'U' aid decreases child care costs

By Lisa Hoffman

Daily Staff Reporter

The University has attempted to help students, faculty and staff afford child care by adding a sliding scale tuition program, which has provided an average of 27 percent aid to 63 families since its implementation in September.

"The real important thing is to get to families who can't afford care," University Provost Nancy Cantor said.

The number of child care facilities continues to decrease in the state of Michigan, with 3,706 facilities closing in the past fiscal year. Yet demographics show that the number of two-income families and single parents is on the rise.

The University offers financial aid programs to help pay down the $720 per month bill for full-day child care. More than 353 children receive care in one of the University's five centers.

For more than 25 years, the University has offered licensed child care in facilities including the Children's Center, the Children's Center for Working Families, Pound House Children's Center, the Family Housing Child Development Center and the University Hospitals' Child Care Center.

Eligibility for the sliding scale tuition program depends on Washtenaw County Housing and Urban Development guidelines on family size and income.

The sliding scale adds to the University's existing Child Care Subsidy Program which provides assistance to students with child care costs. Student fees and University-matched amounts, fund the program.

The University child care facilities run Monday through Friday during business hours and offer parents the option of full-day or half-day care. Baby-sitting lists for availability are posted at some centers for evening and weekend care. "The cost would be very prohibitive," Pound House Children's Center Director Carolyn Tyson said in regard to offering evening and weekend child care at campus centers. "Teaching is a very intense field, and to do the job well you need highly qualified people."

To help parents deal with these child care concerns and others, the Child Care Support Network allows students, faculty and staff with young children to share heir child care experiences with others throughout the University community.

University students work in the centers for credit or as volunteers along side the University-employed professional teaching staff.

"I feel it is a piece of our mission to utilize University students through practicum and volunteer experiences," Tyson said of the Pound House Center, which focuses on the education of international children and children who speak English as a second language.

While the Pound House offers hands-on experience, the two learning center facilities allow University students to observe children from behind a one-way mirror, University Children's Center Director Karey Leach said. "Our purpose is to provide research and training to the University under Rackham Graduate School," Leach said, including the visitation of undergraduate and graduate classes to the centers.

BRAD QUINN/Daily

Adrian Twiss, age 3, plays policeman while Arthur Denys, 4, builds a spaceship at the Pound House Children's Center.