More than half of all college students in the U.S. are considered “nontraditional” students, meaning they are over the age of 24, work full time, are a military veteran or on active duty, are a transfer student, have a disability, are married, divorced, first-generation, low income or are a parent or caregiver. 

This wide range of students can feel left out or underrepresented at institutions of higher education. 

Child Care Access Means Parents In School (CCAMPIS) represents a part of the non-traditional student population by supplying grants to institutions of higher education to help support campus-based child care for student-parents. Established in 1999, it remains the only federally funded grant exclusively with student-parents in mind. However, only four community colleges and one public university in Oregon receive federal funding through the CCAMPIS program.

The grant has no regulations about the number of colleges in one state that use CCAMPIS. Lane Community College child care has been funded by CCAMPIS since 2021, but University of Oregon does not receive funds from CCAMPIS.

CCAMPIS holds competitive grant applications every four years. Institutions are eligible for CCAMPIS funding if they follow regulations in Higher Education Act Title IV, which outlines how institutions of higher education can provide financial assistance. To be eligible for CCAMPIS, institutions must have students who are awarded a minimum of $350,000 a fiscal year, and show a need for low-income child care.

In 2021, CCAMPIS awarded LCC  $114,016, allowing the institution to cover 80 percent of child care costs for student-parents in its full-time child care programs, according to the community college. In the past year the grant amount increased to $148,279. Nationally in 2023 CCAMPIS provided over $83 million across 264 awards with an average $317,108 per award, according to LCC.

With the annual funding LCC has been able to cover 100 percent of eligible students’ child care costs, and provide a mandatory parenting class with meals to those who are CCAMPIS eligible. The college  has also been able to supplement professional development through the fund. “We use some CCAMPIS funds to ensure that our staff are highly trained, and some kind of general materials are covered so that we can have high quality supplies here,” says LCC Child and Family Education Manager Cheryl Henderson.

According to Henderson, the application process for students is straightforward. Eligible students first have to get their child a spot in LCC child care. Students may apply for the grant if they are enrolling a child 30 months to 5 years of age (not kindergarten eligible) for a minimum of 20 hours of care a week, so long as the student is taking a minimum of 6 credit hours, is Pell Grant eligible, and has a minimum GPA of 2.0. Employees at LCC can help students navigate the application process. “We work with you to make sure you get everything in,” Henderson says. 

Instead of CCAMPIS funding, UO uses the UO Child Care Subsidy Program provided by Associated Students of the University of Oregon. The subsidy program covers 50 percent of eligible monthly expenses. ASUO funds the program through incidental fees that most UO students are charged each quarter. These funds are then allocated to the Basic Needs Program in the UO Office of the Dean of Students to help provide care for students in need. 

“The university really doesn’t cater to people like us,” says Melvin Bravo, UO graduate and father. Bravo came to UO from Florida after being accepted to the university with housing. However, Bravo says this housing came with a catch. 

“The university made it very difficult for someone like me to even stay in a place like that,” he says. To stay in university housing students must go to school full-time; however, to get in-state tuition students must only go to school part-time. In-state students have to pay $16,137 for tuition and fees while out-of-state students have to pay $44,598. To avoid this $28,461 increase in tuition Bravo went to school part-time and worked the graveyard shift at multiple sanitation jobs. “Because of that, housing at the university was taking us out and gave us one month to leave,” Bravo says. 

While looking for a new place to live Bravo had to take his daughter to school, go to class, pick his daughter up from school, and then work all night. Few classes at UO are offered at night or online, making it difficult for those who are essential caregivers to go to class. “I think the biggest challenge that I had to go through was actually going to class,” Bravo says. 

Moss Street Children’s Center on campus was too expensive for Bravo’s family. “I really had to rely on me staying home for my daughter,” Bravo says. 

However, according to Whitney Donielson, program director for Nontraditional Student Engagement and Success and Rachel Jefferson, executive director of Co-op Family Center, UO may reapply for CCAMPIS. 

“From talking to the other two directors [of child care] on campus we may have the opportunity coming around again,” Jefferson says. 

Jefferson also hopes that CCAMPIS will start to cover contracted programs like the Co-op Family Center. “Just because we are a contract doesn’t mean that we’re providing something that doesn’t need the same sort of support,” Jefferson says.

Typically CCAMPIS received $15 million from the federal government for funding, however, in 2018 Congress increased annual funding to $50 million. Since 2021, when LCC first started receiving funds, CCAMPIS appropriations have increased from $51,423,037 to $83,716,619. 

Summer and spring terms of 2024, UO implemented the Care Finding Fund pilot program. “One thing we were hearing from student-parents was that there was still a gap in funding for things like running background checks on independent caregivers, and getting a membership on care.com, so this pilot program is a way for students to get some funding for those services,” Donielson says. After the program trial during  the summer and spring terms of 2024 the program will be implemented permanently. 

To find out more LCC students can go to the Lane Child and Family Center and UO students can go to the Basic Needs Program.