A bill on “student families” has been introduced to the State Duma
A bill establishing the legal concept of “student family” has been submitted to the State Duma. This category is proposed to include spouses under 35 years of age studying at universities and colleges, as well as single students raising children. Deputies expect that the legislative consolidation of the term will give impetus to the development of measures to support student families and will help the country “in the current demographic situation.”
Amendments to the Federal Law “On Youth Policy” were prepared by an inter-factional group of deputies and senators (48 people in total) led by vice-speakers of the State Duma Anna Kuznetsova (ER) and the Federation Council Inna Svyatenko (ER). They propose to supplement the law with the definition of “student family” and add it to all existing articles that deal with supporting young families. By “student family,” deputies mean spouses under the age of 35 studying at universities and colleges full-time and part-time, as well as single students raising a child. According to the Ministry of Education and Science, at least 22 thousand couples can fall into this category. In the summer of 2024, the department reported that almost 37 thousand young mothers are studying in 543 universities in the country, of which almost 18 thousand are raising children under the age of three.
The explanatory note talks about “the special vulnerable position of the student family in society.” Students who are spouses or single parents are extremely dependent on “the starting capabilities of their parent families, the degree of support for a young family, and the attitude towards student families in educational organizations, society, and the state.” The authors emphasize that such families should be regarded as “potentially large” in order to improve the demographic situation.
Ms. Kuznetsova noted that the regions are already implementing various measures to support student families, “but the legal status of this category has not yet been established at the federal level.” The emergence of a legislative definition will become “the basis for the development of measures to support student families and infrastructure at both the regional and federal levels.”
The co-author of the bill, Chairman of the State Duma Family Committee Nina Ostanina (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), has repeatedly stated the need to establish a term for such a category and separate them from ordinary young families. “In the latter, spouses have the opportunity to earn money on their own, rather than receive 1.8 thousand rubles. scholarships,” the parliamentarian noted in December 2023. “Precisely because students should study, and not learn, we are obliged to help them.” Yesterday, in a conversation with Kommersant, the deputy noted that she initially saw this initiative as a separate Federal Law, and not as amendments to the law “On Youth Policy.” However, then it was collectively decided to introduce a definition in exactly this format, Ms. Ostanina said: “We’ll see how these measures in this form will work at the regional level. When there is certainty, the authorities of the constituent entities will be able to purposefully create benefits for such families.”
Another co-author of the document, head of the Duma Labor Committee Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR), said that “in the Year of the Family, this is a clear and logical initiative.” “Here it is important to emphasize that giving birth while studying at a university cannot be forced or coerced; starting a family is a voluntary decision,” the parliamentarian notes. “But additional social support measures that may appear on the basis of this law will give young people confidence that important in the current demographic situation.”
The head of the educational project ALL PREGNANT.RF Ioanna Pavlova agrees that a separate approach is really needed to support student families. “First of all, mothers need help so that they have the opportunity to combine the birth of a child with study and further employment,” she says. “Young mothers often tell us that they have to take academic leave, but then not everyone finds the opportunity to go back to school . And that stops someone from having children.” Student-fathers also need support so that they can maintain the opportunity to study and provide for their wife and child, adds Ms. Pavlova, and special attention should be paid to solving the housing issue. “It is very right that the authorities began to pay attention to this. Legislative regulation can help more actively involve universities in the work and establish interaction in matters of helping student parents,” she hopes.
