Student Parent Trends in Universities

Our organization is ready to continue to grow and make changes but we know that we need to assess the correct data to help inform our decisions. We believe we know a lot about our center users. By surveying our members we have been able to provide services that they appreciate. However we need to look beyond our current members and examine how other student parent support centers and other universities organize, fund, and provide student parent services to make informed decisions and adopt best practices. Through a deep dive of our industry, we hope to identify key market trends to assist in our go-forward plans. We want to look at growth trends, stagnation patterns or decline analytics, for example. It is important for us to know where the most promising innovation exists or which areas are slowing down. We believe that there are many Canadian universities in metropolitan areas to provide the students with sources to seek information. It would be extremely helpful for a student group to look at our industry, identify key trends of growth, stagnation and decline. We are open to all information that seems appropriate and valuable. Using these findings, we would like a detailed and researched report on the market trends that will mean the most to the future of our department. Concordia University's services for Student Parents as compared to other Canadian Universities' services. 1. Finding statistics on how many students are parents (gathering statistics from other Canadian universities that may have been published). 2. Are there new trends in Student Parent populations? ( increase /decrease/ change in profile , could be related to immigraton, Covid, International travel disruption, change to telework,etc.) 2. How did these universities identify this population /collect this data? 3. What services do other universities provide for their student parents? 4. Do they have a special department/ staff to deliver these services, is it a hub of referrals only, or how else do they organize there service delivery? 5. Where is there a gap between Concordia's services and other universities' services,  if any ? 6. Where does Concordia excel in Student Parent support ? 7. What services should we add to our offerings that would benefit the student parents considering the  new trends ?

CUSP Virtual Tutoring, Babysitting, Reading, Art Class

Required number of students 2 or a team of two. We rely on volunteers to animate activities for the children and to research resources and prepare activity plans. At the end of the semester it can be difficult for students to volunteer due to finals and we could use some extra help. Bilingualism is an asset. You can work with our volunteer coordinator to choose the programs you will work on based on your abilities, schedule and in order to met you time requirements. Activities are for children 4-8 years of age and are done over zoom: English Storytime Tuesdays from 5:45- 6:45pm, find books from online resources and read stories to the children. Art Class Fridays (English) from 5:45- 7:00pm - animate an arts and crafts activity, propose the activity, create a sample, and give a list of the materials needed ( must be easy to find at home). Homework Club Saturdays from 1:00pm -4:00pm -Tutoring school aged children in English or French. You will be matched with the child according to your abilities and confort level. Sessions are 4 min long nd the parents provide the materials. French Storytime Sundays from 5:45- 6:45pm, find books from online resources and read stories to the children. Babysitting: by appointment at a mutually agreed upon time. Tell them a story, have them show you their toys in a show and tell, play games like hangman, do some zumba or draw together on the whiteboard.

Communication strategy social media

Concordia University Student Parents Centre: Communications Project Evaluate the weekly newsletter, social media, and graphic design elements, provide a strategy and examples for updating, implementing the plan with CUSP Coordinator’s approval ● Develop a vision for, and implement an engaging and dynamic communications strategy and associated plan to build awareness and share information about CUSP with Students and other University stakeholders. ● Engage with Concordia Students and community stakeholders to identify interests and evaluate brand awareness ● Assist in the production of meaningful content for a variety of media, including written, photographic and video for public sharing. ○ Planned content includes student parent testimonials, promotional videos and infographics, program promotion and special campaigns ● Assist in the dissemination of content on social media, especially around events, in coordination with the CUSP Staff ● Apply marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) principles to ensure quality and effective content delivery ● Build strong, collaborative working relationships with the CUSP Staff, interns and volunteers