Price Increases at the CCD - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Dec 2, 2004

Price Increases at the CCD

Date: Dec 2, 2004

Can you explain the three tiers within each age category?

Date: Dec 2, 2004

The CCD's mission is mainly to serve the childcare needs of USM students, especially those mothers who are raising a child(ren) alone (i.e., are single). Thus, the tiers are income-based essentially, with the highest tier most closely reflecting private sector daycare rates in the general area of Hattiesburg.

Date: Dec 2, 2004

Well, the CCD's mission is also to educate USM students who are studying early childhood education. Hence, all those little observation booths.

Date: Dec 2, 2004

Was there much student or faculty response when the daycare on the gulf campus closed last spring? Is (was) there any overlap in administration of the two programs?

Date: Dec 2, 2004

I know of one married faculty couple (associate professors) whose daughter went there for several years - but of course - that couple was out of CISE.

Date: Dec 2, 2004

A university is in the business of education/training and research. Any on-campus facililty should support those efforts. The goal should not be that of generating a profit. When such facilities do exist on a university campus there is a "swap off:" students-in-training in the university's academic program need clients/participants/patients/subjects or whatever term one wants to use. The clients/participants/patients/subjects/ etc. presumably have a need for whatever service is being rendered (child care, assessment, speech/hearing therapy, etc.) One could argue the case that the benefit to the clients/participants/patients/subjects is rougly equal to the benefit received by the university's students-in-training, and vice versa. If that is the case, perhaps there should be no charge whatsoever. A problem occurs when the university (or unit of the university) sees the facility as a pot of gold.

Date: Dec 2, 2004

I have to respond to this. First of all, the question that should be asked is: how much of the CCD's budget comes from fees and how much is subsidized through the university? Trust me, no one is getting rich over in the CCD. My 2 children went there for a total of 5 years, and that staff and its director are some of the most amazing and caring child care professionals that I have ever seen (and I have lots of experience in this area not only as a parent, but as a former child care worker myself and daughter of a former preschool/kindergarten teacher). At one point, USM CCD was the only NAYEC-accredited (not sure of the acronym, but it's the national accreditation agency for child care facilities) child care center in all of MS! I always felt like the care my children received there was the best that could be found, and the prices there were usually less than other daycares in the area.

That said, I don't know what the relationship is between the USM CCD and the central administration, financially-speaking. If anyone with more info or expertise can chime in here, please help us to understand this price increase.

PS--The "tiered" level of care is standard in most daycare centers. Obviously, it costs more, in terms of people-power, to take care of an infant than it does to take care of a 4 year old. At USM CCD, I believe the ratio was 4 infants to one caregiver, while the ratio for older children was much higher.

Date: Dec 2, 2004

i don't see how people can look at the day care facility as a pot of gold. If an infant (where worker to child ratio is the lowest) stays there for 8 hours in the highest tier, that amounts to $2.50 an hour. That's pretty reasonable.

Date: Dec 2, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"i don't see how people can look at the day care facility as a pot of gold. If an infant (where worker to child ratio is the lowest) stays there for 8 hours in the highest tier, that amounts to $2.50 an hour. That's pretty reasonable."

Try 10 hours, SCM. If I recall correctly, USM CCD hours are 7:30-5:30pm.

And don't get me started about the poor pay of child care workers who do the most important job of all! That's a can of worms I don't even want to open this fine morning.

Date: Dec 2, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"i don't see how people can look at the day care facility as a pot of gold. If an infant (where worker to child ratio is the lowest) stays there for 8 hours in the highest tier, that amounts to $2.50 an hour. That's pretty reasonable."

stinky cheese man, administrators sometimes view on-campus service facilities as a pot of gold. That is an undebatable fact. I have administered several of them and I have worked in even more of them.There are sometimes very good reasons why clients/participants/patients etc. should pay a modest fee, but the reasons should have nothing to do with the university's/unit's profit motive. I will say it again: some administrators view on-campus service facilities as a pot of gold (or, if you prefer, a "cash cow.").

Date: Dec 2, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"And don't get me started about the poor pay of child care workers who do the most important job of all!"

truth & stinky cheese man, I was referring to on-campus facilities which provide an integral part of an academic program's teaching/training/research mission. Such facilities are typically run by the students (usually graduate students) and are closely supervised by the faculty as part of the students' training. The students do the work - and not a group of hired employees from off-campus. For instance, I'm was not referring to an on-campus nursery school whose sole mission is to tend to young children while their parents are in class or working.