Effects of proposed subsidy debated
Childcare plan would alter services
By PAUL TELLES
Of the Emerald
The new childcare subsidy
system created last week by the
Incidental Fee Committee
definitely would affect the
childcare services available to
student parents.
But nobody’s sure what those
effects would be.
The system, drafted by IFC
chairer Jon Neiderbach and
unanimously approved by the
committee, would create a
$50,000 childcare fund admin
istered to individual student
parents by the financial aid of
fice. The parents could spend
their subsidies at any state-ac
credited childcare center.
Currently, the EMU Childcare
Center and the Child Care and
Development Center receive
$36,000 to administer the pro
grams, and the CCDC receives
$33,000 to be paid out in Parent
Equalization Payments to needy
parents.
The money for the direct
payment system will come from
the PEP and the administration
budget, which the IFC has
recommended be cut to
$18,000.
However, the IFC gave the
EMU a set amount for its opera
tion and left the details — like
how much to spend on child
care administration — up to the
EMU Board and administration.
Neiderbach says he proposed
his plan, which requires Univer
sity administration approval, to
“insure maximum benefit to
those students with the most
need.”
The current program doesn’t
meet this need because
students with relatively little fi
nancial need and some non
students are reaping benefits
from the IFC childcare funding,
he says.
Neiderbach says the two
centers are among the highest
priced in the Eugene area and
“student parents who use other,
less expensive daycare centers
are, in effect, punished for their
frugality since they cannot
receive any daycare subsidy
precisely because they
searched and found lower-cost
services.”
However, not everybody
agrees with Neiderbach.
Childcare coordinator Mary
Curtis-Gramley says the two
centers seem more expensive
than others because they
charge by the hour and allow for
hourly use, while other centers
charge by the full or half day.
The few non-students who
use the centers do so only at
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times when student parents
aren’t registered, Curtis-Gram
ley says. Currently, 3.2 out of a
possible 81 childcare spaces
are filled by non-students.
“They provide us with chil
dren at times — like early morn
ing and late evening — when
there isn’t enough demand from
students” to justify staff and
expenditures, Curtis-Gramley
says.
Almost no student parents
have been turned away from the
University’s childcare centers
this term, she adds.
Curtis-Gramley says she
shares Neiderbach's concern
about equity in the distribution
of childcare subsidies, but she
doesn’t feel his plan ap
proaches the problem in the
right way. She has suggested
the PEP’s, which now are
available only to CCDC parents,
be opened to EMU center par
ents as well.
Neiderbach's plan may result
in tuition increases or staff cut
backs at the two centers, both of
which would lower the level of
service at the two centers, Cur
tis-Gramley says.
Neiderbach says potential
staffing cutbacks or tuition in
creases are the responsibility of
the EMU Board and administra
tion. If they want to continue
funding the childcare program
administration at its current
level, they can cut other parts of
the EMU budget, he says.
The effect of the plan on the
childcare centers is not its only
potential problem.
For instance, it remains to be
seen how the money will be dis
bursed to parents. The financial
aid office probably will be able
to assess students' needs for
childcare subsidies in the same
way it determines need for other
financial aid but may not be able
to assure the money is spent on
childcare, says Lance Kopotr,
assistant director of the finan
cial aid office.
Neiderbach has suggested
parents could be given
vouchers that would be
redeemed by the childcare
centers where the parents
spend their subsidies. However,
this billing arrangement may be
too expensive for the financial
aid office, Popoff says.
“It may mean too many ad
ministrative costs," he says.
The subsidy probably
wouldn't affect the students'
eligibility for other forms of fi
nancial aid, Popoff adds.
Some people also are worried
about the childcare subsidies
being used off campus. They
say it will result in less student
control over childcare quality.
Parent committees at the two
centers developed governance
documents for the centers this
year, a move for student control
ot tne two centers spearneaaea
largely by Neiderbach. Now the
parents wonder if Neiderbach
has forgotten that concern
“Was the move on the part of
CCDC and EMU Childcare
Center to develop govern
ing policies ... a waste of
time?” they asked in a letter to
the EMU Board, which rejected
the plan before the IFC mandat
ed it.
"It is conceivable that fewer
people could get more money'
while other parents receive
nothing under the proposed
system, EMU Director Adell
McMillan says. Currently, about
160 families benefit from the
subsidies to the two centers,
and about 50 receive PEPs.
“Fifty-thousand dollars isn't
really that much money,''
McMillan says, suggesting it
may not be enough to directly
subsidize all the parents need
ing childcare assistance.
I
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