Childcare Survey 2007

8/9/2019 Childcare Survey 2007

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2007 Graduate Student Child

Care Survey

A Joint Venture of the Graduate StudentOrganization, the Division of Student Affairs, and

the Graduate School

476 Respondents; 139 parents; 156 children


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The Nature of the Problem

Our typical graduate student is returning to the University later in life(28.7 years old)

Most doctoral programs require a 5-10 year commitment on average

Female graduate students are either returning to their studies with

children already or are attending school through their prime childbearing years

Male graduate students are also returning to their studies either withchildren already or with partners ready to begin families

Many are forced to pick between career or families, with no moneyto provide care as graduate students, this choice too often becomes

an either/or proposition Many universities are providing additional funding for faculty as part

of an effort to retain them as employees, but nationally those withthe most financial need get nothing


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Resources and Debt

For both men and women, going back to school triggers a significant drop inincome and an increase in debt

Next year, the total estimated cost of attendance for a graduate student,excluding tuition, is $17,154

This is the maximum amount grads may borrow to fund living expenses Nowhere in this estimate is child care a factor (fees, housing, meals, books,personal expenses, transportation, medical insurance)

If working as a TA, GA, or RA, the students total resources would rangebetween $27,126 (63.2% of which is debt income) to $37,854 (45.3%debt income) annually

Six years of debt at this rate would equal $102,924 for graduate schoolalone (excluding stipends, grants, undergraduate and revolving debt)

making them unlikely institutional donors later International students are required by their visas to work no more than 20

hours per week, so they are even more limited in their ability to pay for childcare


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Survey Results

29.3 % of the respondents are either already parents or will bewithin a year

39.1 % of these people are using child care providers right now;60.87% are not

93% of the respondents with children have their children living with

them 72.2% are satisfied with their current providers (8 or higher rating

out of 10) but 72.3% would be willing to take their children out oftheir current providers care if they could place their children at anSU facility

88.6% have between 1-2 children; 1 had 9 children!

87.9% of the respondents are full-time graduate students 8% have children with special educational needs (who we found tohave some of the lowest expenditures each month on child care)

86.6% of the parents who responded are part of a two-parenthousehold; 8.8% come from single parent homes; 4.4% are livingwith extended families


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What do parents look for when

choosing providers? Most important factor: quality of enrichment activities offered bythe provider

Second most important: location, location, location Next most important: staff-to-child ratio and how well provider and

child establish rapport with each other

Other important considerations: Quality of staff references,aggregate experiences of workers at a facility, and hours ofoperation

Misc. important factors: centers accreditation, total number ofchildren at the facility, and whether or not there are immediateopenings

Rankings are based on number of respondents who ranked theseitems 1 or 2 out of 17 possible choices offered


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When do they most need

assistance? Rankings based on number of parents who ranked these times

either 1 or 2 out of 8 possible choices

Full Time, Year Round (38)

Full Time, Academic Year (31)

Part Time, Academic Year (20)

Part Time, Year Round (17)

Summer Only (8)

All of our respondents exhibited a need for child care services fromMonday through Friday; little to no demand for weekend service

The times during the week they are in need demonstrate no specificpattern they do tend to follow class and teaching schedules whileexhibiting a clear demand for a part-time option


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How much do the respondents

households make each year?Mean for 1 parent households: $16,140 (8.8%)

Median for 1 parent households: $18,500

Mean for 2 parent households: $43,506 (86.6%)

Median for 2 parent households: $36,000

Mean for those already with dependent children: $43,915

Median for those already with dependent children: $37,000

Mean for those with children and expecting more: $21,455

Median for those with children and expecting more: $18,000

Mean for first time parents expecting this year: $38,381Median for first time parents expecting this year: $35,000

Mean for those without children: $23,959

Median for those without children: $17,000


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How do parents pay for child care?

Most common way they pay: with partners salary (only 1respondent had child care benefits through the workplace)

However, on average, 2 parent households do not have twice theincome of individuals without children

Take on more debt through student loans

Ignore the you shall do no other work clause in their contracts andtake a second job

A handful use pre-graduate school savings and a few have theirown parents pay for some of the expenses for their grandchildren

Even more common answer: go without they do not have themeans so they juggle their schedules so that others watch their

children while they perform their duties on campus


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What does Child Care Cost in CNY?

