Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    A Culture of Cybersecurity
    Opportunities in the Hard Sciences
    Career Preparation
Sign In
Student Success

Campus Child Care Has Become Less Available. A New Partnership Aims to Change That.

By Nell Gluckman March 15, 2023
Passaic County Community College, located in Paterson, NJ, runs its own childcare center, which offers the opportunity for female college mothers to be able to find childcare for their kids.    Here, Karen Perez, the Executive Director of the Child Development Center, spends time with the kids at the Center. (Boy in she is hugging is Christian Williams).
Karen Perez, executive director of the Child Development Center at Passaic County Community College, interacts with children at the college’s child-care center.Mark Abramson for The Chronicle

The number of on-campus child-care centers has declined over the last 10 years, with the steepest declines taking place in the community-college sector.

Only 45 percent of public academic institutions offered child-care services in 2019, according to research by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The pandemic likely drove down the number of on-campus child-care centers even further, with many losing revenue when they were forced to close or when parents chose to keep their children home.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

The number of on-campus child-care centers has declined over the last 10 years, with the steepest declines taking place in the community-college sector.

Only 45 percent of public academic institutions offered child-care services in 2019, according to research by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The pandemic likely drove down the number of on-campus child-care centers even further, with many losing revenue when they were forced to close or when parents chose to keep their children home. Meanwhile, Head Start, the collection of federal programs for young children living in poverty, has seen enrollment declines in recent years.

To combat these issues, the National Head Start Association and the Association of Community College Trustees announced a partnership on Wednesday that is meant to put more child-care facilities on campuses.

Here’s how the partnership could work: Community colleges would offer rent-free space on their campuses to Head Start providers. That exchange would allow providers to reach a 20-percent requirement of philanthropic funding they need to raise to open. The Head Start programs would be free for community-college students with children who qualify. Head Start works with local agencies to provide educational activities, wellness programs, and other services for infants, toddlers, and children up to age 5, and also offers support for parents. Federal funding makes Head Start free.

Almost half of all students who have children are enrolled in community college, according to the Association of Community College Trustees.

Child-care centers have struggled to hire enough staff since the pandemic. Carrie Warick-Smith, the association’s vice president of public policy, said moving Head Start programs onto college campuses could help alleviate that problem — because students pursuing a degree in the early-childhood field at the colleges would be able to work at these campus centers.

The partnership is in an exploratory phase, Warick-Smith said. The community-college group and Head Start have six months of funding from the ECMC Foundation and the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation to conduct focus groups with community-college students who have children and with Head Start parents, to put together lists of interested colleges and programs, and to raise more money. Next year, she hopes they’ll begin moving Head Start programs onto campuses.

The goal would be to move 100 Head Start programs onto campuses, bringing the total number to 150. Tommy Sheridan, the deputy director for the National Head Start Association, said the details of the partnership will be largely determined by the individual programs and colleges.

Nicole Lynn Lewis, the founder and chief executive of Generation Hope, a nonprofit that works with teen parents who are in college, was excited to see the announcement between the two organizations.

ADVERTISEMENT

“If you don’t have reliable child care, you don’t go to class,” Lewis said. That’s particularly true of students who are attending college in person, but it’s a factor for students attending class online as well, she said.

While access to affordable child care is a huge concern for students who have children, Lewis said, the existence of a center is not the only thing colleges should do to support them. The centers need to be open at the times when students need them, and administrators and faculty members must know how to accommodate student parents in the classroom, so they stay on track academically.

“There’s a lot of work to do to make sure the institution is set up as a whole,” she said.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Student Success Community Colleges
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
Gluckman_Nell.jpg
About the Author
Nell Gluckman
Nell Gluckman is a senior reporter who writes about research, ethics, funding issues, affirmative action, and other higher-education topics. You can follow her on Twitter @nellgluckman, or email her at nell.gluckman@chronicle.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Harvard University
'Deeply Unsettling'
Harvard’s Battle With Trump Escalates as Research Money Is Suddenly Canceled
Photo-based illustration of a hand and a magnifying glass focusing on a scene from Western Carolina Universiy
Equal Opportunity
The Trump Administration Widens Its Scrutiny of Colleges, With Help From the Internet
Santa J. Ono, president of the University of Michigan, watches a basketball game on the campus in November 2022.
'He Is a Chameleon'
At U. of Michigan, Frustrations Grew Over a President Who Couldn’t Be Pinned Down
Photo-based illustration of University of Michigan's president Jeremy Santa Ono emerging from a red shape of Florida
Leadership
A Major College-President Transition Is Defined by an About-Face on DEI

From The Review

Illustration showing a valedictorian speaker who's tassel is a vintage microphone
The Review | Opinion
A Graduation Speaker Gets Canceled
By Corey Robin
Illustration showing a stack of coins and a university building falling over
The Review | Opinion
Here’s What Congress’s Endowment-Tax Plan Might Cost Your College
By Phillip Levine
Photo-based illustration of a college building under an upside down baby crib
The Review | Opinion
Colleges Must Stop Infantilizing Everyone
By Gregory Conti

Upcoming Events

Ascendium_06-10-25_Plain.png
Views on College and Alternative Pathways
Coursera_06-17-25_Plain.png
AI and Microcredentials
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin