The Child Care Tuition Assistance Program presented their 2005-06 budget request to Student Services and Finance Committee Thursday night at the Red Gym.
CCTAP is currently requesting $672,000, a 2 percent increase from the $660,000 allocated to them for 2004-05.
CCTAP awards money for quality childcare to students who attend class or work outside of home, according to Becka Robbins, an advisory board member of CCTAP.
Beneficiaries of CCTAP spoke to the committee about how important the assistance the organization provides to them and their families is. They also encouraged SSFC members to allocate the organization an increase in their budget this year.
Kimberly D’Anna, a UW graduate student in zoology, said CCTAP is the only consistent form of money student parents like herself receive.
“It’s so, so important to allow us to come back to school so we can afford it,” D’Anna said.
Many single parents reiterated the sentiment expressed by D’Anna, stating CCTAP is their “only reliable source” of monetary assistance. They added that without the program, they would not be able to attend school.
Aaron Lowe, a Ph.D. student studying material sciences, said it is especially hard to be a student parent at UW. According to Lowe, daycare costs are more expensive than rent in Madison.
Lowe and his wife are aspiring engineers, but his family is more important than his career, he added.
“If it comes down to something, we choose our family,” Lowe said. “But this program makes it no choice.”
Robbins said the organization was crucial to single parents’ abilities to receive an education.
“I don’t know any other organizations on campus that can say, ‘Without that presence, we would just have to leave,'” Robbins said.
She added CCTAP is requesting “no major changes” and a $12,000 increase is “just for maintenance.”
SSFC will debate CCTAP’s 2005-06 budget Monday night. Only minor changes are expected to their proposed budget, according to SSFC member Barb Kiernoziak.
“CCTAP has shown an increase in need for the past two years,” Kiernoziak said.
Kiernoziak added CCTAP has made a commitment to recruit new parents into the program. This effort will not go unnoticed and according to Kiernoziak, CCTAP will most likely be allocated their desired budget money.
“It’s an important program. We’re going to give them the money,” Kiernoziak said.
