The Community College of Allegheny County announced Thursday that it will begin offering scholarships for parents attending the college.
The CCAC Parent Pathways scholarship is being funded through money received from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Recipients of the scholarship will have one-on-one support, coaching and a minimum of $1,500 or up to $3,000 to eligible parenting students for personal, academic, financial, familial and emergency support.
CCAC Student Advocacy Dean of Students Anthony Kane said the parent scholars program originated in partnership with Pittsburgh Scholar House, a nonprofit that provides resources for single-parent families.
“Being a parent in itself is challenging, and you add taking courses, whether it’s full-time or whatever you may have, that adds an extra layer to it all,” Kane said. “For CCAC, it’s important that we continue to identify resources to support our students. With the state providing this parent pathway grant and this additional funding to help support that mission of student success, I think it was instrumental for us to see what we could do to enhance the services we’re already offering while also helping alleviate some of the extra stress that our parenting students are facing.”
According to Kane, the scholarship program can support 40 to 50 parenting students each academic year.
To be eligible, students must be enrolled or plan to enroll in a CCAC credit or noncredit degree or workforce program that spans one academic year or less. Applications for the scholarship are due on Aug. 1.
Applicants need to be in good academic, behavioral and financial standing, be on track to graduate in the next academic year, and have completed the 2026-27 FAFSA to be considered for the program.
“It’s an exciting time to work collaboratively with community organizations to provide support for students,” Kane said. “I think a lot of times folks see the dollar amount and think that the support is solely financial, but this support is social, academic, personal as well as financial. Through the partnership with Pittsburgh Scholar House, through our intentional work in supporting parenting students and putting them in spaces with other parenting students, we not only create a greater sense of belonging for those students, but we help increase their confidence and reassure them that you can be a parent and a student and be successful at both.”