UCSD Daycare Oversight Committee
Needs Assessment Survey Results
August 15, 1995Contents
1. Background
2. The survey
3. Distribution of the survey and overall response
4. Survey results
4.a. Overall
4.b. UCSD Campus
4.c. UCSD Medical Center
4.d. Scripps Institution of Oceanography
4.e. Other
4.f. Sources of error in the survey
5. Conclusions and progress report
Members of UCSD Daycare Oversight Committee, 1993-1993
Tables with information for all UCSD/UCSD campus/UCSD
Medical Center/SIO/other, and for faculty/staff/graduate students:
I. Children's age group
II. Type of day care needed
III. University affiliation
IV. Income level
V. Children's age group and type of day care needed
Answers to questions 12 and 14 (other options and locations)
Written comments from respondents who need daycare
Hours of operation
Waiting list
Medical Center
Summer/after school/vacations
Cost
Miscellaneous
Written comments from respondents who do not need daycare
Graphs with information for all UCSD, UCSD campus,
UCSD Medical Center, SIO, and other:
I. Location at University, number of children
II. Children's age group
III. Type of day care needed
IV. University affiliation
V. Income level
1. Establishment of full time daycare (7:30AM - 5PM with extension to 6 PM) at the UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest. Provision of three classes, for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, for approximately 12, 25 and 30 children at the outset is recommended. If facilities are not available, or startup cannot be this rapid, we recommend that a program of whatever possibe size and age mix be started to give a base for expansion. (Recent action: existing daycare programs in the Hillcrest area are being considered as a basis for provision of services.)
2. Summertime programs (full day, extended hours) for school age children. Expansion of the current (under-recognized) programs to approximately 200 spaces is recommended. Potential providers of such expansion would be UCSD Recreation, which runs the Knock Around Club (60 children per two week session) and the ECEC, which are already established on campus and providing high quality care.
3. Expansion of full time daycare available for infants and toddlers. The ECEC is currently expanding by four classrooms. We recommend that at least one of these classrooms be for infant care. (Recent action: it has been decided to create two new infant classrooms as part of the expansion.)
4. Expansion of part-time care which coincides with university working hours. (Recent action: ICNS has added extended hours to its morning and afternoon sessions.)
5. Initiation of after school and, eventually, school holiday programs. UCSD could join the group of local providers of such programs, which are heavily subscribed when of high quality.
1. Background
In its early years the UCSD administration decided to provide support for daycare for UCSD employees' infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers. Two on-site daycare programs are now available at UCSD: the Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) and the International Center's Nursery School (ICNS). The ECEC provides full-time daycare for 143 children from 11 months to pre-kindergarten. It serves UCSD employees and students and receives a partial subsidy for each child from the Vice Chancellors. It also has direct subsidy programs for students and low-income families. Affiliation of families with children at ECEC is faculty (28), staff (62), student (48) and post doc (5). The ECEC is located in the graduate student housing area off Regents Rd.
ICNS is a cooperative program which provides part-time daycare for 90 children, of whom 30% must be from the local community rather than UCSD and at least 30% must be foreign; it is not subsidized by UCSD. ICNS is located in the International Center on the main campus. A third program, Daycare Referral, administered by the ECEC, provides referral lists for daycare primarily for infants through preschool, and assists daycare providers with licensing, materials, and information. It currently lists about 140 home day care providers throughout San Diego, with concentration in areas where UCSD employees live.
The size of the waiting lists for the two UCSD daycare facilities is some indication of the demand for daycare, although the length of the waiting time, particularly for ECEC, is thought to keep the length of the waiting list artificially low. The waiting list for ECEC is currently about 200 children. There are usually about 30 children on the waiting list for immediate placement in ICNS.
