Hello Fellow COGS members,

I am writing this letter in response to a communication sent by COGS representative

Iniguez. While I attended both the budget hearing and the budget deliberations of the Budget
committee, I will not be in attendance during the meeting when the budget will be passed
(Nov 15th) and I wanted to make sure to communicate my opinion.

Briefly, representative Iniguez is opposing the funding allocation of $60,000 to the

Florida State University Children’s Center (FCC). He advised the COGS body to re-adjust the
allocated funding level to $8,792. In his letter he provides his arguments why the funding level
should be re-adjusted. While, he raises two interesting points (namely: Does the FCC serve as a
recruitment tool for graduate students at FSU? and How many students does the FCC benefit?), I
would like to highlight the value the center has to our university and provide justification to fund
the FCC at $60,000.

FSU used to have six separate childcare facilities providing care to children of graduate
and undergraduate student, postdoc, and non-student parents. Due to funding cuts at the
university level, all but one of the centers (I think) have been closed—making the FCC the only
FSU childcare facility. This cutback has resulted in a large wait-list, which is currently as high as
156 children. Recognizing the need for the facility as reflected by the long wait-list, both the
Senate and COGS have provided continued funding for the FCC. The requested funds serve as
childcare facility salaries. Due to the mandated child to care provider ratio, lowering the
allocated funding would directly affect the number of care providers working at the center and
thus the number of children enrolled in the daycare program. In the worst case scenario, partial
funding at a significantly lower level than the funding request could result in the closing of the
center.

Currently, the center provides care to 36 preschool children and of these children 65%
(23 children) have graduate student parents. Conservatively, this means that 23 graduate students
directly benefit from having their child enrolled at the center, while the number could be as high
as 46 (if both parents are graduate students at the university).
In addition to this direct benefit for graduate student parents, the center also provides an
environment for FSU graduate students to conduct research. Indeed since 2005, 31 FSU students
have conducted research at the center; this equals approximately 6 students per year.
Overall, the FCC stated that by providing these direct and indirect benefits the center has
provided services to 3,383 FSU students for 10,888 hours since 2005.

In addition, the type of accreditation held by the FCC (Accreditation by the National
Association for the Education of Young Children-NAEYC) is quite unique. The FCC
representative pointed out that none of the other centers in the surrounding area hold this high
type of accreditation. Thus, one could argue that preserving the FCC not only means a closer
childcare facility but also one with a higher level of accreditation.

In sum, the FCC provides several benefits to the university and to its graduate students, in
particular. While I do not think calculations of “per RSO” funding should be applied, I would
like to provide you with the following calculation just to offer a counter argument for the
calculations presented by Representative Iniguez.

Representative Iniguez
Number of students benefitting per year: 5.16 (conducting research at the center)
Funding Level: $1,704
Funding suggested for FCC: $8,792 (5.16 multiplied by $1,704)

Different viewpoint
Number of students benefitting per year: 23 (graduate student parents)
6 (conducting research a the center)
Total number: 29
Funding Level: $1,704
Funding suggested for FCC: $49,416 (29 multiplied by $1,704)

The funding level of $49,416 is actually higher than the initially requested funding by the FCC
which was presented to the Budget committee. During the budget hearing, the FCC
representative was asked whether he was aware of the funding-cut by Senate and replied that he
had not been aware. He further stated that if he had been aware prior to the budget hearing, he
would have adjusted the requested funds to reflect the cut by Senate. I think since the budget
hearing and the deliberations, the FCC has provided an updated budget request.

The decision of the Budget committee to suggest the FCC allocation to be $60,000 was based on
the following: the FCC provides several direct and indirect benefits to FSU graduate students,
the FCC needs a certain budget to continue to operate and the cut of funding by Senate
threatened the normal operation, the majority of children enrolled at the center have graduate
student parents.

In the absence of representative Iniguez and myself. I want to encourage the COGS assembly to
look critically at the arguments pro and con to funding the FCC at $60,000.

Thanks for your time.

Best regards,
Claudia Lieberwirth