蜜桃影视

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 蜜桃影视 Newsletter

At 7:30 a.m., Noel Martin is waking up to start her day as a full-time student at El Paso Community College and prepare her 2-year-old daughter, Charlotte, for day care at the YWCA.

After Charlotte is dropped off at 10 a.m., Martin returns home and logs into her virtual classes while simultaneously doing the never-ending job of housework: laundry, cleaning, and preparing meals before her boyfriend and daughter return home.

鈥淭ime management is the key,鈥� Martin said about balancing motherhood and being a student. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to do it all, you have many hats to wear. But when you鈥檙e a mom you鈥檙e expected to perform, face it every time. And, it鈥檚 hard. And then throwing school into it because you also need to be educated.鈥�

Across the country, about , according to the Institute for Women鈥檚 Policy Research, a national research outlet based in Washington, D.C. The vast majority are mothers, said Lindsey Cruse, managing director of the IWPR鈥檚 student-parent success initiative. They鈥檙e also disproportionately single mothers and women of color, and are more likely to face issues like food and housing insecurity.

At El Paso Community College, half of its student population are parents.

Martin relies on day care services so she can focus on her studies. To afford those services, she receives financial help from EPCC through the federal Child Care Access Means Parents in School Program (CCAMPIS) grant. Without that help, Martin said she would barely be able to afford day care, which would jeopardize her educational goals.

Many student parents, however, are not so lucky. The CCAMPIS grant can serve up to 100 families at EPCC 鈥� less than 1% of its student-parent population.

And despite the nearly 4 million student parents across the country, about 60% of community colleges lack child care programs, Cruse noted. Over the last two decades, she said, the number of colleges and universities offering child care to students has actually declined.

鈥淭he child care system in this country is essentially broken鈥嬧��,鈥� Cruse said. 鈥淭hat affects student parents because they depend on access to care for their kids while they鈥檙e in school or at work.鈥�

Child care as critical infrastructure

EPCC collaborates with the YWCA to provide on-campus day care centers at two of its five campuses. With CCAMPIS grant funds, EPCC also helps student parents afford child care at off-campus YWCA day care centers.

To assist more student parents, EPCC will begin constructing family-friendly spaces at all campuses, which will allow families to bring their children to campus and have a safe and designated place to watch their children as they study. The school plans to finish constructing lactation rooms for nursing mothers by spring 2022.

For many, child care is not just a step toward an education. It is also a way to move up in the workforce, Cruse said 鈥� a way to boost their competitiveness in the job market and earn more money in the long term.

Before returning to school, Martin made $21,000 a year in the service industry. Now 30, she hopes to earn a bachelor鈥檚 degree in horticulture, which could triple her previous salary. Eventually, she鈥檇 like to open a nonprofit providing horticulture therapy to El Pasoans.

Martin is currently taking three biology courses at EPCC and plans to transfer her course credit to New Mexico State University. She said she鈥檚 able to focus on her studies because her daughter is in day care.

Experts say improving child care access will be key to many women鈥檚 personal success.

鈥淎s a society I think the assumption that women should stay at home has led to under investment in this critical care infrastructure that is so essential for women to be fully participating in society,鈥� Cruse said.

A Catch-22

As crucial as child care might be for some families, that importance isn鈥檛 reflected in pay for the people who provide it. The median hourly wage for El Paso鈥檚 2,000 child care workers 鈥� about 1% of the city鈥檚 workforce 鈥� is $8.90, according to data provided by Workforce Solutions Borderplex.

Those low wages, which amount to less than $19,000 a year for full-time workers, have meant that many child care providers have struggled to recruit and retain workers. The agency projects that nearly 150 child care workers in El Paso will leave their job within the next year.

The YWCA Rogers Early Learning Academy鈥檚 staff has dropped by five people since the pandemic began, according to director Elva Guerrero. What might seem like a small decrease in staff, however, has an outsized impact on the number of children that providers can serve 鈥� especially for infants.

