Campus Compass is a student-parent circle dedicated to sharing resources and information to help student-parents succeed in college. Our programming includes free online virtual workshops, peer-to-peer mentoring, and the amplification of resources.
We are dedicated to developing a resource directory organized by Minnesota regions with the hopes of partnering with Student Parent Coordinators at all Minnesota colleges to share this information.
We are also working on a Campus assessment that will provide information on the resources campuses already offer to student parents and identify growth opportunities to further support our student-parent population.
Click through our Program Goals below to learn more about our mission.
wHO WE ARE
“A future where resources are easy to find, support is proactive, and success is shared through connection, care, and opportunity to help support two generations at a time.”
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Providing parents with information about federal, state, county, city, non-profit, NGO’s, and community resources. These resources can help them succeed in college and beyond. They include, but are not limited to, financial aid, transferring to 4-year universities, scholarship strategies, childcare help, basic needs, mental health, access to children's enrichment resources, and the secrets of higher education.
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There’s a well-known saying that if you give someone a fish, they’ll eat for a day, but if you teach them to fish, they’ll eat for a lifetime. We believe in doing both. We do this by teaching how to find resources and providing resources through our workshops, website (AI-powered resource database, blogs, & toolkits), newsletters & emails.
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Our community is created by student-parents, for student-parents. We pool our knowledge and resources and connect students with people who understand what they’re going through, particularly through our Scholars Program and our free online virtual workshops—Student Parent Circle—with future goals of creating Student Parent Clubs and Family Friendly Events.
sTUDENT-PARENT SCHOLARS PROGRAM
At Campus Compass, we recognize that even the most streamlined and user-friendly databases can be overwhelming for student-parents, and resources constantly change. That’s why we launched the Student Parent Scholars Program. The program provides 1-on-1 peer mentorship through the CARA model.
Our scholars are expected to attend all of our FREE virtual workshops, and afterward, their navigator assists them in acquiring resources related to those workshops. Each workshop concludes with gift card raffles, where each scholar’s chance to win increases based on engagement.
Navigators also help scholars find and access additional resources needed to achieve their goals through scholarships, personal/career development, and opportunities for their children. Upon completing 75% of the program, the scholar is granted a scholarship!
GET PAID TO GET PAID
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GET PAID TO GET PAID 〰️
karina villeda
POLICY & PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Karina grew up in the Twin Cities and is a proud University of Minnesota graduate, a mother, and a child of Salvadoran parents. Her passion lies in addressing inequities in her community and expanding access to higher education for marginalized and underrepresented populations. She believes in the greater good we can offer each other when equity is at the center of helping everyone around us succeed. She is an aspiring lawyer and, over the last four years, has worked on many higher education initiatives at the state and federal levels.
Her work includes helping pass the North Star Promise, increasing the Pell Grant, and allocating funds for mental health and basic needs at Minnesota colleges and universities. She is currently the program director of Campus Compass, where she helps student parents understand the tips and resources available to them to succeed in college and graduate with little debt. Through her work, she is committed to ensuring individuals not only have access to higher education but are supported in fully realizing its transformative potential.
Miah Moore
RESEARCH MANAGER
Miah is originally from Southeast Louisiana, but became a resident of Minneapolis in August of 2021. She is a student parent and community advocate passionate about addressing complex challenges at the intersection of health, the environment, and social equity.
She is passionate about supporting fellow students with empathy, honesty, and practical, palatable guidance. Her work is driven by a belief that meaningful solutions often require unconventional thinking, collaboration, and the willingness to challenge the status quo.
After reflecting on a lifelong struggle to understand social cues and expectations that seemed intuitive to others, and after listening to a presentation by Temple Grandin, she began to view those differences through a new lens—not as disadvantages, but as strengths. Grandin's message reinforced Miah's belief that some of society's most pressing challenges require people who can think outside the box and approach problems from perspectives others may overlook. Her lived experience as a student-parent has given her firsthand insight into the challenges of balancing caregiving, academics, and access to resources in systems not always designed with families in mind.
Outside of school, Miah is an artist. After years of working in the music industry as a songwriter, she has recently begun sharing her creative work publicly. She aspires to blend her artistic talents and academic interests to be a public advocate who challenges systems, amplifies the unheard, and pushes us toward large-scale meaningful change.