A new assessment of Michigan’s childcare landscape shows that more than 54,000 children aged 0-5 are waiting for daycare. Washtenaw County is one of three Michigan counties with waitlists of more than 5,000 children. At a time when Washtenaw County parents desperately needed childcare, the Washtenaw Community College administration chose to become part of the daycare problem, rather than part of the solution.
One of the most ridiculous explanations the WCC Administration gave for closing the Children’s Center on campus was that it was losing money. Aside from the fact that the Chlidren’s Center was never supposed to generate a profit, WCC could easily have rectified that.
Based on data from the State of Michigan, the average rate for childcare, irrespective of the child’s age, is about $5.50 per hour. WCC’s Children’s Center was licensed to care for 135 children at any given time. If WCC were able to fully staff the Children’s Center from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM Monday through Friday, that would be 15 hours of care per day. With a limit of 135 children per hour, the Children’s Center had a maximum annual revenue potential of about $2.9M per year.
Of course, that’s charging every parent the market rate for daycare. Presumably, students can’t pay the market rate, so WCC would subsidize care for WCC students. If WCC reserved 20% of the Center’s hours for WCC students, that would reduce the Center’s potential revenue to about $2.5M annually.
Operated as a public daycare, instead of one that WCC reserved strictly for students, The Children’s Center could have met the Administration’s top-secret standard of self-support. Additionally, the Children’s Center could have helped to address Washtenaw County’s crying need for daycare. Not to mention the fact that WCC’s childcare programs would have provided a natural academic tie-in.
Washtenaw County needs childcare more than it needs a gym
Just as an aside, Washtenaw County probably has a greater need for a publicly financed childcare center than it does for a publicly financed health club on campus. And the daycare would undoubtedly generate enough income to pay for itself – unlike the Health and Fitness Center. (It lost $4.5M last year and obviously cannot support itself.)
Clearly, providing services to the general public is not a problem, since WCC markets the Health and Fitness Center to anyone who wants to sign up. It could have done the same thing with the Children’s Center. And unlike the Health and Fitness Center, the Children’s Center – even with subsidized care for students – would have been money in the bank.
All. Day. Long.
There are 5,000 children in Washtenaw County waiting for a space in a licensed daycare center. If profit was the WCC Administration’s new requirement for the Children’s Center, all the WCC Administration had to do was open the doors.
Photo Credit: Ishikawa Ken, via Flickr
