Mandy Marshall saw her child care costs soar as she made the transition from undergraduate studies to pursuing her MBA and has pushed the graduate student government to help solve the problem.
Two years ago, the state's Children, Youth and Families Department eliminated assisted childcare coverage for graduate students during the time they are in school to deal with the agency's budget constraints.
Now UNM's Graduate and Professional Student Association is lobbying to reinstate child care funding for graduate students.
"I paid the difference for my child care costs because I really wanted to get this degree and it's important to me, but I can't imagine what other students must go through," Marshall said. "I am sure a lot of them are forced to go to school part-time or not at all. Going to graduate school and raising children is hard enough as it is."
The state program helps fund child care for undergraduate students while they are in class or working, but its coverage for graduate students is limited to the time they spend at work or internships.
For Marshall, this meant juggling the way she approached school. She was covered as a UNM undergraduate student and was given nine months to adjust after the state agency made its policy change. Marshall now takes mostly night classes and pays for a babysitter to take care of her daughter.
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"My schedule is crazy; it's just completely insane," she said. "There are certain classes I have to have because I am about to graduate, and I can't be picky about what I take and when I take it anymore. That makes life difficult."
She says she is one of the luckier students because her daughter is now in kindergarten. Marshall also secured a sought-after spot at the UNM Child Care Center that is more flexible with student schedules, and can take night classes because the Anderson Schools of Management offers them.
"I still pay a lot more than I did before, but the UNM Child Care Center works with me and doesn't limit my class time as afternoon or morning only, the way some programs would in order to credit the state money toward my bill," she said. "I'm also lucky that I'm not in other graduate programs that aren't as flexible. Classes at the law school are only offered during the day, so I would just be out of luck there."
Marshall is active in GPSA and pushed to see the graduate student government take up childcare as one of its top priorities for this year. Her determination inspired Lobby Chairperson Jeff Primm to look into why the state changed its policy and what the group could to do to convince the agency to reverse it.
He learned last week that the Children, Youth and Families Department reviews its policy annually and would accept appeals for revisions through Feb. 13.
He is now working to gather input from the University community to support a push to change the policy.
"There's actually a line in their policy that says graduate students aren't eligible for funding and that just doesn't make sense to us, so we are pushing to have that line stricken," Primm said.
Marshall and Primm said that the financial burdens on graduate students are already exceedingly high, adding that the current child care system discourages them from going to graduate school.
"I feel really good about the nine-month extension I was given by the state and the support Children, Youth and Families gave me, so I can see that if the state helped other students, they would be more likely to stay and give back to this state," Marshall said. "People always talk about too many skilled professionals leaving the state, but if they don't do anything to make them feel they are important, why would they stay?"
GPSA also is pushing for legislative funding for child care, but because of the tighter state budget caused by reduced revenue, it is not solely dependent on that support.
Primm is optimistic about GPSA's chances of changing the policy if enough people from the UNM community respond.
Those interested in offering letters of support for changing the state child care reimbursement system can call GPSA at 277-3803 and ask for the Lobby Committee or e-mail the graduate student government at gpsa@unm.edu. Primm also is seeking responses at jefe@unm.edu.
He said it would help the group make a stronger case if they heard from students who are affected by the state's policy and others in the community who support them.
"I think we can get this to pass if we prove that there really is a need for this funding and that it would behoove the state to really reconsider its decision," he said. "I think we have a strong case if people come forward and speak up about it."
