published August 2008 in the Naperville Sun www.napersun.com
After a one-year break, College of DuPage is reinstating its Child Care Services for Students program.
The program will occupy one room of the Early Childhood Center and will be available beginning Aug. 20 to students and part-time faculty with children ages 3 to 5.
For students like MIkata Jokkene, who will be at the college five days a week studying criminal justice and working in the student activities office, the program will save time and money.
"The fact that I go to school here and work here will give me the opportunity where I don't have to leave home as early; I don't have to get the kids up as early," said Jokkene, a 31-year-old mother of three. "I'll have them right near me if anything was to happen."
Two of Jokkene's children will be eligible for the program when it begins. Isaiah is 4, and Zoe will be 3 when the semester starts.
Jokkene estimates cutting a day-care center out of the trip from her home in Carol Stream to the college's Glen Ellyn campus will save 30 minutes each way.
For Maureen Walgren of Naperville, this child-care program may not be time-efficient, but it will be cost efficient.
Walgren, a 35-year-old mother of three, hires a nanny or uses a day-care center to take care of her kids, who are 8,5 and 2. Her 2-year-old, Shannon, will be 3 in October, so Walgren plans to enroll her in the program in January.
"Having a nanny saves on time, but the cost savings of using the program at COD would be worth it," she said.
Child Care Services for Students will cost $6 per hour for students and $7 per hour for part-time faculty. Those rates are both for one child.
A $50 deposit is also required to ensure a spot in the program, said Meri Phillips, director of student activities for the college.
Phillips and other staff conducted an online survey to gauge interest in reinstating the program after it was halted at the end of the spring 2007 semester.
She said about 60 people responded, and enough indicated they were willing and eligible to use the program to justify the hiring of an additional teacher.
"We have a good core to get started with, and we can build it from there," Phillips said.
The program's hours are 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays. Each child is allowed to spend five hours a day under the program's care.
"On the days I have classes, it will be very convenient," Walgren said. "It can adjust to my flexible schedule each semester."
Before Child Care Services for Students was halted, some form of it had been available at COD for 30 years, Phillips said. The retirement of a teacher and dropping enrollment numbers caused the cancellation of the program a year ago.
Phillips said very few changes will be made to the structure of the program, which is run like a typical day-care center.
Copyright 2008 Naperville Sun
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