Child Care & Education at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lynn Edlefson, Campus Child Care Coordinator
WISELI Symposium ~
Child Care on the UW-Madison Campus:
Past, Present, Future
9 March 2005
World Class University

Since the 1970’s, UW Campus has acknowledged the importance of child care
to support teaching, research and outreach efforts. What’s our progress?

Nationally, 80% of women are working; are consistently more concerned with
child care resources than their male counterparts; and disproportionately leak
out of the academic pipeline:

Before they begin their careers; women PhD's with young children and
married women are less likely than all other doctoral recipients to enter
tenure track positions; diminishing the overall pool of qualified candidates.

At the Assistant Professor Level: Tenure-track women, regardless of
family status, are less likely than tenure track men on a year to year basis
to become tenured.

At UW, overall increase in women obtaining tenure (from 30 yrs ago) BUT
still are many more women who enter the tenure track and drop out and
an increase in the number of part time or non-tt positions. Who's is
making the decision?

Our estimates show that faculty at UW-Madison produce or adopt
approximately 61 children per year.
…I might have to wait
until preschool for child
care!
Priorities

Provide child care and education of the highest quality

Assure that child care and education programs remain
accessible and affordable

Address work-life needs of student, faculty and staff families

Fulfill and integrate institutional research, teaching, outreach
and service missions

Build partnerships and provide leadership to improve the
lives of children and families in our community
Community Context

Rapid population growth in Dane County & Madison
Madison residents, 2025: >255,000
Dane County children, 2030:
age 0-4: projected growth 49.5%, +12,781 children
age 5-9: projected growth 39.1%, +10,442 children

Dual career families in Dane County: ~72% (~60% nationally)

Family child care system under stress
(1996-2002: state-licensed –57%, provisionally certified +58%)

Infant care: not enough spaces, soaring costs

Corporate responses (Meriter & St. Mary’s Hospitals, Promega)
Campus Context

8 centers serving approximately 500 children each week
(capacity: in 1988, ~150 FTE; in 2005, 376 FTE)
flexible scheduling, part time hours (late 1980’s)
Expansions at
Eagle’s Wing and Waisman Center (2000) that doubled capacity in
each site and lowered age range served.

Infant care (1999, 2000, 2002)

A Family Childcare Training At Eagle Heights since 2001; supporting in-home
care at Eagle Heights.

After school programming for school-aged children (Eagle’s Wing)

Sick child care


Faculty & staff: lost (Meriter’s Ginger Ail program closed 2003)
CCTAP students: in-home, Interim Home Health Care contract
Multiple Missions

Research


Pre-service training (“teacher training”)


~110 student teachers certified each year
Outreach- Partnerships



~20-30 research projects each year
Odyssey Project helps 60 low-income parents return to school
Summer Institute trains 150 community preschool teachers
Supporting families





~500 children enrolled in campus centers
~50 family education and support events offered each year
~$750,000 – Child Care Tuition Assistance Program (CCTAP)
New Initiative: $2,000 -- Classified Staff Scholarships
Private foundation accounts to support project development
Community Partnerships & Contracts

Bethany Methodist Church (Preschool Lab)
 Early Childhood Learning Center (Odyssey)
 UW Hospital & Clinics
 Dane County Parent Council





Head Start
Satellite Family Child Care
Interim Home Health Inc.
Madison Area Association of Accredited Early Care and
Education Programs
We Keep Trying! …Madison Metropolitan School District
4-K
Current Sites
Un i v ersi t y of Wi scon si n -Ma di son
Ch i l d Ca re & Edu ca t i on Cen t ers
1. Eagl e's Wi n g
Eagl e Hei gh ts Com m u n i ty Cen ter
Offi ce of Ch i l d Care & Fam i l y Resou rces
2. Un i v ersi ty Hou ses N u rsery Sch ool
1
3. Wai sm an Earl y Ch i l dh ood Program s
4. UW In fan t-Toddl er Program
5. Great Begi n n i n gs (UW Hospi tal & Cl i n i cs)
6. Un i v ersi ty Presch ool Laboratory : Li n den Dri v e
2
7. Bern i e's Pl ace
8. Un i v ersi ty Presch ool Laboratory : Mi n eral Poi n t Road
3
6
4
5
7
8
Who do we Serve?
Age
Current FTE
Infants
(6 weeks-1 year)
Toddlers
(1-2 years)
Toddler/Preschool
(2-3, 3-5 years)
After School
(6-12 years)
TOTAL FTE
15.5
28.5
64 + 223 = 287
26
357
Who do we Serve?
Children of…
Current FTE
Faculty
90
Academic Staff
59
Classified Staff
5
Students
111
Community
34 (21 at Waisman)
Family Needs


Preschool programs
Infant and toddler programs
 Sick child care
 Evening care
 Back-up care
 Summer school programs (5-12 years)
 Conference care
WISELI Results:

Women faculty rate almost all childcare issues as higher priority than do male faculty

