In Fall 2022, ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity & Resilience disseminated a survey to all UMass Lowell (UML) faculty, staff and students about their childcare needs. Below is high-level summary of participant responses.
436 faculty, staff and students responded to the survey & 236 reported having at least one child aged 0-12 years and/or are expecting a child within the next 9 months
- 77 have at least one child under the age of 5
- 88 have at least one child aged 5.1-12
- 53 have both (at least one child under the age of 5 and at least one child aged 5.1-12)
- 18 are expecting in the next 9 months
Among 125 faculty & staff with children under the age of 5 and/or expecting a child within the next 9 months:
- 95 indicated that they were either somewhat or very likely to utilize help from UML for accessing quality childcare
Among 108 faculty & staff with children under 5:
- 72 rated cost as the most influential factor in their childcare decisions
- 32 rated location near campus as a top factor
Among the 122 faculty & staff with school aged children:
- 83 utilize some sort of child care arrangement 5 days per week
- A formal after-school care program is the most common arrangement
Among all parents for children 0-12, the top emergency-care situations are:
- Sick child
- Childcare closed for other reasons
- Care provider vacation/holiday
Potential Approaches
In addition to conducting the survey, the ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity & Resilience has looked at peer institutions and identified promising approaches. Possible models include:
- Partnering with existing agencies to provide reduced-cost care for 0–5-year-olds near campus for UML community members (e.g., existing childcare centers)
- Partnering with existing community agencies to open new childcare sites near campus (e.g., ACRE Family Day Care opening new family-based care)
- When there is new space on East Campus, contracting with an existing provider to operate a childcare center for 0-5-year-olds in that space.
- Emergency care provided either on campus or at a nearby facility when regular childcare options for 0–12-year-olds are unavailable.
The number for students was quite low for many questions, thus some of the summary statistics are for faculty and staff only.