Since UW System children’s centers exist to support the institutional mission and to provide services, it is necessary to identify the essential components of each constituency’s needs. These needs, supplemented and ranked according to each institutional mission and circumstances, should be used, for example, in assessing institutional needs and in surveying community availability.
1. Student Needs
Essential student-parent and nonparent student needs for children’s centers include, but are not limited to, the following:
- availability (enough “slots” to meet demand categorized by age of child population);
- affordability;
- on-campus site (or near-campus site), to facilitate the academic achievement of the student-parent and to ensure the welfare of the child;
- flexible hours (to match class schedules and other obligations, hours are needed such as Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings only or Tuesday and Thursday afternoons only);
- drop-in hours (to allow students to study for examinations, meet unexpected test schedules, etc.);
- fees based on hours scheduled;
- appropriate sites for fulfilling academic requirements.
- sick child care;
- infant care;
- after school and vacation care matching public school schedules;
- full-time care for working students;
- evening care for part-time students with evening classes;
- weekend care.
2. Faculty and Staff Needs
Recent actions taken by the State of Wisconsin Department of Administration and the Department of Employment Relations give public recognition and funding for child care as an employe support service that meets a recognized need, maintains competitive status, and increases employe’s productivity.
In the same vein, UW System would like to provide for faculty and staff child care needs. Faculty and staff members who use children’s center facilities have the following needs:
- availability (enough “slots” to meet demand, serving ages of children where care is needed);
- on-campus site, to facilitate the productivity of the faculty/staff member and to ensure the welfare of the child;
- full-time, part-year contracts for faculty;
- full-time, annual contracts for staff;
- the possibility of sliding scale fees for staff and/or junior faculty;
- referral information;
- additional needs comparable to student needs for sick child care, infant care, etc.
3. Institutional Needs
University administrators realize that children’s centers also fulfill a variety of broad institutional needs. Examples of these include, but are not limited to, the following:
- available child care for use in recruiting and retaining faculty and staff;
- available child care for use in recruiting and retaining well-qualified graduate students;
- source of additional employment for part-time instructional academic staff members whom the university wishes to bring to full-time status;
- source of some types of public relation functions;
- appropriate sites for use in students meeting academic requirements;
- instruction, research, and public service necessary to fulfill the university’s obligation to society regarding care of Wisconsin’s children.