The stereotypes about millennials have been well-documented. They’re entitled and flighty, and crushed under the weight of student loan debt and mediocre job prospects.
But more than 20 million of them are something else, too: Parents. And they’re facing challenges unfamiliar to both their childless peers and older moms and dads.
About 20 percent of parents between the ages of 18 and 34 live in poverty, according to an analysis of Census data released Wednesday by the Young Invincibles, an advocacy and outreach group for young people.
The Great Recession and slow recovery combined with the rising costs of child care and education are creating the “perfect storm for today’s young parents,” said Konrad Mugglestone, a policy analyst at Young Invincibles and the author of the report.
“Today’s young parents are the most impoverished generation in a quarter century,” Mugglestone said. “It’s a concern not just for today’s young parents but for the next generation.”
I’m trying to grow and I can’t grow because I don’t have this degree, I can’t get this degree because I don’t have anyone to watch my child.
- Cristina Wyatt, 28-year-old single mom
While it’s typical for young and less-established parents to struggle more financially than their older counterparts, millennial parents in particular are dealing with headwinds that weren’t as pronounced a generation ago.
They’re working in an economy where it’s increasingly important — and expensive — to have a college education. And having a child only exacerbates the difficulties involved in earning and paying for a degree.
“Younger parents may not have a college education yet, which has a big impact on earnings,” said Barbara Gault, the vice president and executive director of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “They may even interrupt their education because they feel it’s too difficult to both earn enough to raise a family and invest in their skills.”
The Young Invicibles report notes that 40 percent of postsecondary students with kids also have full-time jobs, which can make it harder to get through school. Child-care costs and logistics can also be a barrier for young parents looking to get their degrees.
The cost of child care has skyrocketed over the past few decades and even those students who can afford it often have to turn to inconvenient options.
About half of public colleges have on-site child care, a share that’s slowly fallen since 2002, even as the number of parents enrolled in college is growing, according to a November report from IWPR.
Cristina Wyatt knows the challenges of getting a degree while raising a child all too well. The 28-year-old single mother has been in and out of various schools for the past several years, acquiring student loans that cost her about $400 a month, but still no diploma.
She said she’s “looking for another angle” to get back into school, using apps and websites to research various scholarships. But even if paying for school wasn’t an issue, Wyatt said juggling classes with her responsibilities to her four-year-old daughter would still be a challenge.
Today’s young parents are the most impoverished generation in a quarter century.
- Konrad Mugglestone, policy analyst
Wyatt, who lives in Decatur, Ga., wakes up between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. most mornings to get her daughter ready for school before heading to her $10-an-hour job delivering food to patients at a hospital.
Since she typically works 12-hour shifts, Wyatt says she doesn’t get home until 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. some days and then she still has to feed her daughter dinner and get her ready for bed.
“I’m stuck,” Wyatt said. “I’m trying to grow and I can’t grow because I don’t have this degree, I can’t get this degree because I don’t have anyone to watch my child.” Though she sends her daughter to Pre-K for free, Wyatt pays about $65 a week for before and after-school care while she’s at work.
Even those young parents with bachelor’s degrees are typically dealing with higher student loan bills than their childless counterparts; the median student debt is about 25 percent higher for bachelor’s degree recipients from the class of 2008 with just one child than for graduates with no kids, Young Invicibles found.
“That’s going to saddle them in the long term,” Mugglestone said. “You need to consider the fact that they’ve got the next generation in their hands right now.”