The Barometer Online

Issue date: 3/13/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Cory Reed Sophia Scott, a senior in pre-med with a minor in pharmacy, reads "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" with her 5-year-old son Michael at OSU's Kindercare, a day care center which offers discounted rates to OSU students. Scott is among the 11 percent of OSU students who are also parents.

Media Credit: Cory Reed Sophia Scott hopes to go to medical school at OHSU after graduating in the spring. With two jobs, a son and school, she has a busy life.

This is part two in a three-part series about student parents at OSU. To read part one, click here.

Eleven percent of the students at OSU are also parents, and ASOSU knows that. Stephanie Duckett, the ASOSU student parent advocate, has a job that revolves around making life for student parents better on campus.

The university already has some programs that help, but there are more to come in the future, Duckett said.

There are two day cares on campus - Growing Oaks and Kindercare, both of which students are able to use at minimal cost.

Kindercare is the most affordable because it is a bigger facility, but both have their strengths, Duckett said.

The price for using these facilities is on a sliding scale. Students receive the biggest discount followed by faculty members and community members.

Located on S.W. 11th St. and S.W. Adams Ave., Kindercare can hold up to 153 children at one time.

The waiting list to get into one of the care centers is long.

"These places work at capacity," Duckett said. "You need to get on the waiting list as soon as you know you are pregnant or as soon as possible."

Duckett also suggests that parents explore both centers before making a decision about which to use.

"We have more children than that though," said Chris Riggan, director of Kindercare. "We have some full-time kids and some part-time kids."

Riggan said that 45 percent of the children attending Kindercare are children of students, 40 percent are faculty members' children, and the remaining 15 percent are children of community members.

Currently there are two infant rooms, two toddler rooms, five preschool rooms and one private kindergarten classroom available at the facility.

"There is a waiting list for the infant and toddler classrooms," Riggan said. "This fall we are adding two more toddler rooms to accommodate more parents. This will open up 16 more spaces."

Part of the fun of working as the center director is getting to work with all the parents and children, Riggan said.

"I do this job for the kids," Riggan said. "While their parents are teaching or learning, the kids are here learning and having fun. Having fun - that is the important part."

On a recent afternoon, 4-year-old Albert Phillips ran into Riggan's office - Phillips could not leave without his sticker for the day.

"It is our routine," Riggan said. "Kids come into my office a lot to get stickers or hugs or just to say goodbye."

One of the services provided by Kindercare is lunch and two snacks.

"This morning we had English muffins with jam and juice," Riggan said. "Our morning snack is something breakfasty but not an actual breakfast."

Another way Kindercare tries to get parents and children involved is by having two maps by the front door.

"We have parents mark down where they came from on the map," Riggan said. "We have parents from all over the world, including some from Russia and the Middle East."

Riggan is not the only one who gets to have fun with the kids - the staff is also often entertained.

Jessica Marks, a human development and family sciences sophomore at Linn-Benton Community College, works at Kindercare three days a week.

"My favorite part of my day is when I walk into a classroom and all the kids stop what they are doing and they scream 'Jessica!'" she said. "Then they run up and give me a hug. It is great to be an influence and helping them to be good people."

Although the staff enjoys the work, not all days run smoothly.

"I was working in the infant room and everyone was sick," Marks said. "It was an insane day. I was thrown up on three times."

"I used to work at a day care up in Portland," Riggan said. "It makes a big difference to work with people who all care about the education. I really like working here."

Sophie Scott, a single mother of a 5-year-old boy named Michael, uses Kindercare.

"They are really supportive and they are always willing to work with me," she said. "They do not judge me at all."

For Michael to attend Kindercare, the fee is $116 dollars a week, but there are ways to get it lowered.

ASOSU has a program where student parents can get up to 50 percent of their childcare costs paid for. The program is funded by student fees and is based on need, Duckett said.

"You have to be under a certain amount of income," Duckett said. "However, most student parents qualify for it."

Another way to get the child care paid for is to get a grant.

Scott received a student child care block grant, which pays for most of Michael's fees at Kindercare.

"I can go two months without having to pay anything," she said. "I usually have a balance of $74 but that occurs over a long period of time."

Student parents can also take advantage of the Mealbux program, which is open to any student who qualifies, parent or not.

Mealbux allows students to apply for a certain amount of funding every term to be used at food services on campus. The process is confidential and easy to apply for. Duckett said this is another program most student parents qualify for. The program is through ASOSU and is also funded through student fees.

Duckett is currently working to find a good place for mothers to breast feed as well as a place parents can study while their children are cared for.

"We want to set up a program in the library where students can drop off their children and go study as long as the stay in the library," Duckett said. "We are also getting family restrooms set up in the library where mothers will be able to go and breast feed. They will have all the accommodations for student parents."

A program she is putting together called "Our Little Village" will aim to do just that, starting in the library and possibly expanding to the rest of the campus. The goal is to have the program up and running by next fall - but Duckett is hopeful that it could start by this spring.

The campus has very few changing tables in men's restrooms, which is something the family restrooms will accommodate.

The Our Little Village program is funded entirely by student fees. In 1998, when the original idea of Our Little Village was presented, students started paying $2.21 in fees per term that would go into the account. Over the last nine years, the fee has been reduced to 50 cents per student per term.

ASOSU was not able to get the idea of Our Little village off the ground because interns did not have enough time to see it through.

That is when a committee sat down and decided that the person who should be responsible for Our Little Village should be working full time and not be a student. That is how Duckett received her job after she graduated.

"Students will be able to drop off their kids for two to four hours on any given day," Duckett said of the program. "Parents will be given a pager that will go off if they are needed back at the child care."

This will keep the parents in the library and make it easy for the child care to find them if there is an emergency Duckett added.

As the plans keep moving forward, Duckett hopes the family restrooms will start to appear all over campus to help with mothers who cannot always make it to the library to breast feed.

One of the other programs Duckett is trying to follow through with this year is a students with children weekend.

"We had the first one in May of 2004," she said. "But we have not had the funds to keep that tradition going."

On June 16, the day before commencement, there will be a student parent graduation. The event will be set up like a carnival.

"It will be an all day event in the quad where children can come and see what their parents have been doing," Duckett said.

For more information about programs that ASOSU has planned or is planning for student parents, contact Stephanie Duckett at studentparentadvocate@oregonstate.edu and or 737-4906.

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