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The Student Services Finance Committee decided to leave the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program budget nearly as it was presented to them at a Monday night meeting.
CCTAP, a student organization aiding student parents by offering scholarships paying a portion of childcare costs, received the requested allocation of $658,600, moving $250 from the postage line item to the childcare line item.
Though SSFC discussed other modifications to the entire CCTAP budget, no more changes were made.
CCTAP also asked SSFC to recommend that University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley make CCTAP a nonallocable group, a motion that SSFC denied. Currently, CCTAP’s status as a student-service group is allocable, whereas a nonallocable student group withdraws some of the student power to voice changes to any given group’s budget.
Allocable student organizations requesting funds from UW students’ segregated fees must seek eligibility by the Associated Students of Madison Student Council, go through a budget review by the SSFC and then Student Council before going to Wiley’s desk for approval by the UW Board of Regents. Nonallocable groups, such as University Health Services and the Wisconsin Union, must merely present their budget to SSFC; SSFC may make recommendations for change but does not control what the budget is before it moves on to administration-level approvals. Nonallocable status also foregoes the need for eligibility paperwork and hearings every year.
SSFC Chair Aaron Werner explained his position in the committee gives him the opportunity to ask Wiley to change the budget of an individual group before his approval.
CCTAP representatives believed it would be in UW’s best interests to give nonallocable status to the group, identifying it as a core program and allowing it to forego what is deemed unnecessary paperwork and eligibility approvals for a program found central to the university.
Some SSFC representatives, however, believe granting any group nonallocable status takes students out of the decision-making process.
“The student power needs to stay there,” SSFC member Lindsey Ourada said. Other SSFC members described many student organizations receiving segregated fees as core services, believing CCTAP should not be exempt from the student approval process.
CCTAP, founded in 1985, awards grants on a need basis from $150 to $1,500 a semester for childcare on or off campus. Four individuals asked SSFC during open forum not to decrease the budget, stating that the acceptors of these grants could not afford UW tuition if not for CCTAP.
“This program is absolutely necessary for my education and for my son,” one speaker said.
Another speaker added that CCTAP is an attractive asset, giving many parents who want to pursue higher education the opportunity to do so at UW.
“There’s nothing like this that exists on other campuses,” he said, adding that many parents would not be here if not for the work of CCTAP.
