DEAR:
We are writing to ask you to appropriate $25 million for CCAMPIS - the Department of Education's Child Care Access Means Parents in School program.
CCAMPIS is a proven success - for student parents, for children, for our nation. It helps students to enroll and stay in college, to graduate, find jobs and earn more in their lifetime. Campus child care helps children succeed in school, need fewer costly services and earn more in their lifetime. And the success of student parents and their children makes our nation strong, with lasting economic and social benefits.
Child Care Access Means Parents in School is a success! 431 colleges and universities have received awards under CCAMPIS. They have opened new centers, new classrooms, new after-school and family child care services. They provide subsidies and sliding fee scales. They run kindergarten, evening, summer and emergency backup programs. Thousands of low-income student parents can now enroll, study, graduate and become contributing members of society.
But CCAMPIS funding has been cut from $25 to $16 million and President Bush has proposed leaving this cut in place. 21% of present grantees, 87 colleges and universities, have lost funding. Student parents are dropping out of college and becoming liabilities, rather than resources, for our country. And unless the appropriation is restored to $25 million, not one more of the over 4,000 institutions of higher education will be able to apply. In addition, the HEA Reauthorization needs new language to make it easier for all institutions of higher education to apply.
There is bi-partisan support for CCAMPIS. Secretary of Education Rod Page has said, "Access to quality child care should not be an obstacle to college studies. These grants help parents complete school, make career goals possible and futures more promising." Senator Olympia Snowe notes, "If we want families to remain financially self-sufficient, we need to ensure that low-income parents have access to higher education and affordable, convenient child care. This is especially important in today's economy, where people need to train and retrain to meet the demands of high-tech jobs." And Senator Christopher Dodd points out that, "Increasingly, nontraditional students, with children and various job and life experiences, are filling the ranks of college classes. They recognize the importance of college to future success, but they face barriers. Many must provide for children while in school. Campus-based child care is a vital necessity for parents attending college."
CCAMPIS is the only national program that helps low-income student parents attend college, stay in school and get jobs they can keep. But to continue this successful program, we need you to appropriate $25 million to the Child Care Access Means Parents in School program.
Thank you,
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Page Last Updated: December 4, 2007
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