Generation Hope Founder, Nicole Lynn Lewis, Announces Forthcoming Book: Student Parent: The Cost of Poverty, the Fight for Families, and the Power of College

A vital call to disrupt systemic barriers that keep millions of student parents from opportunity and economic mobility—now available for pre-order.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Generation Hope today announced the upcoming release of Student Parent: The Cost of Poverty, the Fight for Families, and the Power of College (March 3, 2026), the new book from award-winning author, advocate, and Generation Hope Founder & CEO Nicole Lynn Lewis.

Lewis, a former teen mother who put herself through the College of William & Mary with her infant daughter by her side, blends searing personal narrative with groundbreaking research to both expose how systemic inequities block millions of parents from higher education and to offer a bold vision for change.

The Missing Middle in Higher Education

Nearly five million college students today are parents, representing one in five undergraduates. On average, they earn higher GPAs than their peers, yet they are ten times less likely to graduate.

These students remain largely invisible in higher education policy, workforce development strategies, and debates about poverty and equity.

"This book is a call to arms for anyone who believes higher education is not a luxury, but a fundamental right," Lewis said. "It is for those who feel the pull to champion families pushed to the margins, to stand with them in their fight for a brighter future. It is an excavation of the past, a journey into the heart of how we arrived at this moment—how mothers and fathers in poverty became stranded so far from the shores of opportunity and economic mobility. And most importantly, it is a blueprint for the future, a roadmap for the work we must do to build a path toward lasting change."

Blueprint for Economic Mobility

Student Parent is Lewis's unflinching yet profoundly hopeful investigation into the systemic obstacles that block parents from accessing education, advancing their careers, and achieving true economic mobility. Crucially, the book moves beyond diagnosing problems to offer transformative, actionable solutions that break through barriers in higher education.

Weaving insights from experts in child and family health with vivid stories based on lived experience, Lewis outlines pathways for change to support families striving on the margins. She champions practices such as:

• subsidizing on-campus childcare
• accommodating students facing childcare, transportation, and housing challenges
• family-inclusive practices that see parents as central to equity effort
• establishing campus food pantries and destigmatizing their use

With unflinching clarity and deep hope, Lewis reminds us that education is more than a credential—it is a lever for equity and a foundation for generational wealth. By centering student parents in our policies and practices, we have the chance to transform higher education into a true engine of justice and mobility.

About the Author

Nicole Lynn Lewis is the author of the acclaimed memoir Pregnant Girl and the Founder & CEO of Generation Hope, a nonprofit providing direct support and national advocacy and research for student parents in college. A leading voice at the intersection of education, race equity, and economic mobility, her work has been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and The 19th News.

About the Book

Student Parent: The Cost of Poverty, the Fight for Families, and the Power of College
Beacon Press | Publication Date: March 3, 2026

Pre-order now at https://www.generationhope.org/student-parent-book.

About Generation Hope

Generation Hope is a nonprofit providing direct support and national advocacy and research for student parents in college. Founded in 2010, the organization has supported more than 500 teen parents in the Washington, D.C., region, Greater New Orleans, and Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex while driving systemic change nationwide to make higher education more family-inclusive for millions of parenting college students.

For media inquiries or to schedule interviews, contact:

Jay Shepley
Director of Communications
[email protected]
(202) 735-1339
generationhope.org

SOURCE Generation Hope