The childcare connection that voids Latinas from going to college

In addition to skyrocketing tuition, there are many ancillary costs associated with going to college. One area where community college students are finding increasing difficulty involves paying for childcare.

A recently released Pew Research Center report reveals more mothers are not entering the workforce due to the high cost of childcare, but what does this mean to community college students, where roughly 57 percent are mothers?

In some states, childcare costs can exceed community college enrollment fees. It’s a problem that more parents – the majority of which are single females – are facing.

One community college proactively assisting students in need of daycare is Miami-Dade College, where InterAmerican Campus President Joanne Bashford tells VOXXI childcare has been on the school’s radar for more than three decades.

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“We’ve been well aware of the need among our adult students for childcare, but we’ve not always been clear that it’s the college’s responsibility to provide that,” Bashford said. “What we like to do is partner, if possible, with community childcare agencies and help students connect with a childcare facility that’s right for them and can work in their budget and meet their needs.

“We connect them with available funds, and many of them are eligible for childcare credits or an assistance of some kind to pay for childcare. We have a limited number of childcare aid awards that we can give out to help students who really do need them.”

Currently the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Child Care Access Means Parents in School program provides $15 million to 113 different projects annually.

Bashford said Miami Dade College has very limited funds to offer students in need at its eight county campuses. However, those who qualify can request a stipend to help cover the cost at available childcare facilities around the different campus neighborhoods.

Something else unique offered by the school is its Exploration Station childcare, which is run out of the North Campus.

Miami-Dade College’s Exploration Station preschool offers childcare on campus. (Miami-Dade College-Exploration Station/Facebook)

“Right now we have close to 100 children, more than half are children of students who attend Miami Dade,” Bashford said. “The others are children of faculty or staff that work at college and a few community members who bring their children. We have a grant from U.S. Dept. of Education that picks up the difference after all the aid that students are eligible for to cover childcare costs are applied to the fees that they have to pay to keep their children at the preschool.”

On top of that, students can qualify for a campus grant that picks up the remaining cost for up to 80 students. What makes Exploration Station so appealing to Miami Dade College is that the facility is tied directly to its School of Education and Early Childhood Education faculty, which develops a curriculum for children’s activities.

“It’s sort of a training ground,” Bashford said. “We’re going to begin this summer having early Childhood Education students do their internships in the preschool if they chose to do that. It’s a real learning environment. They have a focus on STEM. If you go there, they have a garden, grow things, have science projects and recently opened a library for the children and parents. It’s a very cool and nice facility.”

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