Range: $400-800 / month (85.1% of the respondents fall into thisrange)

Full year: $4800-9600 per annum Academic year: $3600-7200 per annum Can cost as much as $2000 per month once you have to pay for

more than 2 children Does not cost anything if they cannot afford it

Where do they place their children?

at a family members home (18.7%) at parents own home with a sitter (16%) nursery or elementary school (18.6%) dropped off at a private providers residence (9.8%) Bernice Wright or SU Early Ed. & CC Center (8%)


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What do our graduate students make?

Most TA, GA, and RA contracts contain a you shall do no otherwork clause prohibiting them from taking other employment duringthe academic year

Incomes for graduate students on contract are limited to stipendsand loans

Range: $9,972 $20,700

Median: $15,336

Average: $14,500 (approximated)

Graduate Students on Fellowship can make upwards of $29,000 afew of our respondents wrote in to tell us that they pay for childcare

expenses out of this difference Graduate students who work outside the university make more and

can in general better afford child care, but then we lose them asteaching resources and researchers


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SUs Role in Resolving the

Problem Only 23.5% of the respondents sought help from SU in finding child

care services

50.9% do not expect assistance; 49.1% do almost all would find itan important improvement if we provided assistance

64.7% have never attempted to enroll their children in any SU facility BUT 63.4% would prefer to have child care services provided by SU

than by a private provider

Many wrote in to tell us that they either did not know we had adaycare facility or a nursery school, they couldnt afford it, or the

facility did not have room to accommodate their children Two greatest obstacles parents report: affordability and availability

Graduate student minimum expectations: subsidized daycare,increased capacity on campus, and referrals to preferred providernetworks


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Current Syracuse Model

Our Early Education and Child Care Center provides services forinfants 2 months old up to children 5 years old they are licensedfor 60 children of faculty, staff, and students

Bernice Wright Nursery School provides education for children 2-5years old with a capacity for 42 children of faculty, staff, students,

and the off-campus community If space is not available, students are often directed to Child Care

Solutions (formerly the Child Care Council of Onondaga Co), whichmaintains a list of licensed home providers

After age 6, children are ready for school, but there is still a need forbefore and after-school care, summer care, and part-time careduring frequent school breaks

The GSO subsidizes a partial tuition discount each year at bothcenters through student fees, but the subsidy only can cover somuch of the tuition and be delivered to a limited number of families

Capacity on campus does not meet demand, our referral network isunderdeveloped, and student fee driven subsidies can never comeclose to meeting demand


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Princeton Model

A pre-K phenomenon Based on total household income, limited to 2 children Apply annually, funds are reimbursed from original receipts, amount

of funding determined by a committee, not all grants are the same Cannot get grants if spouse or partner is a stay-at-home parent or if

total household income is above $130,000 $5000 grants are only available to those families or unmarried

parents with combined incomes less than $65,000 where bothparents are students or working

A funding limit is set at 5 different income levels, which decline asthe parents make more money

If income is 0-65K - $5000 per child; 65-80K - $4000; 80-95K -$3000; 95-110K - $2000; 110-130K - $1000 (we could eliminate thelast four income categories in Syracuse)

Administered by Director of Financial Aid


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Michigan Model

Expansive eligibility and lower subsidies Have to be: (1) enrolled at least half-time in a degree program, or

(2) be in a certificate program with approval, or (3) be a singleparent or a parent whose spouse or partner is either a student orworks outside the home for more than 20 hours per week, and (4)

have children under the age of 12 or 19 if that child has specialneeds, who is (5) making satisfactory progress, and (6)demonstrates financial need

Subsidy covers up to three children, disbursed by semester ($1815for 1 child, $2750 for 2, and $3685 for 3)

Funds are paid out through a payroll check but student has toproduce receipts, contracts, and evidence of provider accreditation

before checks are released The subsidy formula: take the cost of attendance, subtract the

estimated family contribution for childcare based on reported incomeon students federal return, subsidize the difference up to pre-determined limits

