Some Texas A&M students are concerned that they may no longer be able to afford to take their children to the Children’s Center since the Student Service Fee Advisory Board’s denied a $35,000 fee increase request for supplemental assistance to the center.
“Child care is very expensive, and to take away what little help there is takes away our chances of fulfilling our dreams,” said Kassey Hubbard, a 24-year-old single mother and junior animal science major. “I’m a full-time student and almost a full-time employee. Without helpful services like this one, people like me wouldn’t be able to go to school.”
Di Fontenot, director of the center, said the center serves children ages 6 weeks to 5-years-old and currently holds 148 children.
“Five to seven languages are spoken at the center, and 28 countries are represented,” Fontenot said. “When you talk about diversity, you come to our center; this is where it’s at.”
Fontenot said students will not be able to use the center without the tuition supplement.
“If students are going to use the center, we have to be able to help them,” Fontenot said. “Students do not make the same amount of money as faculty.”
Fontenot said that in previous years, the federal government provided assistance.
“We used to have a grant from the federal government for $99,000 every year that allowed us to help students pay for tuition and offset the cost of child care,” she said. “We used to help students with 25 to 50 percent of their tuition costs, but since Congress re-appropriated that money elsewhere, we are now relying upon student service fees only, and can only offer assistance of up to 15 to 20 percent while simultaneously shrinking the pool of those eligible for this type of assistance.”
SSFAB voted against the increase with a 7-2 vote. SSFAB Chairman Jim Carlson said the decision was one of the more difficult ones SSFAB dealt with, But said SSFAB only denied a request for additional funding and did not cut any existing funding.
“We felt that they currently receive $59,300 in student service fees and we felt that considering the circumstances and the decisions we had to make, that would not be beneficial for the greatest number of students considering the circumstances,” Carlson said. “It was just a very difficult decision that we had to make.”
Carlson said the SSFAB attempted to contend with the state mandated $150 cap and the student referendum that would have ensued had the recommendations surpassed the cap.
“We were attempting to honor that student mandate from previous years, we felt that that was an important factor to consider,” he said.
In previous years, SSFAB recommended increases surpassing the $150 cap and students have overwhelmingly voted the increases down.
Holly Murphy-Brackin, Class of 1998, said the Child Care Center is a large benefit for A&M students with children.
“Students fortunate enough to have child care through the Children’s Center have the advantage of knowing that their child is in a safe and loving environment, allowing them to concentrate on their education,” Murphy-Brackinsaid. “My largest expense by far was child care, and my largest concern was the quality of care I was able to find for my children.”
The Student Senate rejected SSFAB’s recommendations by a vote of twenty-six against, twenty-one in favor and five abstaining.