UBC set to open five more daycare centres, but more needed: Waiting list still at 1,500
Vancouver Courier
By: Janaya Fuller-Evans
August 05, 2009

The University of B.C.'s childcare services program is opening the last of five new childcare centres created this year on Aug. 24, and plans are in the works for more expansions in the future.

The daycare, which is the largest campus-based program in North America, now has 108 additional spaces, with 460 spots altogether on one street, Darcelle Cottons, the director for childcare services, said.

Cottons said the expansion was necessary. "We have 1,500 people on our waiting list," she said, describing the situation as "ready to blow."

The bottleneck has been caused by the arrival of new families on campus as staff and faculty retire and are replaced by people with young children, Cottons said….

The program staggers childcare so kids "domino through the age groups," Cottons said.

The new spaces were funded without money from the provincial or federal governments. "It was mostly the university," Cottons said. "And the Alma Mater society made a significant contribution to ensure access to students."…

Lisa Sundstrom, president of the UBC Daycare Parent Council, said more spaces are needed.

She said despite the new centres, the numbers on the waitlist haven't changed. "They're in a holding pattern," she said. "It's not decreasing, it is kind of frightening."

But UBC has already contributed a lot and may not want to do more without help from the government, Sundstrom said. "Till the province steps in, it is just going to be a nightmare."

Sundstrom joined the council while waiting for a daycare spot for her daughter. But she feels lucky because she got her child in before the big wave of new faculty arrived on campus. Sundstrom also has a son who went to the daycare and is now in grade school.

Sundstrom was part of a Steering Committee that presented a report on future expansion recommendations to UBC's Board of Governors last May. The board is currently reviewing the report.

Deena Boeck is currently on maternity leave, with her second child, from her position at UBC's Robson campus, but she is keeping her three-year-old daughter in the UBC childcare program so she doesn't lose the spot.

She registered her daughter when she was four months pregnant and got her into the centre a year and a half later. Her daughter is now two. Two weeks ago, Boeck received a call from another daycare waitlist she was registered on at the same time. A spot was finally available.

She said the situation is ridiculous. ….

Blake Frederick, president of the Alma Mater Society, said he doesn't think the society will be able to provide more funding for another expansion. "Financially I don't know if we're in a position to do it," he said.

The society donated $1 million of its operating budget to the most recent expansion. "The AMS has recognized for some time the situation of childcare at UBC is at a crisis level," Frederick said.

He said from this point on, the society "is going to focus on advocacy."