Administered by the Office of Financial Aid


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Duke Model Open only to PhD students Funds cover off-campus providers, who must meet certain

accreditation standards as established by the North Carolina Dept.of Health and Human Services

Subsidies are allocated by the Graduate School according tofinancial need

Program is a mix of on-campus and off-campus providers approvedby the University 150 centers in Durham and 350 private providers Duke students can list themselves and their spouses as providers in

the Care Connections network for part-time care They have a Child Care Scholarship Program Duke is also partnered with local the Child Care Services

Association whereby Duke provides grants to local child carecenters in order to improve the quality of their services if they do notmeet program standards

All of these programs are the result of a strong collaborationbetween Dukes Graduate School, the Dean of Students Office, andthe Office of Financial Aid


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Maryland Model

Have a child care center on campus for faculty, staff, and studentswith limited space available for children ages 3-5

Their Office of Off-Campus Housing Services maintains a list oflocal providers

Students are also directed to 12 networks of child care providers inthe Baltimore- Washington, D.C. area

An Indiana Innovation The Emergency Babysitter List administered by their Office of Womens Affairs provides temporary caregivers on flexible schedules pay scale is negotiable but cannot fall below $10/hr if referralcomes from the University funding comes from the Chancellors Office


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Our Peers (cont.) Notre Dame: administers referrals through the Office of Human

Resources

Northwestern: University provides referral resources, has pre-taxflexible spending programs for employees, but most of thesebenefits do not apply to graduate students

Cornell: has a Child Care Subsidy Grant Program funded throughthe Provosts Office. Grants can reach as high as $5,000 per yearand are extended to students (1) enrolled at least half time, (2) havechildren under 12 years old, (3) demonstrate financial need, (4) aremaking satisfactory academic progress, (5) are single or have apartner who is a student or works outside the home more than 20hours per week. Graduate student families who make more than$55,000 are not eligible.-level of funding is determined by the age of the child and parentsaggregate income


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How much do these programs

cost? NYUs Bursar Credit Program: $100,000 per academic year, money

is taxable, no summer funding available (1.2B endowment)

Princeton: total program is for faculty, staff, students andemployees total costs for new program are approximately

$750,000. They expect 50-60 graduate student families toparticipate this year, or one-quarter of the total participants.Funding comes out of the annual operations budget, which is fundedto a great extent by the endowment. (Modeled their program afterStanford and Cornell)

Cornell: they have a $750,000 annual budget for everyone, get a

about 1000 applications each year for subsidies to pay for off-campus providers (they are building a child care center scheduledfor completion in Sept. 2008). Funding from graduate studentscomes from the Provosts Office, they still have a problem ofcapacity within the city of Ithaca.


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Long Term Considerations

For students in our doctoral programs, their debt payments coupledwith their living expenses after graduation can typically exceed theirincome if they take tenure-track positions in their fields

The time it takes to raise the funds to pay for child care diverts timeaway from progress toward degree, which hurts our rankings and

undermines our reputation as a graduate training institution In the worst cases, lack of affordable and available child care stopsan academic program midstream

Lack of daycare funding also forces some of the best candidatesaway from Syracuse and toward universities with child careprograms for graduate students

Many other institutions already have programs in place and arerecruiting and retaining the best doctoral and masters candidatesbecause of those programs to stay competitive we will have tocompete with them


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What can we do?

Begin an endowment specifically for funding this issue (for which the GSOwill be considering allocation of seed money in fall 2007)

Reach out to alumni/-ae with graduate degrees for financial support Combine the models we have seen, extracting elements of their best

practices to create one that works in Onondaga Co.

Recognize that we can make a difference by providing ANY additional helpto parents, increasing their potential as future donors and active membersof our alumni/ -ae community

Avoid Jerold Panass Seven Deadly Statements of Any Board: Weve never done that before It cant be done Its cost too much

Weve been doing all right without it Weve tried it that way and it didnt work Were not ready now Lets put it off for now and discuss it later

Documents

Childcare Survey 2007