For Noreen Kohl and Omar Bird, the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Children’s Center has been a lifeline in their academic journeys.
Both were once full-time students balancing the pressures of coursework with raising children. Now alumni, they credit the center with helping them stay in school and succeed in their studies. With two children enrolled, they say access to affordable childcare has helped tremendously during a particularly challenging time in their lives.
“There’s no way I would have been able to graduate as a student-parent with two very young children,” says Kohl. “(The center’s staffers) communicate and build relationships with your whole family, not just with your child. And I think anybody who knows anything about child development and family health and well-being knows that we come as a unit.”
But not all student-parents are as lucky as Kohl and Bird. The demand for spots at the children’s center far outstrips availability, leaving many families to navigate the challenges of education and parenting without sufficient support.
Jeffrey Bock, the center’s director, acknowledges the overwhelming demand for childcare services. He said the center is licensed to care for 100 children full-time and currently has 150 people on the waiting list.
“We have people on our wait list that have been on the waitlist since their child was a day old,” said Bock.
The issue of access to childcare is not unique to UH Mānoa. Across the country, many college students with children face similar barriers, and studies have shown that childcare issues are one of the leading causes of student-parents dropping out or delaying their education. According to a report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “over the last decade, the share of public academic institutions offering child care services has declined by 14 percentage points—from 59 percent in 2004 to 45 percent in 2019.”
At UH Mānoa, the problem is compounded by the high cost of living in Hawaiʻi, which makes finding affordable off-campus childcare even more difficult. The Children’s Center, which offers subsidized rates to student families, is often the only affordable option for many parents. But the reality is that for every open spot, there are multiple families fighting for it.
The center provides on-campus childcare to students, faculty, and staff, and is a vital resource for those trying to juggle academic commitments with the needs of young children.
The classrooms at the center are interconnected with an open layout that enhances the center’s emphasis on outdoor experiences, making time spent outside a central aspect of the daily routine. Classes focus on fostering a connection with nature through activities like gardening, outdoor play, and hands-on learning.
Bird emphasized the importance of having a supportive environment that recognizes the unique struggles of student parents.
“What made it particularly unique to me about this place, is that they’re really very much intentional,” Bird said.
The Center not only provides affordable, on-campus childcare, but also offers a sense of security and peace of mind for parents like Kohl and Bird, who rely on it to stay in school and continue their education.
“Our youngest is still enrolled, and our experience has been life changing in a really positive way,” Kohl said.