We tend to think of the various forms of single-parent families—those headed by separated or divorced mothers, never-married mothers, widowed mothers, or by fathers rather than mothers—as all alike, and all equally disadvantaged. And indeed, all these varieties of single-parent families do have lower average incomes than families with two married birth parents. Yet when it comes to putting kids through college, there are significant differences among these family forms.

As shown in this IFS research brief, children who grow up with a divorced or widowed mother are more likely to attend and graduate from a 4-year college than children who grow up with a separated or never-married mother, or with a separated, divorced, or never-married father.

The reasons for the differences have partly to do with the characteristics of the women and men who wind up as divorced or widowed parents as opposed to separated or never-married parents, and with the financial and cultural circumstances in which children in these different family types are raised. But they also have to do with the continued participation of the non-resident parent in the child’s life, and the supports and safeguards that our social and legal institutions provide for some types of families but not others.