Greater Access to Child Care Could Help More Students Graduate

March 23, 2011, 6:03 pm

Greater access to on-campus child-care services would increase opportunities for low-income students who are also parents to complete their postsecondary education, says a new report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The percentage of both two- and four-year campuses with on-site child-care centers declined from 2002 to 2009, the report says. Community colleges are less likely to have on-site child care than are four-year colleges even though a greater share of students at community colleges are parents.

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AbdulKareemaWheat

Sorry, but when I read the term “greater access,” whether in relation to child care, health care, public services, whatever, I first grab my wallet to ensure to tightly closed, and then I move to vote out of office whatever politician is proposing the measure.
iris411

At least the colleges should help connect parents so that they can share the responsibilities of child care for one another, like a community of volunteer moms and dads who will take care of a bunch of kids when they are not in class nor working and have their kids taken care of when they are in class. All they need is a on-campus facility where they can engage meaningful educational activities with kids. Many of the books, toys can be donated, so all they actually need is a room and some outdoor activity space ( a garden can be a good choice).
lreeves5

I truely would like to conduct a study to see the retention rates between institutions who provide some sort of child care for their faculty, staff, and students compared to those institutions that don’t. Society is constantly shifting and with that shift, we all in higher education know, that our student demographics also change with that shift. The truth is that more of our students coming to school to pursue a college education have children and if institutions are trying to increase retention rates, and matriculation, then they need to change with the times of our students. We are in a society now where babies are having babies and if institutions of higher ed don’t keep up and accept this, then retention will continue to decrease across the nation.
tiadog

contact our local school, Conestoga College Kitchener Ontario ( find on web) their programming is as good as that offerred at our world renowned University of Waterloo Ontario. Remember Waterloo Ontario is the home of the world’s largest facility devoted to the study of primary physics and will soon open the “Hawkings” wing. Student from Conestoga recently took first place competing in an Engineering competition with Universities including the University of Waterloo. The President is Mr. John Tibidits he could really help you out and I would suspect to give some practical advice to your folks in Washington. Not to drop names but we are also home of RIM head office the founder of the Blackberry so take a serious look.
katisumas

Sock puppet alert!
22221757

at west virginia university, our former president – who was a young non-traditional president – and his wife made this a top priority and we now have a state of the art child care facility as a result. our biggest fear now is that the current administration is so out of touch with campus needs (and only concerned with their own pay raises) that they won’t do what it takes to provide the other things that are important to student retention (as well as retention and recruitment of faculty and staff).
missoularedhead

Okay, I’m going to ask: why in the world did anyone need to do a study on this? It seems pretty self-evident to me!
11159786

Firstly, why is Mr. Vedder so eager to scoop the study he praises? Isn’t it appropriate to wait for the report itself? This is typical of the news media’s rush to judgment on so many other matters. Vedder ought to know better! Secondly, Mr. Vedder commits one of the most common errors of logic- post hoc, ergo propter hoc (after that, because of that). Specifically, the degree attainment gap increased in the period subsequent to the growth of federal aid programs. His “explanation” is one that seems plausible, but there are many others that come to mind. Someone loaded with prejudice is bound to cite those supporting his case without even mentioning alternatives.
mjaneb

More students in college mean different things in different settings. Larger class sizes is one possibility, as is hiring new faculty to maintain existing class sizes, as is not taking on new students but rather becoming more selective and raising the costs of attending a given institution, as is starting a for-profit university or offering online education. The impact of any of these on cost per student and how that cost is paid (tuition, endowment, federal aid) isn’t at all clear.
molneck

As completion of BAs increases, but does not yet reach 50 percent, the variance of “BA” is INCREASING. If the coefficient for BA predicting ln earnings stays stable or increases, and if the relationships between BA and earnings is genuinely causal, expansion of college completion up to 50 percent will predictably increase income inequality. See my “Effects of Education” in C. Jencks et al, WHO GETS AHEAD (1979).