School-Life-Family Balance: A Childcare Needs Assessment Belinda - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

School-Life-Family Balance: A Childcare Needs Assessment Belinda Blevins-Knabe, Ph.D. (UALR) Johanna Thomas, Ph.D., LMSW (UAF) Jamie Jones, Ph.D. (UALR) E. Chris Lloyd, Ph.D. (UALR) Barb L’eplattenier , Ph.D. (UALR

Purpose of the Study  The purpose of this project was to examine the need for childcare among the faculty, students, and staff at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR).  The overarching goal is to establish a campus wide program that strengthens the connections between the UALR campus, students, faculty, staff and their families.  By recognizing and strengthening family connections, we are able to:  Promote community engagement  Increase accessibility to the university  Improve student parent retention and success  Improve student recruitment  Increase our responsiveness to underrepresented populations  Create and expand collaborations with the Central Arkansas community  Strengthen the Central Arkansas economy.

Prevalence of the Problem  Nationwide, approximately 1 million undergraduate students are not only parents, but have at least one more of the following characteristics that can present barriers to completing their education:  Low income or low socioeconomic status  First generation college students  Older than traditional college students  Full-time employee,  Female or belonging to a minority group (Miller, 2012)

Student Retention and Success  Student parents are at higher risk for not completing their degrees in 6 years.  Lack of access to child care for low income student parents is one of the major barriers to the success of many campus initiatives including online learning , increased financial aid, curriculum reform , improved entry processes , and institutional accountability .  Student parents indicate the financial burden of both college tuition and child care exceeds their financial resources.

Arkansas Economy  The Women’s Foundation of Arkansas identified lack of access to childcare as one of the major reasons women do not complete college.  In Arkansas:  the salaries of those who have a bachelor’s degree are $25,430 higher per year than those without a college degree  Those with a graduate degree make $13,036 more a year than those with a bachelor’s degree  In addition, a college degree is associated with advantages for the entire family, including better health, children with higher educational levels, lower levels of crime and poverty, and increased taxes

Retention of Faculty and Staff  The effects of providing on-campus child care for faculty have been addressed by the American Association for University Professors, the American Council on Education, and the Sloan Foundation.  All of these associations cite child care as an essential tool for both faculty retention and recruitment.

The Current Study  Two pronged approach to assessing the needs of faculty, staff and students on campus: 1. Focus groups composed of students, faculty, and staff were held in April and May of 2015 to identify common childcare issues and how they influence school-life-family-balance. 1. Campus wide e-mail survey sent to all faculty, staff, and students in fall 2015.

Focus Groups  11 students  31 faculty and staff

Selected themes from the Focus Groups A child care center fits the identity of the institution  As a non-traditional metropolitan university UALR should have a child-care center  Other schools have child care centers Child Care Needs:  After school care  Summer programs with full time care  Drop-in care  Part-time care  Full-time care  Care when children’s schools are out (holidays, teacher workdays, snow days, etc.)  Care for special needs children  Child care for the children of Law students  Child care for online students

E-mail Survey Student Respondents N=1465 & Staff 8% Staff 17% Faculty 13% Students 62%

Student Participant Characteristics (n=1,027)  The vast Majority were female (74%)  Over half reported being White (57%)  A little more than a quarter reported being African American (28%)  Average age of 30 (Median of 27)  Just over half of those with children reported an annual household income of $20,000 or less  Almost two-thirds reported being employed at this time  More than half reported being employed full time (54%) and 15% of those at UALR  Approximately 46% reported being employed part-time and 27% of those at UALR

STUDENT CHILDCARE NEED YES (264) YES Current need for childcare for under 5 (535) NO (265) Students- Primary YES Responsibility for (465) child under 18 Did you have need for childcare for under 5 NO (65) NO (492) YES (113) Do you anticipate the need for childcare for under 5 NO (379)

Faculty Participant Characteristics (n=162)  Approximately two-thirds were female (67%) female  More than three quarters of respondents identified themselves as White (81%)  Approximately 10% of respondents identified themselves as African American  Average age of 45

Faculty Childcare Needs YES (37) YES Current need for childcare for under 5 (80) NO (43) Faculty- Primary YES Responsibility for (71) child under 18 Did you have need for childcare for under 5 NO (9) NO (82) YES (53) Do you anticipate the need for childcare for under 5 NO (45)

Staff Participant Characteristics  Over two-thirds were female (66%)  Average age was 43  Over two thirds (66%) identified themselves as White  Nearly one quarter (23%) identified as African American

Staff Childcare Needs YES (51) YES Current need for childcare for under 5 (124) NO (72) YES Staff- Primary Responsibility for under 18 (113) Did you have need for childcare for under 5 NO (10) NO (127) YES (40) Do you anticipate the need for childcare for under 5 NO (87)

Most Pressing Issues faced by Students (rank ordered) 1. Missed Work 2. Missed Homework/Assignments 3. Study Groups 4. Missed Class 5. Offsite Learning Experience 6. Project Meetings 7. Dropped or Withdrew from Courses 8. Missed Internship 9. Missed Clinicals

Faculty and Staff Missed Work by Child Age Group Faculty and Staff Missed Faculty and Staff Missed Work Work due to Child Care Due to Child Care Issues (6-12 Issues (0-5 Years) years) 70 100 60 90 50 80 70 40 staff 60 staff faculty 50 30 faculty 40 20 30 20 10 10 0 0 frequently occassionally never frequently occassionally never

Childcare for Students Students preferred child care availablity no need full-tme 26% 27% drop-in 21% part-time 26%

Childcare for Faculty

Childcare for Staff Staff preferred child care availability no need 33% full-time 38% drop-in 12% parti-time 17%

Family Friendly Resources  The survey asked students, faculty, and staff about other family friendly resources they would use if available.  In all groups the most popular included:  Children's Art Classes  Children's Library Room  Children's Music Classes  Children's Recreational Classes  Playground  Playroom  Child Related Events on Campus  The next most popular were:  List of Community Child Care Options Endorsed by UALR  Parent E-mail List Serv for the University  Students were more interested than faculty and staff in:  Nursing/Breast Pumping Stations  Application for Government Subsidized Childcare

Strategies for supporting student parents Institute for Women’s Policy Research (2015) 1. Aid in the transition to college by recognizing students are parents and educating them on the available resources. 2. Provide strong academic support through advising and training in the skills needed to succeed in college. 3. Provide child care services on campus and/or help in finding care in the surrounding community, and educating students on the resources available for covering child care expenses.

Strategies (cont.) 4. Provide mentoring, counseling, and peer support though programs such as parent education classes, mentors, and parent listservs for discussions. 5. Provide both financial aid for educational expenses as well as expenses of having children. In addition provide education in learning to budget and plan for the future. 6. Help students locate benefits provided by the government and community including health services. 7. Help with locating affordable housing.

Proposal

Health Screening

Parent Resource Center

Next Steps  Working to fund the 3 main initiatives in anticipation of the next major federal funding cycle of childcare centers for institutions of higher learning

Acknowledgements  Thanks to those who have supported this project:  ORSP  College of Education and Health Professions  Graduate Assistants:  Soumya Janu  Josh Enloe  Naghma Mirani  Aurielle Freeman  Community Partners  The Women’s Foundation  Children’s International  MidSouth  A special thanks to Patsy Martin and Tammie Cash for administrative support.