Childcare facilities on campus Forum

[jessica13]

I am in the beginning of researching law schools and as a single parent I want a law school that supports parents as much as possible through child care, and more. I am not sure how to go about this other than researching every school I am interested in, but if other parents can give me some tips as to what to look for and how to go about it I would really appreciate it. I am open to any school in the nation. Thanks.

[kalvano]

It's probably not going to be common. Go to the best school you can get into and pay for daycare.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Unfortunately, I don't know of any schools that offer this. You might want to look at the universities where the university is located rather than specifically at the law school, because I think you'd have more luck finding something aimed at the general student population than law students specifically. Schools that are more likely to offer daycare are schools that have traditionally had high percentages of non-traditional students which, also unfortunately, doesn't tend to correlate highly with prestige.

[lovelyx09]

Yale does!

http://www.yale.edu/hronline/daycare/ch ... s/law.html

[BlueJeanBaby]

Not sure what range of schools you are looking at, but I remember UF has a childcare facility right across the street from the law school. I also remember someone saying that law students get discounted rates (and Gville already has cheap everything), but I am not sure as to the accuracy of that information.

[albanach]

UVA has a childcare facility close to the law school. Getting in might be tough, most good facilities are a lot easier to access with a newborn where you can spend 9 months on the wait list.

[AllTheLawz]

This actually isn't rare at all. Most major universities have an affiliated childcare center just look up the name of the university and child care. Any university that has an education school is almost 100% certain to have affiliated childcare center.

ETA: I hate this thread for making me aware of the costs of childcare.. good god.

[nebula666]

You should really start off with a list of schools which you can get into and then figure out which one of those best fits your needs. You say that you are open to any school in the nation but most of them are very regional and you will be tied down there upon graduating.

I don't know much about other schools but UF has a "Baby Gator" daycare facility about 100 yards from the law school and they take kids up to five years old. There are also a few other locations around town. Most of their employees, who aren't full-time elementary/special ed teachers, are UF elementary education and nursing student-volunteers as well as some on Federal Work Study jobs.

I'm not sure how much you have budgeted for child care, but Baby Gator ranges from $125-203 per week (depending on age), including breakfast, lunch and snacks + ~$200 in application/registration fees.

http://www.babygator.ufl.edu/default.htm

[BlueJeanBaby]

Just checked and UGA's child care: http://universitychildcarecenter.uga.edu/

UF and UGA both have child care and those are the only 2 schools I checked. In other words, make a list of schools you want to go to first/ can get into and then narrow it down from there.

[bluepenguin]

You should really start off with a list of schools which you can get into and then figure out which one of those best fits your needs. You say that you are open to any school in the nation but most of them are very regional and you will be tied down there upon graduating.

This.

Make your list of schools based on employment opportunities, cost, location, etc, and then make sure they have childcare facilities (I bet 99% have something adequate).

[bosmer88]

As others have stated, I doubt you will have any problems actually finding a childcare provider near whatever school you choose. Usually, the facilities hours are pretty flexible for students who take classes during the day. Quite a few are open from 7am-5pm or 6pm. Your biggest concern will be cost. I was a former preschool teacher and my center charged something around $900/month for preschoolers and close to $1200/month for infants. Mighty expensive...

If you choose a childcare provider working out of the home, the cost should be a bit less.

Good luck!

[albanach]

You can get a loan adjustment to cover the costs of child care, and insurance for dependents.

Of course it still has to be paid off at some point, but spending 30-40k over the three years on five day a week child care could be worthwhile if you commit to completing your school work during those hours.

[sidhesadie]

If your kids are young enough to need full time daycare, I'd actually suggest you going to school before they get old enough to go to school, even though it seems like it'd be easier the other way. (A lot of people think, oh, I will wait till my kids are in school and go while they go)

I'm a parent, and was a single parent when through undergrad and the beginning of LS.

It is often much easier to find full time, during the day 'daycare' for little kids, than it is to figure out what to do with say, an 8 year old after school. They are too old for daycare and too young to be home alone. It's not that big of a deal during class (Unless like me, you get stuck in the one 1L daytime section that your school puts into one class with the evening section, so suddenly you have a 7pm class even though you registered for day division), because after 1L you can, to some extent, adjust your classes so you're out by the time your kid is. (Though, this is actually harder than you think, way harder than undergrad). But that's not even the real problem, SUMMER IS. You have to work during the summer. Full time, if you're lucky. Finding all-day activities for school age kids is an EPIC PAIN in a lot of areas. I have found that most 'summer camp' options are only part of the day. Often, you end up having to pay for a 'morning session' plus an 'afternoon session' plus 'aftercare' just to get from 9am-6pm. Plus "pre care" if you need them there before 9. It's the most ridiculous thing ever.

Some areas have great after-school and summer programs for kids right at the school. So if your kids will enter school before you're done, make sure you look at that, too. I'm place-bound for other reasons, but if I had open options, I would definitely have looked at the before and after school, and summer school, options for elementary school kids in the district the law school was in.

Good luck! Feel free to PM me if you want to talk about parenting in LS. Some schools have a lot more support than others.

[albanach]

the day 'daycare' for little kids, than it is to figure out what to do with say, an 8 year old after school. They are too old for daycare and too young to be home alone. It's not that big of a deal during class (Unless like me, you get stuck in the one 1L daytime section that your school puts into one class with the evening section, so suddenly you have a 7pm class even though you registered for day division), because after 1L you can, to some extent, adjust your classes so you're out by the time your kid is. (Though, this is actually harder than you think, way harder than undergrad). But that's not even the real problem, SUMMER IS. You have to work during the summer. Full time, if you're lucky. Finding all-day activities for school age kids is an EPIC PAIN in a lot of areas. I have found that most 'summer camp' options are only part of the day. Often, you end up having to pay for a 'morning session' plus an 'afternoon session' plus 'aftercare' just to get from 9am-6pm. Plus "pre care" if you need them there before 9. It's the most ridiculous thing ever.

Sounds like your school was less than helpful.

I'd say that here at UVA it's not too difficult to come up with a workable class schedule after your 1L year.

As for the summer. In your 1L summer, you're not likely to be paid. I'd hope lots of 1L employers would understand if you have to start the day a little later because of child-care issues. It certainly wasn't a problem with my employer.

For your second year, if you're in a firm you should be earning enough to pay all those fees. If you're not then, again, I'd expect the employer to deal. If they show no flexibility toward parents during the summer, they're very unlikely to do so after graduation.

[pruufreadr]

University of North Dakota

Childcare is offered for children 18 months - 12 years. Also, they give discounts for students who live on campus, and the on-campus living is already a great deal.

I didn't start undergrad until my children had all started school. I had to be home by 3:00 p.m. every day, and it really wasn't that difficult.

For law school, my question is whether or not you will have time to spend with your child during those three years, particularly as an 1L. I haven't been to law school, so I don't know the answer, but I do know that it was hard to remember to keep my children as my first priority even as an undergrad. Once, I was so excited about finishing a paper, but my kids wanted me to take them to play in the snow. (Houston, my neighborhood trucked in snow once a year for the kids.) Consequently, I turned the paper in at 1/2 the minimum word requirement and took a "B" for it. With law school supposedly being so grade-conscious, I am imagining that the consequences of those sorts of choices will cause you a great deal of stress.

If waiting until your children are grown is not something you are going to consider, everyone's situation is different and therefore we make different choices, perhaps choosing a school with affordable on-campus family living and easy-to-access child care may make more sense than a higher-ranked school where you would need to commute back and forth to school and to day care.