There is currently no organized support at UCSD for daycare programs for school-age children, which include summertime programs, and after school and school holiday programs. UCSD-affiliated programs of which we are aware which address some of the summertime needs for children from kindergarten through 9th grade are UCSD Recreation's Knock Around Club (full time, extended hours, two week sessions), Mission Bay Aquatic Center's summer sessions (full time, extended hours, two week sessions), and the Steven Birch Aquarium's summer classes (from 2 hour classes to week long day camp). There is a residential program, Summer Scholars, for high school students (grades 10-12). There are no after school or school holiday programs at UCSD.
2. The survey
Periodic assessment of daycare needs at UCSD is the purview of the UCSD Daycare Oversight Committee. The last campus-wide survey of daycare needs was made in 1987. The survey was distributed to approximately 8000 UCSD employees and graduate students, excluding the Medical Center Hospital. It consisted of in-depth questions to assess not just the quantity but also the kind of daycare desired by UCSD employees. 600 responses were obtained for a net return of 7.6%. Perhaps one of the most striking results was that 555 (93%) of the respondents indicated a need for daycare for infants to pre-school ages, and 291 indicated interest in after-school care. The survey results affirmed the interest in high quality daycare.
It has been eight years since the last campus-wide survey. Since then the ECEC has been expanded from 86 children to its current 143 children. A further expansion to approximately 220 children is underway. Discussion of daycare availability at various non-central locations including the Medical Center in Hillcrest and Scripps Institution of Oceanography has been ongoing in the Daycare Oversight Committee; both have had internal surveys within the last few years indicating needs for daycare.
The new campus-wide survey was designed to be short to maximize the return rate since our purpose was to assess raw daycare needs. The only demographic information requested was university affiliation (faculty, staff, student) and family salary range; the former is useful to us in understanding the pattern of returned surveys and the latter is useful in assessing needs for subsidies. The survey was distributed to all in the UCSD community except for undergraduate students. (Although some undergraduates have children and a number are served by ECEC, the overall percentage of undergraduates with children was deemed to be so low that a complete survey of undergraduates did not appear to the committee to be productive.) The committee chose to sample the entire campus rather than a subsample because it was apparent from the 1987 survey that the respondents were primarily those who were interested in daycare; therefore the return provided a fairly accurate although underestimated assessment of total need. There was no follow-up on the new survey because of its large distribution. The decision to distribute the survey campus-wide with no follow-up means that the returned surveys are not representative of the campus community; instead they yield an unknown underestimate of the total overall need. Since the needs as indicated in the returned surveys are large, the committee feels that its principal purpose has been achieved.
The survey included questions about full-time and part-time daycare for infants through pre-school, and for summer programs and after school programs for children from kindergarten to ninth grade.
3. Distribution of the survey and overall response
The survey was distributed to 11,037 UCSD staff and faculty through the mailing list at UCSD Mail Services. 2500 surveys were sent to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research (OGSR) for distribution through the departments to graduate students. 400 surveys were sent to the School of Medicine for distribution to first, second and third year medical students.
Responses to the survey are tabulated on the copy of the survey attached. Of the approximately 14,000 surveys distributed, 1870 were returned, for a return rate of 13.4%. Of these, 1106 (59% )indicated a need for daycare. 764 respondents indicated no need for daycare. We interpret this response as being similar to that for the 1987 survey, that is, that those who need daycare responded in much larger numbers than those who do not. The higher return rate and relatively large number of responses from people not needing daycare compared with the 1987 survey is likely due to the brevity of the 1995 survey. Therefore we use the actual numbers resulting from the survey to assess the need, rather than scaling them to match the total population. Therefore the numbers we cite from the survey are likely to be an underestimate of the total need.
Anecdotally there were major problems with distribution to staff at the Medical Center in Hillcrest; the mailing list maintained at UCSD's mailing services appears to be out of date. Nevertheless the response from Medical Center personnel was so overwhelming that there is no need for an additional survey at this time; at the time that a daycare service might be initiated, it will clearly be necessary to determine how many children would actually attend. .
