In Fall 2022, ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity & Resilience disseminated a survey to all UMass Lowell (UML) faculty, staff and students about their childcare needs. Below is high-level summary of participant responses.

436 faculty, staff and students responded to the survey & 236 reported having at least one child aged 0-12 years and/or are expecting a child within the next 9 months

  • 77 have at least one child under the age of 5
  • 88 have at least one child aged 5.1-12
  • 53 have both (at least one child under the age of 5 and at least one child aged 5.1-12)
  • 18 are expecting in the next 9 months

Among 125 faculty & staff with children under the age of 5 and/or expecting a child within the next 9 months:

  • 95 indicated that they were either somewhat or very likely to utilize help from UML for accessing quality childcare

Among 108 faculty & staff with children under 5:

  • 72 rated cost as the most influential factor in their childcare decisions
  • 32 rated location near campus as a top factor

Among the 122 faculty & staff with school aged children:

  • 83 utilize some sort of child care arrangement 5 days per week
  • A formal after-school care program is the most common arrangement

Among all parents for children 0-12, the top emergency-care situations are:

  • Sick child
  • Childcare closed for other reasons
  • Care provider vacation/holiday

Potential Approaches

In addition to conducting the survey, the ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity & Resilience has looked at peer institutions and identified promising approaches. Possible models include:

  • Partnering with existing agencies to provide reduced-cost care for 0–5-year-olds near campus for UML community members (e.g., existing childcare centers)
  • Partnering with existing community agencies to open new childcare sites near campus (e.g., ACRE Family Day Care opening new family-based care)
  • When there is new space on East Campus, contracting with an existing provider to operate a childcare center for 0-5-year-olds in that space.
  • Emergency care provided either on campus or at a nearby facility when regular childcare options for 0–12-year-olds are unavailable.

The number for students was quite low for many questions, thus some of the summary statistics are for faculty and staff only.