Bill > HB298

This bill requires the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) to collect detailed demographic data about the parental status of students attending public higher education institutions in Maryland. Specifically, MHEC must develop and implement questions that allow students to provide information about their parental responsibilities, including whether they are a parent, acting as a parent, or legal guardian, the age of their children, and the type of caregiving responsibilities they have (such as being a single parent or sharing parental responsibilities). Public higher education institutions must incorporate these questions into their existing demographic data collection forms and report the collected data to MHEC in a standardized format. The bill mandates that MHEC adopt regulations to establish a consistent approach for collecting this data and requires the commission to submit an annual report to specific legislative committees, beginning September 1, 2026, summarizing the parental status data collected from students. The legislation is set to take effect on July 1, 2025, and aims to provide more comprehensive insights into the experiences of student-parents in Maryland's higher education system.

Budget and Finance, Education

https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/HB0298?ys=2025RS