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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsColleges cut childcare even as more students are raising kids
According to an analysis from the Institute for Womens Policy Research (IWPR), campus-based child care has been declining even as the number of college students with dependent children has been growing. The proportion of community colleges with child care on campus declined from a high of 53 percent in 2003-2004, to 46 percent in 2013, IWPR found. In public four-year institutions, the proportion of campuses with child care decreased from 54 [percent] to 51 percent from 2002 to 2013.
That level of decline might not sound dramatic. But, considering how fast the number of students with dependent children has been increasing, its pretty clear that the trend ought to be moving in the opposite direction. IWPR finds that, in 2011, 26 percent of all post-secondary students in the United States, or 4.8 million students, were parents of dependent children. Thats a 50 percent increase since 1995.
MORE HERE: http://wonkynewsnerd.com/colleges-cut-childcare-even-students-raising-kids/
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)Igel
(35,191 posts)My wife was faculty at a school that offered childcare. But she couldn't use it. She was eligible, but they wanted drop-off and pick-up at certain hours, and often she had to be there earlier or leave later than they could accommodate.
At another school (where she wasn't faculty) the childcare wasn't all that large a facility. They didn't take kids under a certain age.
Just offering it isn't enough. It has to be cost-efficient, it has to be convenient, it has to be flexible, and it has to accommodate a wide range of kids, from near newborn to kids that are ready for kinder. It has to be able to handle the students that are there 2 days a week, 3 days a week. It has to handle weekends, for students who are using the library on the weekend or have weekend lab classes. It has to be able to do evenings.
And so it goes. It's not the percentage of schools offering it. It's how widely it's used, the quality, etc., etc. Where my wife and I went to school there was daycare, but few our peers could afford it or count on being able to afford it.
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)Surely, not impossible, but very difficult.
Childcare workers generally want regular hours, yet students want to be able to drop their kids off to go to the library. Well, you have a certain child/caregiver ratio, so too many children, and it's not safe and if you don't have enough children, the program bleeds money.
"Drop-off" daycare may be available, but it is almost always the very worse care available. Little kids never know which adult they are going to be with, and the kids they play with change constantly.
I went to university with two preschoolers, and I was very lucky to have a husband who could afford the care for the preschoolers (even if I did end up with a big student loan). I had to do a lot of planning in advance, and generally took all M W F classes, so we only had to pay childcare for two kids, three days a week. It was still rough going, and I had a very supportive partner. I can't imagine doing it alone.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)universities.
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)The poor and middle class are being priced out of an education. Heck, even the upper middle class are being priced out. Three kids X $100,000 per kid is a huge chunk of money. And save for retirement? Who can do that?
Truly, only the 1%ers are able to afford retirement "and" 4 year college tuition and living expenses for their kids these days.
My grown kids now say that they were so lucky that we were mean parents, because we refused to sign loans for the first two years of college (wouldn't even fill out the FAFSA forms, either), so they could either leave home and support themselves or attend the local junior college. Because they attended junior college, they started their junior on the campus of their choice with no accumulated debt, a bit more maturity, and a bit of money in the bank for living expenses.