Kids on Campus

The CUNY system understands the need for campus children's centers and has developed eighteen of them since 1950, each one tailored to its home institution.

By Carol R. Keyes with Pamla J. Boulton

Campus children's centers across the City University of New York system have changed substantially since the first one opened at Brooklyn College in 1950. The CUNY system now boasts eighteen such centers, each tailored to fit the needs of its particular campus. Twenty years ago the National Coalition of Campus Child Care Centers (NCCCC) conducted an evaluation of the CUNY centers, and this year Carol Keyes, the project director of the 1987 evaluation, reviewed the improvements that have taken place since the evaluation. The results of the review, as well as our analysis of problems that still remain at CUNY, may help other multi-campus university systems as they attempt to coordinate childcare options.

Variety of Programs

The eighteen campus children's programs in the CUNY system, founded over the past half century, differ in important ways. The center at Brooklyn College started as a traditional laboratory nursery school, but later combined early care and education. Six centers began in the 1970s, when the number of nontraditional students was increasing and feminist and other student activism was on the rise. The next eight programs began in the 1980s during another upsurge of interest in child-care centers, which included a reemergence of faculty and student pressure on the administration for child care, colleges hiring consultants to document the need for child care on their campuses, union activity, and research and evaluation studies. The last three centers began in 1990, 2000, and 2006, and one more is due to open soon. While the centers have much in common, all serving children of students, they respond differently to the needs of the families on their particular campuses. Differences exist because of funding, cost, space, resources, and demand. The community college campuses in the CUNY system receive city and state funding while senior colleges receive only state funding. Fee scales vary, as do services. For example, some campuses serve infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children, while others have demand only for preschool. Some families require evening and weekend child care, while others do not.

The center directors have goals in common. At the top of all their lists is providing safe, high quality programs to support student parents as well as other parents in the college. They also want to expand their services to meet local needs, and to support the health and professional development of their staff. They all feel that it is important to build a strong sense of community and to work collaboratively with staff, children and families, and the college community.

In 1982 the directors, recognizing the need for interinstitutional collaboration
and communication, created the Child Care Council at City University to serve a coordinating function for the university's children's programs. The group meets regularly to advocate for and help develop quality early care and education. It sponsors a staff development conference every year. It is active in early childhood policy, with members having assumed board roles and the presidency of the National Coalition for Campus Children's Centers. It speaks out on major early childhood issues and creates public awareness about important issues related to children and families.

Findings of the Evaluation

The NCCCC in its 1987 evaluation of CUNY's children's centers recommended that more space should be provided for child care on campuses with demonstrated need; that more centers should include infant, toddler, and school-age child care; that the child-care needs of faculty and staff should be surveyed; and that funding should be sought for renovation of existing space or construction of new buildings. Though the quality of care provided was generally rated highly, the NCCCC suggested that the children's centers should apply for accreditation through the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Administrative support for the programs appeared to vary from campus to campus, so the NCCCC recommended that CUNY provide opportunities for campus administrators at all levels to improve their understandings of campus children's center operations so they could support the programs more effectively.

Changes Since 1987

At the time of the initial evaluation in 1987, none of the programs was accredited. As of Keyes's reviews in fall 2006 and winter 2007, eight of eighteen programs were accredited and eight were working on accreditation. The two remaining programs planned to initiate the accreditation process when facilities design and construction were completed.

Some of the programs are serving more age groups than they were in 1987, and this spring two centers began pilot programs to serve children of faculty and staff in addition to those of students. Over the years, according to the directors, limited numbers of faculty have inquired about child care. Students' children have always been a priority for the CUNY campus centers. In fall 2006, however, the CUNY central administration approved offering child care for faculty and staff with the proviso that the actual decision to provide the service was to be made by the presidents of the individual colleges.

Two-thirds of the eighteen centers have recently received federal funds through the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program, which one of the campus child-care center directors had a hand in creating. Todd Boressoff, former director of the Borough of Manhattan Community College program, along with members of the NCCCC, met with state senators and the Children's Defense Fund and helped draft the provisions for the program, which provides funds to support campus-based child-care programs that primarily serve the needs of low-income students enrolled in higher education. Grant funds may be used for before and after-school services, and to meet the child-care needs of the community served by the institution.

When the bill authorizing the program was passed in 2000 as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, Boressoff and members of the NCCCC helped to organize support for appropriations. The appropriation was five million dollars in the first year and increased to between sixteen and twenty-five million dollars in subsequent years. Grants are awarded through a competitive selection process that requires a substantial federal grant application; that twelve CUNY centers have been successful applicants is a significant achievement. The grants have enabled the centers to renovate classroom and playground space, expand to serve more age groups, become accredited or work toward accreditation, and develop family support programs.

Areas of Concern

In 1987, the CUNY central administration was forward-thinking in calling for evaluation of CUNY's children's programs. Looking at the changes in the campus children's programs since the 1987 evaluation, it is apparent that the administration helped the programs to accomplish some of the NCCCC's recommendations about meeting community needs, achieving excellence, and fostering collaboration among centers. CUNY has strengthened its commitment to making child care available on campuses by both developing new programs and maintaining those already in existence. It has made some strides in providing adequate facilities and has made a significant commitment to address quality services through accreditation. Nevertheless, some areas of concern still exist:

Funding. The campus programs are still funded by outside sources dependent on local, state, and national political processes. Funding is variable at best.

Administrators' Understanding. It is important that campus administrators at all levels increase their understanding of campus children's center operations so that they can develop more effective relationships with and support for the programs. Administrators should understand how the programs are funded, what the true costs are, what families can pay, how to subsidize care, the importance of quality care, and the important role that the centers play in allowing students to attend school and faculty and staff to work.

Directors' Qualifications. Currently, directors are required to have a master's degree in early childhood education or a related field and two years of teaching experience, but they are not required to have administrative training. While some of the CUNY campuses provide excellent mentoring and technical assistance, many directors would gain additional administrative knowledge and experience by working toward the New York State Children's Program Administrator Credential, developed about eight years ago by a partnership of the Career Development Initiative of New York State, the New York State Child Care Coordinating Council, and the New York State Association for the Education of Young Children to promote professional development in the field.

Research. There is considerable professional development activity at the centers, and many are fieldwork sites for students. However, little substantive
research is conducted in or related to the campus children's centers. Children have grown up on our campuses from infancy through school age. How have they fared? Does their experience hold them in good stead and are they more successful than other children? Do they attend college more often? Do they come back to our campuses? Directors have noted that some students have come back to the centers as parents. Child-care centers offer a rich body of material to researchers who choose to use it.

CUNY is on its way to becoming a role model in terms of both care and education of young children and of supporting students, faculty, and staff by providing such care. Other university and college programs can make a commitment to providing excellent child care. To do so, they must provide adequate facilities, require appropriate credentials for directors, and provide both institutional funding and political pressure to ensure adequate outside funding.

Carol R. Keyes is professor emerita at Pace University, an adjunct professor at Hofstra University, and an early childhood consultant. Her scholarly work has focused on campus children's programs, children's transitions, teachers as researchers and parent-teacher partnerships. Her email address is ckeyes@pace.edu. Pamla Boulton, EdD, is the director of the Children's Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is a founder of the Wisconsin Professional Credential for Child Care Administrators and a former president of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association and the National Coalition for Campus Children's Centers.

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