how the everyday experience of campus life signals whether student parents belong here
Language & Communication
Reviewing how the institution communicates about parenting students—ensuring messaging is inclusive, affirming, and practically useful.
Staff Awareness
Equipping frontline staff with greater understanding of the unique pressures student parents face—so interactions feel supportive rather than transactional.
Policy Review
Examining institutional policies through the lens of student parent needs—identifying where rules create unnecessary barriers to access or completion.
Visible Affirmation
Making student parents visible on campus through signage, events, and recognition—signaling clearly that they are a valued and expected part of this community.
What Johnston Community College Would Tell Other Institutions
This work was not without its challenges. Authentic co-design requires patience, humility, and a genuine willingness to be changed by what you hear. Johnston Community College's experience offers a set of honest reflections for institutions considering a similar path
The Work of Listening Is Never Finished
Johnston Community College's experience is a reminder that the most impactful thing an institution can do is also the most underutilized: ask, and then truly listen. When student parents are invited into the design of the systems meant to serve them, those systems get better—more relevant, more accessible, and more human.
This is not a model that requires extraordinary resources. It requires extraordinary commitment—to curiosity, to humility, and to the belief that the people closest to a problem hold essential wisdom about its solution.
Interested in bringing a co-design approach to your campus?
Start by identifying one student population whose experience you'd like to understand more deeply-and ask them to help you design what comes next.