Giving Compass' Take:
- Chabeli Carrazana reports on policymakers introducing legislation to keep CCAMPIS, a campus child care program, funded and growing.
- What are the benefits of keeping campus child care programs funded? Why is the cost of center-based infant care larger than the cost of in-state college tuition for student parents?
- Learn more about trends and topics related to education.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on education in your area.
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Child care is so expensive for parents in college that it often exceeds the cost of their education. For years, one federal campus child care program has been helping lower those costs, until this year when the program has faced cuts under the Trump administration.
Now, Democratic lawmakers are leading a push to save it.
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Sen. Tammy Duckworth are reintroducing a bill Thursday to dramatically grow the $80 million Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program, which awards four-year grants to about 260 colleges and universities to offer child care to low-income students, the lawmakers shared exclusively with The 19th.
Duckworth and Clark have been reintroducing this legislation for almost a decade, but this year has brought new challenges.
In his 2026 budget, President Donald Trump called for a total elimination of the program, saying that “subsidizing child care for parents in college is unaffordable and duplicative.” It’s an effort the president has supported since his first term. The House also recommended eliminating the program, and the Senate has suggested maintaining the current level of funding, but a budget has not yet been finalized.
Already, fewer schools are participating this year because the Department of Education decided not to open the application process, so schools that would typically be reapplying for a four-year grant were shut out, experts told The 19th.
Then in August, the department made an unusual move: It notified 13 other colleges that they would no longer be receiving grant funding to run their child care programs, arguing that some of the recipients were teaching toddlers about gender ideology and the concept of race. The decision is part of the administration’s efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, though advocates said what was being taught were simple concepts to help toddlers, who are beginning to understand race and gender.
Read the full article about campus child care programs by Chabeli Carrazana at The 19th.