A five-year agreement began in January 2018, with the Colleges of LSA and Engineering to help offset the cost of creating thirteen new spaces for infant care at two of the U-M Children’s Centers. The spaces were made available to faculty and staff affiliated with the two colleges. The pilot program concluded in 2023 and was replaced with a subsequent 5-year agreement to extend the arrangement through 2027.
- How do LSA and COE faculty and staff sign up for the waitlist?
- LSA and Engineering faculty and staff can apply using the Children’s Centers wait list application.There is no need to sign up for a second wait list to be eligible for the new spaces.
- I’m already on the Children’s Centers wait list. Do I need to sign up for the new list?
- No. The Children’s Centers administrators will use information from the current wait list to fill the new spaces for LSA and Engineering.
- Is part-time care available under the agreement?
- Two of the new spaces can be filled with part-time schedules. A part-time schedule is considered full day, between two to four days a week. The Children’s Centers administrators will balance schedule requests to best optimize capacity.
- How will space be allocated?
- Spaces will be allocated on a rolling basis as they become available.
- How are the spaces divided between LSA and Engineering?
- Seven spaces will be allocated to LSA and six to Engineering.
- Which centers are included?
- The new spaces will be located at the North Campus and Towsley centers.
- Does this agreement cover the tuition?
- No, families must still pay tuition for their children. The agreement covers the shortfall between the cost of providing care and tuition.
- Why doesn’t tuition cover the full operating costs of expanding care to more families?
- Care for infants and toddlers is more expensive to provide due to smaller class size and teacher-to-child ratios.