Waitlist for childcare two years
AMS, UBC recognize new childcare spaces are still not enough
By Roel Moeurs
AMS News / UBC News
September 25, 2009

In August, five new childcare centres were opened up on campus, yet it is not enough, as there is still a two-year waiting list.

UBC Childcare Services celebrated their 40th anniversary this year with the unprecedented opening of the centres, essentially increasing the number of available places by nearly a third to a total of 460. Even though these openings were supposed to alleviate concerns of parents searching for childcare on campus, the crisis has not yet abated. The current list still touts approximately 1500 names, with most still having to wait nearly two years before their child can enroll in one of the childcare centres. About 40 per cent of students at UBC use the university’s services.

Even though the numbers do not show it, Darcelle Cottons, director of UBC Childcare Services, said the openings have had an impact. “For some age groups [four-year-olds and seven- to eight-year-olds] we are reaching our targets,” she said. Cottons recognizes that there is still a problem. “With every new opening, the hope factor goes up, and more people apply, trying to get in.”

The crisis has reached the highest ranks of the university as well. At last week’s Board of Governors meeting, the speedy opening of new (and temporary) centres was recognized as an “urgent” matter.

“Everyone feels the pressure,” Bijan Ahmadian, a student representative on the Board, recalled. “People have left UBC because of it.”

President Steven Toope described an “aggressive” new plan for childcare at last Friday’s Town Hall meeting that stated almost 50 new full-time spaces would be added by this time next year in the Barn and in the trailers behind Gage Towers. Apart from these temporary measures, a new Ponderosa and Law hub, each providing 24 spaces, are also under construction. The university is also hoping that the opening of privately-run family childcare services will provide an additional one hundred spaces.

As with many things, the speed with which these plans forge ahead is limited by the funds that are available. The Ponderosa and Law childcare spaces will each cost half a million for construction.

For these projects, the university had hoped for government support, but the five grant applications that UBC had submitted in 2007 were denied when the federal conservative government cut childcare provisions from the budget. The Alma Mater Society (AMS), however, has stepped in and is providing $1 million over the next ten years to increase childcare spaces. In return, childcare centres must reserve up to 40 per cent of spaces for students.

“The issue here is making sure that childcare is affordable, and it’s accessible, and it exists. All levels of government, including provincial, need to step in,” said AMS VP External Timothy Chu. “We are working with the coalition of childcare activists, such as the UBC daycare council, to push the provincial government for funding for spaces.”

As all parties involved continue to pressure and negotiate with both provincial and federal governments in an attempt to increase childcare subsidies, Ahmadian calls on the AMS to “coordinate with the university.” Though Cottons said she “has been too long in the field to be hopeful,” she remains optimistic.