Based on response and anecdote, there were problems with distribution to graduate students. Only 47 graduate students requiring daycare responded. 10 of these were at SIO, indicating that distribution to SIO graduate students worked. Therefore the responses are not likely to represent actual graduate student needs. Because graduate students are expected to have greater needs for subsidy due to low income than staff and faculty, the overall demographics on income in the survey results are likely to be biased towards higher incomes. Graduate students might also have different needs in terms of full or part-time care. In order to show graduate student needs explicitly, Tables 1, 2 and 4 split out types of need and income by faculty, staff and graduate students. We do not propose to re-survey graduate students immediately but this might be an issue of future joint interest to the Graduate Student Association, OGSR and the UCSD daycare oversight committee.
4.a. Overall
The overall response indicates a potential demand for both full time and part time daycare at UCSD which is much larger than what is currently available. As indicated above, 1106 respondents indicated a need for daycare. The total number of children through 9th grade listed in question 7 is 1381. (It is not clear that the respondents require care for all of these.)
The response to questions 2 through 6 suggests a larger need than 1381, indicating a possible problem with the wording of the question. The numbers of children indicated in 2 through 6 are 454 infants, 346 toddlers, 441 preschool, 507 after school (K-6th grade) and 197 after school (7th-9th grade), for a total of 1945 children. (There are clearly some errors in response, since it is unlikely that three families would have four children between the ages of 24 and 36 months; however, the general numbers are large.) It is likely that a number of respondents indicated the areas in which they would like to have programs over the years, rather than their exact needs at this time. Nevertheless some interpretation of the results is possible. A simplistic correction to arrive at truer needs for these age groups would be to multiply by 1381/1945, or 0.71.
The need for daycare in the three age categories of pre-kindergarten children is large. Interpretation of infant needs is somewhat unclear since the minimum age at which daycare is desired was not indicated. Nevertheless the number is so much larger than the number of spaces currently available at UCSD (14), that expansion in this area is clearly of high priority. Waiting list pressure for this age group at ECEC is also an indication of large need. The smaller number indicated for toddlers probably just reflects that this category covers a 12-month age range rather than the 24 months for the other two categories. The need for toddler spaces appears somewhat larger than for preschool spaces (346/12 months versus 220/12 months), possibly due to availability of other preschool programs in the community.
The desire for after school care is large: a total of 704 children, indicating that establishment of such a program would fill a clear need.
Responses to questions 8 to 12, concerning hours of operation, indicate that the relative needs for full time daycare and all kinds of part-time care are approximately equal. Some respondents checked more than one option, possibly because they have several children with different needs; the total number of answers is 1231 from a total number of 1106 respondents. The responses for "Other" are listed following the survey; the most numerous interests were for after-school (50), summer (30), and holiday (26) care. Five indicated sick child day care, and the remainder mainly indicated more flexible and off track hours. Table 5 shows the responses for hours of operation as a function of age group. Care should be taken in interpreting this table since respondents might have children in different age groups with differing needs, but the survey did not specifically separate out hours of operation for each age group.
The response to the question about school age summer time programs was also large: 936 respondents indicated an interest. Also indicating a large unmet need for summer programs were the written comments. It is again necessary to interpret this as larger than the actual number of children of respondents who would be eligible for programs at this precise time, the need is clearly expressed.
The respondents indicating interest in daycare were split among the campus (539), the Medical Center (329), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (72), and other locations (122). The other locations are listed following the tabulated survey. The most numerous of these were in locations which are close to the campus, although a large group at Kearny Mesa (22) are relatively far removed. Establishment of daycare close to the UCSD Medical Center could serve various employees located downtown.
University affiliation of the faculty and staff respondents indicating interest was in fair proportion to the total numbers of faculty and staff (173 faculty and 880 staff). The student response (which presumably included both UCSD graduate students and medical students) was much lower than expected (47/2900) and is most likely due to problems with distribution of the survey, which was sent in bulk to the departments rather than individually addressed to each student.
