--- title: How to Support This Unseen and Unsupported Group of Dads description: Learn about the challenges dads in college face and how you can help them navigate those challenges so they succeed. image: https://www.fatherhood.org/hubfs/Images/Blog/NFI_Blog_college-dads.jpg --- [Skip to main content](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/how-to-support-this-unseen-and-unsupported-group-of-dads#main) - [![NFI mark](https://www.fatherhood.org/hubfs/NFI-Assets/images/NFI%20mark.svg)FATHERHOOD.ORG](https://www.fatherhood.org/) - [STORE.FATHERHOOD.ORG](https://store.fatherhood.org/) [![NFI_logo_blue_left (1) 1](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/NFI-Assets/images/NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png?width=149&height=82&name=NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png) ![NFI_logo_blue_left (1) 1](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/NFI-Assets/images/NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png?width=119&height=65&name=NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png) ![NFI_logo_blue_left (1) 1](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/NFI-Assets/images/NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png?width=119&height=66&name=NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png) ![NFI_logo_blue_left (1) 1](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/NFI-Assets/images/NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png?width=89&height=49&name=NFI_logo_blue_left%20(1)%201.png) ](https://www.fatherhood.org) - [How To Build Strong Families](https://www.fatherhood.org/build-strong-families) - [Why Father Inclusion Matters](https://www.fatherhood.org/why-father-inclusion-matters) - Show submenu for Get Involved Get Involved - [Fatherhood Programs](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/programs-and-resources) - [Train Your Staff](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/staff-training) - [State, County, and City Agency Services](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/collaborative-services) Open main navigation Close main navigation - Show submenu for Get Informed Get Informed - [How To Build Strong Families](https://www.fatherhood.org/build-strong-families) - [Why Father Inclusion Matters](https://www.fatherhood.org/why-father-inclusion-matters) - [Father Stats & Infographics](https://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic) - Show submenu for Get Involved Get Involved - [Fatherhood Programs](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/programs-and-resources) - [Train Your Staff](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/staff-training) - [State, County, and City Agency Services](https://www.fatherhood.org/solutions/collaborative-services) - Show submenu for Get Started Get Started - [Find Your Stage of Father Inclusion](https://www.fatherhood.org/father-inclusion) - [How Father Friendly Is Your Organization?](https://www.fatherhood.org/father-friendly) - [Get In Touch](https://www.fatherhood.org/get-started) [Store](https://store.fatherhood.org/?hsLang=en) [Get In Touch](https://www.fatherhood.org/get-started) [Store](https://store.fatherhood.org/?hsLang=en) Show submenu for Get Started Get Started - [Fatherhood Data & Statistics](https://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic) - [How Father Friendly is Your Organization?](https://www.fatherhood.org/father-friendly) - [Other Free Resources](https://www.fatherhood.org/nfi-free-resources) - [Talk With us to Get Started](https://www.fatherhood.org/get-started) National Fatherhood Initiative Blog / [Latest Articles](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood) [father involvement in education](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/topic/father-involvement-in-education) # How to Support This Unseen and Unsupported Group of Dads 2 min read ![Christopher A. Brown](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/chris_circle_icon.png?width=100&height=100&name=chris_circle_icon.png) [** Christopher A. Brown ** ](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/author/christopher-a-brown) Chris serves as the President of National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI), where he is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of NFI's strategic plan and business model, as well as its operations and fundraising efforts. ![NFI_Blog_college-dads](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/Blog/NFI_Blog_college-dads.jpg?width=453&height=305&name=NFI_Blog_college-dads.jpg) Do you serve dads who are in college? If so, you’ll undoubtedly benefit from [recent research](https://www.childtrends.org/publications/supporting-young-parenting-students-with-navigation-services) on the challenges they face and how to help them navigate those challenges. Last June, I wrote about the [unseen and unsupported](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/these-fathers-are-unseen-and-unsupported) population of student dads enrolled in our nation’s colleges. This population of one million drops out at rates [significantly higher](https://hechingerreport.org/largely-unseen-and-unsupported-huge-numbers-of-student-fathers-are-quitting-college/) than student moms. They desperately need support that helps them parent so they can remain in school. Knowing the challenges they face, and how to help them navigate those challenges, can go a long way to helping them remain in school. The challenges include: - A unique set of responsibilities - Handling these responsibilities as their brains are still developing (compared to women, men’s brains [take longer](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2818549/) to fully develop) - Struggling to meet their basic needs as they navigate college - Taking non-linear paths through higher education - To remain focused on higher education, they must first address their and their children’s basic needs - The time required to navigate systemic and organizational complexities, a resource which many of them have little of ** **How can you help them address and overcome those challenges? By connecting them to *navigation services*, a promising approach used in health care and child welfare that’s being piloted with parenting students in three communities as part of the [Expanding Opportunities for Young Families](https://www.childtrends.org/project/expanding-opportunities-for-young-families#:~:text=Expanding%20Opportunities%20for%20Young%20Families%20(EOYF)%20is%20a%20multi%2D,partners%20to%20pilot%20the%20effort.) initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Navigation services in those communities are helping parents: - Traverse the complex and sometimes conflicting networks of support - Simplify processes by centralizing navigation services and resources in one location - Through centralized client management systems that connect regional organizations and institutions, helping programs make and track referrals These services work best when they: - Holistically consider young parenting students’ roles as parents, students, and workers - Tailor support to the unique strengths and needs of parenting students - Use [two-generation models](https://www.aecf.org/topics/two-generation-approaches) to support students and their children - Use peer navigators with lived experience (i.e., current parenting students) to build programs centered on trust, connection, and advocacy See whether the colleges that your student dads attend provide navigation services. If they do, connect the dads to them. If they don’t, use this blog article to raise the colleges’ awareness of those services and encourage them to build navigation services into their offerings for parenting students. To learn more about the challenges student dads face and the promise of navigation services, I encourage you to download and share [the research](https://www.childtrends.org/publications/supporting-young-parenting-students-with-navigation-services). Are you aware of all the challenges faced by student dads? What have you done to help student dads traverse those challenges? 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[Get The Guide Now!](https://www.fatherhood.org/starting-a-fatherhood-program) ![7-steps-starting-a-fatherhood_program](https://www.fatherhood.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Images/7-steps-starting-a-fatherhood_program.png?width=700&height=700&name=7-steps-starting-a-fatherhood_program.png) [ Previous ](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/the-power-of-friendship-in-fatherhood) [ Next ](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/the-power-of-the-success-sequence-for-young-adults) ## Related Articles ### [Diving Deeper Into This Unseen and Unsupported Group of Dads In June of 2022, I introduced you to the 1 million dads in college, a group of dads in need that are unseen and unsupported by the colleges they attend and by human service ... Read More](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/diving-deeper-into-this-unseen-and-unsupported-group-of-dads) ### [Even More Ways to Help Dads Read to Their Children Last week, my colleague and friend Erik Vecere wrote in this blog about the benefits of dads reading to their children. He shared four ways you can help dads engage in this vital ... Read More](https://www.fatherhood.org/championing-fatherhood/even-more-ways-to-help-dads-read-to-their-children) ### [Four Ways You Can Help Dads Read to Their Children My dad was an avid reader – sci-fi, thrillers, historical fiction, and publications that went deep into his interests and hobbies. As I got older, I read the books he finished, ... 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