Lack of daycare a concern for university personnel
A university daycare proposal for faculty, staff and students could be available for review by the end of the semester.
By Amy Johnson
Staff Reporter

Zoranna Williams said she travels more than an hour out of her way every day to leave her 5-month-old daughter with a relative.

She leaves from Arlington, drives to DeSoto to drop her daughter off and then heads back to Fort Worth for work.

Williams, coordinator of recruitment, retention and alumni relations in the Harris School of Nursing, said many parents have similar problems with daycare and that she would opt for an on-campus daycare if one were available.

“I don’t expect a free daycare, but if TCU even subsidized the cost 10 to 20 percent, it would be a big help,” Williams said.

Linda Moore, associate dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, said a committee has been working on a detailed proposal for a daycare program that could be ready this semester. She said faculty and staff surveys have indicated that about 150 children could be served daily by a daycare. Students were not surveyed, she said, meaning demand for a center is probably higher.

Moore, who has been involved with previous daycare committees, said she is doubtful the proposal will be approved. She said a university daycare has been discussed for almost 25 years but never given priority status from the administration because of liability and funding issues.

“Proposals have never been denied,” Moore said. “They have been ignored.”

Chancellor Michael Ferrari wouldn’t comment on any proposal prior to his arrival in 1998, but said a daycare center has not been put on the back burner since he has been here. Finances, he said, have been too large an obstacle.

“Any daycare will need to be self-supporting and it is difficult to get constant, sufficient funding from users of the center over time,” he said. “A proposal will have to compete with all other requests for funding, including faculty and staff salaries and benefits, academic program support, new faculty and staff hiring, increases in student financial aid and targeted support for academic and student life programs.”

Moore said that no specifics have been developed, but the proposal will include an educational component so students will be able to use the daycare for internship credit and faculty could use it for research.

Moore said the last survey she was involved in about 12 years ago found that only one person out of 920 was opposed to a daycare. Other surveys conducted prior to and in 1997 indicated that faculty and staff overwhelmingly supported a center, she said.

“I’m very encouraged we’re trying again,” she said. “I’m not as optimistic as new people, but we need to approach the issue again with new blood. We have to keep on trucking.”

Pam Hughes, executive assistant for the vice chancellor of student affairs, said committee members have been looking at other area universities with daycare facilities and have sought Motorola and IBM as possible sponsors.

Sponsor or no sponsor, several faculty and staff members said they would like a daycare.

Amy Tramm, an adjunct professor in the nutritional science department, said it is amazing that society does not provide more resources for affordable quality childcare.

Tramm has two children, ages 4 and 18 months, and said she pays more than $1,000 a month for quality childcare.

“Often, because the cost is prohibitive, families are forced to make tough decisions,” she said. “It would be wonderful if TCU provided childcare for students and employees.”