Parents of school-aged children who use the UW-Madison childcare centers are significantly
more likely to say they are “Very Satisfied” with their childcare than parents not using these
centers (80.0% vs. 44.2%)


Care for school aged children after school or during the summer was by far the biggest
priority of faculty—71.7% overall (81% women faculty) rated this as “High” or “Quite” a
priority.
Childcare when your child is sick, and back-up or drop-in care when your usual childcare
arrangements do not work are the next highest childcare priorities for faculty with schoolaged children

Faculty in Humanities departments, single parents, and faculty of color appear to be the most
concerned about the costs of childcare

Parents of very young children reported:
those who were most dissatisfied with their arrangements are those who bring care
providers into their own homes.
The number one priority of these parents is the availability of infant/toddler care (84.6%);
followed by availability of campus childcare and back-up or drop-in care when your usual
childcare arrangements do not work (73.1% for both issues.)



Plan to Building Capacity
Campus Child Care Centers
Family Care Network
Planned Changes

Linden Preschool Laboratory– expansion
planned for 07-09, pending fundraising efforts.
 Bernie’s Place—needs to relocate due to new
education arts building
 UW Infant/Toddler Program—would like to
relocate and fold into a larger program with
better space
Campus Opportunities for Growth

East campus:

Working with Campus Planning to identify a primary site for east
campus, possibly:
• Arts & Humanities District (East Campus, Phase II)
• Art Facility-Education Research Center (East Campus, Phase II)

Central campus

Institute of Discovery– Rust- Shriner (Across Dayton Street)

Potential to replace Bernie’s and Infant Toddler Center

West campus

School of Nursing

1552 University Avenue (University Health Services current site)
Center Serving 52-60 children



Square footage: 8150 -10,000 sq. ft.
Green space (playground): 2750 sq. ft.
Estimated capital cost:

Construction cost: $1,255,100

Total project cost: $1,687,050

Estimated operating cost:

$938,410 annually; staff salary and benefits will take 94% of budget.

Need $1.5 million endowment to generate $75,000 of annual operational support to
decrease cost of care;

20 families a year might receive $3,500 of annual support for infant care
($16,000 annually)
Goal is to build central, east and possibly west child care centers.
Additional Center-Based Services

Summer school programming (6-12 years)
•
•
•
•

Back-up care (for larger groups of children)
•
•

On schedule for summer 05 to begin planning;
Start up teacher salary for 6 months ($20,000) based on $28,000 annually plus benefits.
Will require space on campus (where?)
Start up equipment costs from $5,000-$15,000
will require lease space with private community centers and teacher cost. Seems
cost prohibitive to provide on campus; (see below)
OCCFR will explore contracting with After School Inc. for faculty and staff who do
not utilize their after school programs.
Conference care (summer months only)
•
•
Takes two staff for every 8 infants, 14 preschoolers and 36 school-agers for an
estimated cost (per group/per month) of $15,000 (Includes salary/ benefits for
one teacher and one student hourly or LTE per group)
Space constraints until new buildings come on line.
Off Campus Expansions
Allied Drive





Current planning with Head Start, City of Madison and UW to create an
economically integrated child care program for 80 children
Start up costs $265,000
Building costs $1.1 million
Annual operational subsidy $35,000-75,000 depending on mix of
children
Research Part II


Located on far west side on Junction Road
Seeking business partner to operate program and to build.
In-Home Services

Back-up care (for individual families)
 Evening care
 Sick child care




Provided by contract with In-home providers; university could help
“recruit” students to work for these agencies.
Expand to include faculty and staff
~$100,000 annually ; staffing ($50,000) and service delivery ($50,000)
Family child care network

Cost approximately $5,000 per family child care home for help with
start-up and accreditation.
Programs that would be great to add….

More parent education and support
 Health & wellness focus
 Life-span issues
 Relocation assistance
Let’s sum up the issues…
 Capacity:
 On-campus wait lists for infant care are overwhelming
 No “vacant” spaces to provide back up care
 No sick child care for faculty parents
Diversity:
 Socio-economic & cultural diversity enhances overall
mission for teaching, research, & outreach
 Provides model programming for young children which will
parallel their school environments
► Affordability:
Cost containment, especially for students and classified staff
Flexible services ( back-up, flex schedules, part time, etc.)
are employee benefits but increase administrative &
operational costs.
 work./family balance:
Child care is only part of the solution; the balance of the child
and child care staff is also at risk without policy changes
that help families.


How can you help?

Continue to advocate for the issue with department
chairs and administrators; help them to see that child
care is a benefit to recruitment efforts and effective
workers.

Participate in the campus planning exercise– make sure
to have your comments heard! Go to
http://www.uc.wisc.edu/masterplan/ to provide feedback.

Participate in fundraising: potential donors for projects,
how about ongoing payroll deduction, attend events!
Resources are always needed.
Luther’s June 16, 2005
Song, artist
UW Infant/Toddler Program, 1999
Lynn Edlefson
Director
Office of Child Care & Family
Resources
Eagle Heights Community Center
262-9715
lynn.edlefson@housing.wisc.edu
Thank you!