Dr. Daria J. Willis, president of Everett Community College, was an undergraduate at Florida A&M University when her daughter was born. During nights and weekends, when Willis took classes, childcare facilities in the area weren’t open so she had to send her daughter to live in Georgia with her mother for a semester. At one point, Willis was working three jobs to pay for tuition, food and the needs of her toddler. Her Pell grant only helped so much.
“I just remember the experience being difficult, expensive,” she said.
New legislation – introduced by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker on Wednesday – could improve student life for struggling parents. The Preparing and Resourcing Our Student Parents and Early Childhood Teachers Act, or the PROSPECT Act, would offer competitive grants to community colleges and minority serving institutions to create free childcare options for student parents. Institutions could apply for up to $20 million in funding.
The presidential candidate’s bill would also make more students eligible for the Child Care Development Block Grant subsidy – a federal and state program that helps low-income families pay for childcare. It require colleges to inform students about the Dependent Care Allowance, as well, which enables financial aid offices to increase the education budget available to students by including childcare costs.
“Today’s college students are faced with realities that are very different than the idyllic assumptions we have of them,” Booker said in a statement. “Millions are raising kids and have enrolled in college to improve their life circumstances for their children, but too many are forced to drop out because quality childcare is unavailable or unaffordable, leaving them without a degree and saddled with student debt.”
Willis described the legislation as “all positives” and the “best thing one could ask for at this point.”
“Just the thought of being able to expand those opportunities for students would be awesome, she said. “Because I remember what it was like myself, and it was a very difficult journey.”
