El Camino College Student is Named FamilyU Student Parent Fellow
El Camino College student Maria Lopez was recently named one of the newest FamilyU Student Parent Fellows, a paid leadership opportunity designed for parenting students to help shape how their institutions support families.
As a fellow, Lopez joins the 2024-26 cohort of higher education institutions that participate in FamilyU, a national comprehensive assistance program led by Generation Hope, an organization dedicated to ensuring all student parents have opportunities to succeed and experience economic mobility.
Each fellow is a core member of their campus’ FamilyU team, collaborating with staff and administrators to advance family-inclusive practices through the core pillars of FamilyU: Data, Culture, People, and Policy. Throughout the year, they serve as connectors between their peers and campus leaders, and they play an active role in decision-making conversations that affect student parents.
In addition to ongoing collaboration and leadership development, fellows take on an advocacy project – an initiative that aligns with their school’s FamilyU goals and allows them to leave a lasting impact. Generation Hope also provides travel and participation support to ensure fellows can fully engage in convenings and cross-campus learning opportunities.
Lopez is one of four fellows selected from across the nation and will receive $20,000 to help El Camino enhance student parent support over the next year. A proud and involved mother of four, including a spirited 2-year-old, Lopez is a passionate advocate for student parents at El Camino. As a returning nontraditional student, she has firsthand experience with the barriers and obstacles faced by student parents. She is currently pursuing a certification in child development with the goal of working in preschools or child care centers. Lopez is especially focused on bringing a child development center back to campus, not only to provide vital child care support for student parents, but also to offer practicum opportunities for child development students, helping bridge the gap between academic learning and hands-on experience. On weekends, Lopez can often be found cheering from the sidelines, or even coaching, at her children’s sports games.
Generation Hope’s FamilyU is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that offers a comprehensive, customized, evidence-based experience that guides parenting students through two years of mentoring and support on many levels. Research shows that one in five undergraduate college students today is a parent, and yet they’re 10 times less likely to graduate. FamilyU works to change these statistics by partnering with colleges and universities nationwide to increase the number of parenting college students who enroll and graduate. El Camino was one of five institutions across the country and one of only two in California that joined this impactful, two-year program in 2024.
Registration is now open for summer and fall 2025 at El Camino College. Hundreds of in-person, online, and hybrid courses are available to help students meet their academic and career goals in a welcoming educational environment. The schedule of classes can be viewed online at www.elcamino.edu/schedule and financial aid is available to qualifying students. For more information, view www.elcamino.edu or call 310-532-3670.
For more information about opportunities and support through FamilyU, contact Dr. Jeff Stephenson, Vice President of Equity and Student Services at El Camino College, at jstephenson@elcamino.edu.