In last spring's Michigan Student Assembly election, the students voted in favor of allocating a fee of $1 per student, per term to improve childcare options for students with children. Then, last June, Regent Rebecca McGowan (D-Ann Arbor) derailed the changes, after MSA President Fiona Rose, also the student representative to the Board of Regents, brought the plan to the regents. McGowan said she didn't want to solve the problem "in one stroke for only a handful of the members of the community." The task force was thus created to determine the best way to solve childcare problems for the University community.
If the student body is willing to lend financial support, the regents should fulfill students' wishes. If not, the board is effectively undermining the students' choice on this matter, which directly affects them.
Tomorrow's actions will create a precedent for the future of the University's childcare decisions. But the precedent is long in coming. By the time the new programs would take effect - winter 1997 at the earliest - almost a year would have passed since students voted in favor of the fee. In the meantime, more than 1,500 students living in Family Housing or off-campus accommodations have suffered a lack of sufficient, affordable childcare.
And the present system needs repair. Currently, the University offers six childcare assistance options - all of which student-parents say are not economically feasible. Students have enough trouble paying for rent and books - let alone paying for childcare. Concern for the minute-to-minute well-being of a child does not foster an environment conducive to learning for the parent - if the University can solve this problem, it should. The $1 per term fee increase will help the University create better opportunities for student-parents.
Revamping and consolidating existing programs into a more comprehensive plan is an excellent idea - as long as it is quality childcare. The regents must act quickly on the programs set forth by the task force to ensure that student-parents do not have to spend another semester in financial straits, distracted from their studies.
Because the regents and the task force have left more than 1,000 people in the lurch for the past several months, they must make sure that the programs are implemented soon. The ultimate design should successfully resolve the student-parents' concerns. The students have demonstrated they are willing to incur the additional fee - now the regents must act. They owe it not only to students with children, but also to the student body.