WILMINGTON, N.C. - Parents who are trying to return to school while balancing being a mom or dad have their hands full and rather than take their focus away from their kids, many decide higher education simply isn't possible at this point in time.
What You Need to Know
- Parents often struggle to return to school due to a lack of accessible and affordable child care
- Miller-Motte College's campus in Wilmington is now offering on-campus child care for their students
- It caters to night classes, extended ages and is payable with financial aid
Angel McCreight is over halfway finished with her degree after returning to school from a 15-year break, but it's always been a struggle to find people to take care of her four young boys while she's in class.
“It is definitely stressful some days,” McCreight said. “Some days are better than others, but we have to have priorities. My kids are everything to me, so I focus everything and all my time on my kids.”
Miller-Motte College in Wilmington hated to see their students facing any type of barrier to their education, especially one like this. The campus had unused space and decided to partner with a local child care provider to create an on-campus day care option for students.
Nicholas DeShazor, the executive director at Miller-Motte, believes that having a child shouldn't prevent any student from pursuing their degree, but he understands that many of them don't have the resources to afford both.
“We knew that this has been a need for our students for a very long time and coming back from COVID, we knew that there would be even more challenges,” DeShazor said. “We wanted to remove any barrier that we could from our student population as well as just ensure they had the support they needed for them to be successful.”
Their goal was to make it both accessible and affordable to parents who previously might have been running to multiple places to pick up their kids, drop them off and get to class on time.
“They're relieved. It's something else they don't have to be worried about,” DeShazor said. “So taking that weight off their shoulders has been most definitely beneficial.”
In just three weeks, Miller-Motte and KinderStop made this idea reality and transformed a small area into a fully operating child care center — accessible to students both day and night. Administration also realized parents may not be comfortable leaving their older kids at home, especially during the summer, so they included kids up to age 12.
“It has been such a blessing to be able to have my kids here with me and know that they are somewhere safe, and I can focus on my studies,” McCreight said.
But the biggest relief for McCreight is that the child care fees are covered by her financial aid, giving her the time to focus on school without worrying about the cost of caring for her kids until after she has her degree.
“I don't think that I would be able to do as well in school if I didn't have this,” McCreight said. “I wouldn't be able to study. I wouldn't be able to have a good GPA. They're safe, they're right there and I'm studying just a little ways away from them.”