Students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock juggling child care and college classes now can apply for help to pay for some or all of their day care expenses.
In Arkansas, Henderson State University launched a similar program this semester.
Both universities began offering financial help to parents after receiving federal grants through what's known as the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program run by the U.S. Department of Education.
"This was my first semester in a long time being [enrolled] full-time, and it's definitely challenging when you don't have consistent child care," said Justina Floyd, a biology major at UALR.
Floyd applied for help through UALR's Child Care Connections program for her 3-year-old son, Chrisley.
Still yet to select a day care, Floyd described her routine so far this semester.
"I'll have my parents or a family friend to watch him, or sometimes he'll go to his dad's job," Floyd said last week.
"To have this assistance, it means that my kid will be able to learn while I'm in class learning, and I don't have to worry about him falling behind," said Floyd, who plans to put her biology degree to use in medical school. Her career goal is to become an orthopedic surgeon.
At UALR, parents seek out their preferred, licensed day care provider, who must agree to take part in the program. The financial assistance goes to help students who are eligible for Pell grants, a form of federal financial aid for students with exceptional need.
Before signing up, "we were looking at like $800 a month, so the price was just outrageous," Floyd said.
Now, with program assistance, "I will be looking at maybe $100 a month," Floyd said.
For the university, it's a way to help students work toward their degrees and ultimately find their career paths, said Shanna Parker, director of the UALR Child Care Connections program.
While the child care assistance is new this semester, interest has been strong, Parker said.
So far, about 10 UALR students are fully approved to receive child care help, Parker said, with more than 60 having applied for assistance. Assistance is given out on a sliding scale based on income, Parker said.
While the federally funded child care assistance program is designed for undergraduates, Parker said, UALR's Child Care Connections also helps graduate students find other sources of aid.
Based on data from 2021 financial aid applications, a total of 1,292 undergraduate, graduate or post-baccalaureate students at UALR had children or legal dependents, Parker said, adding that out of that total, 582 students, or 45%, were not married.
UALR enrolled a total of 8,295 students this past fall, according to a report from the state Division of Higher Education.
With the new child care assistance, the idea is for UALR students "to not face the issue of making the choice" between school and working to afford child care, Parker said.
UALR received a four-year, $581,128 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to start the program.
Upon learning that she received approval for help, "I was in tears," Floyd said, adding that she's "so thankful" for such a program getting started after having advocated for some kind of assistance to help moms like herself.
Parker said that while help is offered on a sliding scale based on income, the program works to accommodate students.
"It depends on the needs of the family," Parker said. Students must maintain at least a 2.0 grade-point average to stay eligible for assistance, she said.
In Arkansas, three universities -- including Arkansas Tech University, which launched its child care assistance effort in 2019 -- as well as two colleges received the federal grant aid for child care services in fiscal 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Northwest Arkansas Community College and the University of Arkansas Community College at Rich Mountain received funding through the program, according to the federal Education Department.
At Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, four students are taking part to receive child care assistance, said Kathy Muse, who oversees the program.
"It's brand-new. We've never had anything like this before," Muse said, though she noted that the campus does have a half-day child care center on campus. The federally funded effort allows students to pick their child care providers, Muse said.
Henderson State in January announced that it will receive $72,884 annually in grant money for the next four years to launch the program.