The University of Washington is earmarking $3 million in university funds to expand child-care services for students, faculty, and staff members. As part of the initiative, the university will convert a 12,000-square-foot space in the Office of Transportation Services into a new child-care facility. The new facility will have space for 150 children. Parents who use the center will have to pay for the services. An outside vendor will provide the child-care services at the university’s centers.
At the present time the university has four child-care centers on campus that serve 262 children. There is currently a wait list of more than 1,000 parents who want child-care services at the university. The university hopes to double its capacity over the next five to eight years.
Jerry Baldasty, interim provost at the University of Washington, says the “faculty, staff, and students, have been eloquent in their advocacy for more child-care support. They are right. We have more to do, and this is a good start.”