Student-Parents Confront Rising Costs

Every week, UC Berkeley graduate student Frank Cruz sends his five-year-old son to day care at Clark Kerr Infant Center while he teaches English class discussions. Cruz finds the service affordable and convenient, allowing him and his wife to focus on their work.

But next school year, Cruz and other UC Berkeley student-parents may face an increase of about 60 percent in campus child care costs, a move spurred by systemwide budget cuts that many say would leave them financially hard-pressed.

Under the Early Childhood Education Program's proposed fee increases, which would begin in August if approved by Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, the monthly cost of sending an infant to campus child care would jump from $1,000 to $1,654, according to program officials. A similar increase would apply to parents of toddlers and preschool children.

The proposed costs stem from a $120,000 cut in campus funding to the program, whose budget has already faced a deficit for years, said director Laura Keeley-Saldana. The cuts would affect full-time students who do not qualify for subsidized rates, such as those in lower-middle-class income brackets.

"If you have an infant, it's $20,000 a year just in child care fees," Keeley-Saldana said. "(The cost) really prohibits students from seeking their higher education degrees."

With the UC system facing an approximately $109 million net cut, officials are scaling back costs across the board.

Last week, the Graduate Assembly passed a resolution urging the campus to freeze the program's anticipated fee increase for next school year. It also proposed that the Early Childhood Education Program be exempted from the proposed universitywide budget cut entirely.

Two dozen student-parents currently send their children to various campus day care services. Keeley-Saldana said she has met at least five who fear they cannot afford the proposed fee raises.

With a new baby on the way, Cruz said the heightened costs would be "impossible" for he and his wife to meet.

"It's really disappointing that they would make the decision like this unilaterally with no regard to the fact that the people who are going to be hurt by this are ultimately their own graduate student employees," he said.

Cruz said if he does not find an alternate child care center, he may temporarily leave his graduate program in order to work full-time.

Senior Dana Parsons, 32, said campus child care services are essential for student parents such as herself.

"Had it not been for subsidized care on campus, I would not have been able to attend school full-time," she wrote in an e-mail.

Keeley-Saldana said the Early Childhood Education Program is currently seeking private funding to keep its services running. Failure to do so could result in program cuts, she said.

"There is no good solution," she said. "I'm not saying that I don't think it's fair for Early Childhood to be spared from cuts, but I'm hoping that they really do value the children on campus."

Tags: GRADUATE ASSEMBLY, CHILDCARE SUBSIDIES