The University of Chicago has announced a new pilot program that will offer grants to help doctoral students pay for child care. The provost’s office surveyed graduate students on their child care needs and found that more than 200 doctoral students at the university had at least one child. The majority of students said in the survey that they didn’t need full-time child care but were more interested in a flexible part-time plan that they could fit into their schedule.
Deborah Nelson, an associate professor of English and deputy provost for graduate education at the University of Chicago, stated, “I know first-hand that the challenges of parenting are many. It is our sincere hope that the grant pilot program will alleviate some of the financial hurdles that student parents face.”
Dr. Nelson stated that her office would announce more details about the plan in time for students to take advantage of the grants by the fall of this year. Dr. Nelson has been on the faculty at the University of Chicago since 1996. She holds a Ph.D. from the City University of New York. Dr. Nelson is the author of Pursuing Privacy in Cold War America (Columbia University Press, 2002).