State licensing standards require a ratio of one staff member for every four children who are 11 months or younger. Guerrero has 14 children waiting to enter her program. 鈥淢ost of them are babies that are on the waitlist,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very, very difficult for parents to find care for the infants.鈥�

鈥淲e rely on day care to be there for us,鈥� Guerrero added. 鈥淲e need it to go to school, we need it to work to better ourselves in order to give (our kids) a little bit of a better life.鈥�

And during the COVID-19 pandemic, the centers themselves have struggled to stay open. About 8% of El Paso鈥檚 child care providers remain closed.

Leila Melendez, CEO of Workforce Solutions Borderplex, believes that day care workers 鈥� many of whom help educate the children they care for 鈥� should receive compensation similar to that of K-12 teachers. Starting teachers in El Paso County make more than $50,000 a year.

鈥淏ut here鈥檚 the Catch-22,鈥� said Bianca Cervantes, communications director of Workforce Solutions Borderplex. 鈥淚f we do bring higher wages to child care workers, then that spikes the cost of child care. So it鈥檚 a very sticky situation.鈥�

With infant day care costing approximately  it can be hard for mothers to complete their studies alongside taking care of their children. For student parents like Martin, financial support for child care has been essential to getting a degree.

Educational support for both parent and child

The CCAMPIS grant helps reduce child care costs for students.

Created in 2005 by the Department of Education, the federal grant program allows schools to provide financial support for child care for student parents. With the grant and in partnership with the YWCA, EPCC is able to subsidize 75% of child care costs at the YWCA branches for up to 100 qualifying households.

Students are expected to pay $30 a week for child care in comparison to the $230 that day care can typically cost, said Blayne Primozich, co-director of the program. In order to qualify for the CCAMPIS subsidy, students need to be enrolled in one class and be Pell Grant eligible.

According to EPCC data, families who qualify for the grant typically have two to four children between the ages of 0 to 12 years old. Most qualifying households鈥� yearly income level ranges between $3,000 to almost $25,000.

High costs and other factors lead many parents to turn to informal sources of child care, such as family members or home-based providers. Others turn to more affordable facilities that may have state licenses, but do not offer any learning component to the children in their care.

This lack of quality child care, according to Fabens Independent School District Superintendent Veronica Vijil, poses a missed learning opportunity for young children. Vijil and Melendez are co-chairs of Early Matters El Paso, an organization that works with child care providers to integrate educational curricula into their child care offerings.

鈥淚t starts at infancy,鈥� Melendez said. 鈥淭hose first five years are critical to everything 鈥� to education and then the economy.鈥�

Martin was initially reluctant to put Charlotte in day care, not only because of the costs but because she was concerned about the quality of day care centers. At first, she considered asking a family member to watch Charlotte.

The YWCA鈥檚 child care facilities offer that learning component 鈥� a fact that makes Martin feel much better about putting her toddler in day care.

鈥淪he鈥檚 learned so much,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 just thriving. There鈥檚 a bilingual teacher. She talks to the cat in Spanish now. I love it.鈥�

Without EPCC鈥檚 financial assistance, Martin said she wouldn鈥檛 have been able to place her daughter in day care at all. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just that simple,鈥� she said. 鈥淟iterally we鈥檇 just barely (be able to afford day care), no vacations.鈥�

鈥淚t really does take a village,鈥� Martin added. 鈥淚鈥檓 taking all the resources I can get, no shame.鈥�

When she became a mother, she feared that she would lose her sense of self and end up sacrificing her individual goals to motherhood.

But despite the combined pressure of school and motherhood, Martin says she鈥檚 a better student now than she was in high school. 鈥淚鈥檝e realized that I鈥檓 a smart woman,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 love science. I love the natural world.鈥�

She takes pride in the fact that her lowest grade since starting college has been a single B. 鈥淚鈥檝e never felt more proud of myself. Truly, it is empowering 鈥� And it鈥檚 going to pay off in the long run.鈥�

This article originally appeared at . 

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 蜜桃影视鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.