(Sunveno)

Day Care, We Care

MEMORANDUM

To: Tyesha McGilbrey, Professor of ENGL 2311

From: Lauren Brigaitis, John Fowler, Geedie White
Date: 6/25/2019
Subject: Day Care, We Care Progress Report

Purpose

The purpose of this memo is to give an updated progress report on the proposed
affordable day care service for college students with children called Day Care, We Care. The
relevance and status of this needed services, along with the benefits and predicted outcomes will
be addressed in this report. Due to the increasing necessity of a service of this kind, we are
hoping to initiate Day Care, We Care in able and receptive facilities as soon as the Fall 2020
semester. In order to meet this initiation date, we would need to have authorized approval for this
project no later than October 15, 2019.

​Introduction

Education is a big factor in the level of success of an individual in the current workforce.
Due to this, more people are seeking a college degree to increase their level of education. This
includes individuals who have children. However, these individuals are facing an issue with the
availability of affordable day care for their children during their class times. This issue is causing
many student parents to miss numerous classes, delay graduation, or drop out of college
completely. Contributing factors to this issue is the increased cost of private daycares, limited
class times or online class options, and the increase of single parents attending secondary level
schooling.
Currently there is no adequate solution to the problem, however some attempts are being
made. In 2018, congress passed the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS)
program. This program is dedicated to providing funds for campus-based child care services to
student parents. Although, CCAMPIS is only available to parent students whose earnings are low
enough to qualify them for Pell grants and the CCAMPIS funding is very limited. In 2017, the
program was only able to serve about 5,000 students across 86 institutions (Wesley, 2018).
Comparing this number to the nearly 5 million parents students taking college courses currently is
a very low percentage of individuals being helped. It is reported that CCAMPIS will be approved
for a grant to increase the number of students they can aid, but it still will not be able to support
everyone in need of this service. (Berman, 2018)
For this proposal, Day Care, We Care, we are proposing an affordable daycare across a
wide selection of institutions that will be available to students that have dependents regardless of
their earning status. By providing affordable daycare, we want to encourage class attendance,
higher grade points, and an increased rate of graduation for student parents. At Day Care, We
Care, we believe in providing an opportunity for individuals to fulfill their secondary education in
order to attain higher social status, higher economic success and overall a higher level of living.

​Completed Work

The initial task for this project is to research the amount of occurrences for the issue
relating to students in need of affordable childcare. In the results noted so far. according to the
Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), nearly 5 million students, or 26% of the college
student population, is a parent to at least one dependent child. Of these students, only 27% go
on to attain a degree or certification within a 6 year time period. In addition affordable on-campus
child care has actually declined from 53% to 44% in 36 states at community colleges and from
55% to under half in four-year college institutions (Noll et al, 2017).
Of the nearly 5 million students with children, over 40% of these students are single
mothers. Over 60% of the mothers that are enrolled in college are living at or below the federal
poverty line, which forces the majority of these students to work 20+ hours a week. For some of
these women, to budget enough to afford a daycare on top of all their other living expenses and
tuition is not possible and can result in noncompletion and dropping-out (Wesley, 2018).
Another aspect to consider is the rate at which the number of students with at least one
dependent is increasing. “The number of student parents in the United States climbed by 1.1
million, or 30 percent—from 3.7 million in 2004 to 4.8 million in 2012” (Noll et al, 2017). This
increase is happening in all institutions; community colleges, for-profit institutions, four-year
colleges and others. The IWPR provided the data of each of these institutions increases within
the years 2004 and 2012, which is displayed on the graph below.
(Noll et al, 2017)

​Future Work

In the days to come, we will begin compiling the criteria and the various options available
for the proposed daycare. Using the research that we have acquired, we can determine the
criteria that is needed, such as facilities, staff, adult to child ratios, safety precautions, and the
child age grouping within the daycare. Once the general criteria is decided, we can go through
and look at the options within the criteria. For example, the facility can be an unoccupied room
within a building on the campus, a stand alone building, purchasing a new property or a new build
if necessary. Having multiple options of each criterion will be a key factor once the budgeting
process begins. Some of the options, such as building a new facility, will be unattainable with the
budget provided, which means the other options will need to be considered.
The organization of facilities refers to the process of reaching out and getting a concise
number of how many facilities are needed based on the number of institutions that want to
participate in the program. Some of these institutions will then be the basis of the program testing
that will occur in the spring of 2020. This will provide for an entire semester to observe a piloted
program of the Day Care, We Care program in order to make adjustments for the final program
after the program assessment. The program assessment will provide the main information for the
program report and the needed adjustments for the expected launch of Day Care, We Care in the
Fall of 2020.
Updated Schedule
Activity Start Date Finish Date

Research 6/20/19 9/20/19

Criteria and Options 7/1/19 8/15/19

Pre-Analyze 8/15/19 12/20/20

Organization of Facilities 9/1/19 12/1/19

Budget Planning 10/1/19 12/20/19

Program Testing 1/15/20 5/25/20

Program Assessment 6/1/20 8/1/20

Implementation 8/15/2020 12/20/2020

Report 12/20/2020 1/10/2021

Adjustments 1/15/2021 5/25/2021

​Conclusion

In conclusion, the identification of the issue of affordable childcare for college students is
one that is proven to be a concern in various colleges. It is one that continues to require a fight to
establish where it is non-existent and to continue to prove the necessity of where already
established. Due to the high percentage of students being parents, and within that, the majority
being single parents, with the inability to afford childcare combined with the decreasing
availability of affordable childcare options and funding is cause for the Day Care, We Care
program.
​Works Cited​:

Berman, Jillian. “There's a Growing Need for Child-Care Centers on College Campuses.”
MarketWatch, 9 June 2018,
www.marketwatch.com/story/the-fate-of-thousands-of-college-students-and-their-kids-han
gs-in-the-balance-2018-06-04​.

Noll, Elizabeth, et al. “College Students with Children: National and Regional Profiles.” ​Institute
for Women's Policy Research​, Student Parent Success Initiative, Jan. 2017,
iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/C451-5.pdf.

Sunveno. “Sunveno Official Store.” ​Sunveno Official Store​, mall.joybuy.com/m/index-3140.html.

Wesley, Alexa. “Scholars with Strollers: The Need to Provide On-Campus Childcare Services.”
NASPA​, 14 June 2018,
www.naspa.org/rpi/posts/scholars-with-strollers-the-need-to-provide-on-campus-childcare-
services.