Student parents lobby for child care facilities

Nicholas Valenzuela Arizona Daily Wildcat UA president Peter Likins addresses concerns about child care during last month's ASUA Senate meeting. About 10 student parents attended the meeting. The issue is still up in the air.

At an Associated Students Senate meeting last month, Sen. Josué Limón brought about 10 parents and Mimi Gray, University of Arizona coordinator of child-care initiatives, in front of the panel to tell their stories.

Limón said UA President Peter Likins was scheduled to speak that night and heard the parents' problems, forcing an immediate response.

"The president has been educated a little bit," Likins said Friday.

But education and funding are two different entities, and Likins said while the idea of a new, on-campus child-care facility is feasible, the money is hard to find.

"There are serious interests in providing a child-care facility on or near the area of our campus," he said. "It's something we know we need to find a way to do, but the state's not going to send us money for that purpose."

The facility is a good long-term plan, but student parents need help now, Limón said.

"He (Likins) made a promise that this would be a priority," Limón said. "What does that mean?"

Limón is calling for an increase to the annual $12,500 subsidy divided between 15 student parents, which leaves 65 to 75 on the waiting list.

UA faculty and staff split about $150,000 per year for child care, and student parents also need about that much funding, Gray said.

Limón said those figures should be equal.

"One of the things that bothers me about the subsidy is that the faculty and staff part is funded way more than the students," Limón said. "Faculty and staff are a lot more financially stable than the students."

Staff in the UA child care offices are trying their best to meet the needs of the 135 families they serve, Gray said.

The office is putting a "lactation station" for nursing mothers in their Memorial Student Union offices, she said.

"The Union is being very good about space," she said.

Limón praised Gray for her work and said her office's efforts justify funding the program with additional money for students.

But Likins said employee benefits are an appropriate form of compensation.

"It's not surprising that the same benefit is not available to students," Likins said. "But I was surprised to learn that it is only $12,000."

The UA needs to find the money for child care, even if it means taking it from other areas of the university, Limón said.

"Yes there are other departments that need money, but these are lives that are being affected," he said. "It's our future."

While praising Gray's efforts, Limón also questioned the work other UA departments put into fund raising.

"What are other departments doing to bring in money?" he said. "Mimi Gray is working her tail off to bring in money."

Heidi Steving, a parent who spoke at the ASUA Senate meeting, said afterward that she needs immediate help, not a future facility.

"What he (Likins) was saying about having a site on campus is a long-term situation," said Steving, an elementary education senior. "Increasing the subsidy amount would be the short-term solution."

Steving, who cried as she spoke to the Senate while her 4- and 6-year-old sons looked on, said afterward that she expects Likins to keep his word.

"It seems like he came through on all the other promises since he came here," she said.

As Laura Liewen's 3-year-old daughter Sasha tugged on her pants, anxious to get french fries after the Senate meeting, Liewen, an accounting senior, also said she believes in the UA president.

"I feel like maybe this issue will finally get addressed because it's something this campus has needed," she said. "I think he'll try his best to make it happen."

David J. Cieslak can be reached via e-mail at David.J.Cieslak@wildcat.arizona.edu.