Student parents to receive further support

Student parents may longer need to worry when faced with a childcare emergency.

The Provost’s Office announced the introduction of a new Backup Child Care pilot program on Tuesday. Beginning July 1, the six-month program will be available to all Penn students and post-doctoral fellows and will provide child care for parents in emergencies and other unforeseen situations.

The program is the newest among University efforts to aid students with families. Faculty and staff may already access this service through a similar program.

While the full cost is subject to change, the University has allocated about $15,000toward the project to “heavily” subsidize childcare costs for student parents, director of the Family Resource Center and Graduate Student Center Anita Mastroieni said. Students will be able to pay $5 for the first hour of child care each day and $1 per hour after that.

Mastroieni said the University hopes to aid students so that “family obligations don’t get in the way” of their academic careers. The pilot program will provide up to five days of in-home emergency child care.

Care will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week from Parents in a Pinch, a national company that provides the same service for Penn employees. The program is intended to help parents in situations such as daycare closure, child’s illness or another change in normal arrangements, Mastroieni said.

“It is vitally important for us to implement supportive policies and programs for our students with children,” Provost Vince Price said. “They are the academic leaders of the future, and they should not have to choose between pursuing their careers and caring for their families.”

Mastroieni said the only requirement for participation is for students and post-doctoral fellows who are eligible to first register with the Family Resource Center on its website.

The Backup Child Care Program is the newest addition to a series of programs Penn has instated over the last few years to support student parents. The Family Grant Program, which grants funds to doctoral students for costs related to childcare, as well as the establishment of the Family Resource Center and programs for parents are also part of these efforts, Mastroieni said.

After the pilot is completed, Penn and Parents in a Pinch will assess its success and decide on further steps.

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