By Katie Wang
Daily Staff Reporter
When LSA senior Rebecca Phillips enrolled in the University eight years ago, she brought her infant son Zachary with her. After years of trying to juggle her schedule to accommodate classes, Zachary's child-care needs and a part-time job, Phillips was forced to send her son to live with her parents four hours away in Alpena, Mich.
Phillips is not alone in her efforts to balance her roles as a parent and as a student. In fact, she is one of an increasing number of students who are simultaneously pursuing a degree and raising a child. More than 1,520 residents live in University family housing. And it is unknown how many more students with children live off campus.
Now Phillips and other students like her must wait for the newly formed Task Force on Child Care to make their recommendations before she can receive more help.
Although students voted last winter in favor of allocating $1 per-student per-term to providing more child care, the implementation of this fee was stalled in June when Regent Rebecca McGowan (D-Ann Arbor) proposed to create a task force to examine the child-care issue more carefully.
Now the future of affordable child care at the University rests in the hands of the task force under the supervision of Provost J. Bernard Machen and Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford.
The committee is expected to present a progress report to the Board of Regents by November.
"I think that people are seeing (child care) as a real question in our society, especially at the University where the demands and the sources are varied," said Ejner Jensen, special counsel to the president and task force member.
Also seated on the task force are Fiona Rose, Michigan Student Assembly president; Eric Luskin, director of family housing; and Leslie De Pietro, coordinator of the University's Family Care Resources program.
"I'm hoping that out of this task force comes a broad-based statement of philosophy regarding the need for child care on this campus, as well as a strategic plan that lays out the steps for implementation," De Pietro said.
The University currently offers six programs to assist with child care, but many student parents argue that it is not affordable.
Rose said that among other options, the task force is still examining the $1 fee, the establishment of a scholarship fund and the creation of an infant-care center.
"I am hoping the regents will approve the $1 fee and match it by winter 1997," Rose said.
The $1 fee was an initiative Rose took under her wing as an MSA representative and lobbied for as a member of the MSA Child Care Task Force.
At the June meeting of the Board of Regents, McGowan prompted the board to create a task force to study possible solutions to child-care problems on campus.
"I have a concern that we not handle the child-care issue in one stroke for only a handful of members of this community," McGowan said in June.
Rose said she did not view the delay in the implementation of the $1 fee as a large downfall, but a temporary setback.
"It was a disappointment in the sense they would have to wait longer to get help," Rose said. "It impacts students who don't know if they can pay for textbooks this semester."
Meanwhile, Phillips and other students with children must wait for more University support.
"Child care is a nightmare, it's outrageous," Phillips said. "The difficulty of child care has really hindered my pursuit of an education."