Salary levels of faculty and staff respondents were relatively high (Table 4). Graduate student salaries were typically low. The income range for which state subsidies are available at the ECEC for staff is below $32,000 for a family of four or $27,000 for a family of two. Because there is only a limited amount of money available for these subsidies, in practice, the cutoff is $29,000 and $24,000 for families of four and two respectively. In addition subsidies for low income students are used at ECEC. Based on the survey response, approximately 250 respondents are in income categories which qualify for a subsidy. This number would undoubtedly increase if graduate students were properly surveyed.
Written comments (responses to item 17) were included in many returned surveys including a large number who had indicated no personal use for daycare services. The full set of comments is included with the survey results since they reflect in larger measure than the simple survey itself the perceptions of daycare as now provided and a vision of future daycare at UCSD. The comments from respondents indicating an interest in daycare are grouped roughly in terms of hours of operation, waiting list, Medical Center, after school and summertime programs, cost, and miscellaneous. Many of the comments pertain to several categories, and so it is useful to scan all of them for a sense of what people desire.
Strong statements were made in favor of Medical Center and summertime programs in the comments. Because the sheer numbers speak so strongly in favor of these programs, a summary of the comments is not required.
Comments about hours of operation were principally concerned with extending the length of the full-time daycare day, availability of part-time and flexible time daycare which matches university hours, and evening/night shift work. The current hours of operation at ECEC are 7:30 AM to 5 PM with an extension to 6 PM available; the committee does not see a pressing need for extending these hours further. The hours of operation at ICNS, which provides only part-time care, are 9-12 and 12-4. The start time for the morning and end time for the afternoon sessions do not coincide with university hours (8 AM to 4:30 PM); given the large expressed need for part-time care, and the relative availability of slots at ICNS, a change in hours to match the university work day would better serve UCSD employees.
Comments about the waiting list for ECEC indicate the pressing need for expanded daycare opportunities at UCSD.
There were a large number of comments on the cost of ECEC, although interestingly there were no comments on the cost of ICNS. As might be expected, all were complaints that the cost is high, and in many cases higher than their family can afford. A comparison of costs with other daycare facilities in the area and with other branches of U.C. shows that ECEC is actually competitively priced, particularly given the high quality of care as reflected in the caretaker:child ratios in the ECEC classrooms. The five daycare centers near UCSD which provide full-time care (at least 8AM to 4 PM) charge $398, $415, $440, $484 and $565 per month for pre-schoolers not requiring diapers; the charge at UCSD is a comparable $445. UCSD's charges are substantially lower than all other U.C. campuses except Riverside. ECEC is subsidized by UCSD and subsidy programs are available to those employees with the lowest incomes as well as students. Currently 47 of 143 families receive a separate subsidy, of which 7 are staff and 40 are student families. ICNS has a sliding fee scale, with the lowest fees for graduate students who are coop, and the highest for community families who are non-coop. The committee did not have a recommendation to make regarding cost.
4.b. UCSD Campus
The majority of respondents indicating an interest in daycare were located on the UCSD campus, and the needs are in about the same proportions as for UCSD overall. The need for full-time infant, toddler and preschool care is larger than is currently available through the ECEC. The need for part time (half day - part week) daycare is approximately equivalent to what is available through ICNS.
Waiting lists for the infant, toddler and preschool full time daycare at the ECEC currently contain 124, 46, and 26 children; the length of the waiting list does not reflect the potential demand because of general knowledge of the length of normal wait for a space and the current refundable charge of $25 for a position on the waiting list. The waiting list for the half day, partial week programs for pre-schoolers at ICNS fluctuates greatly, depending on desired session and time of year.
Our conclusion is that the greatest need for pre-kindergarten ages on the UCSD campus is for full-time infant childcare, followed by full-time toddler daycare and part-time, full-week daycare.
There was an large interest in summertime and after school programs for school age children. These were the largest numbers by far of all in the survey, for all categories, locations and affiliations.
4.c. UCSD Medical Center
A large need for daycare for pre-kindergartners is indicated in the Medical Center returns, despite an apparently faulty distribution of the surveys. The total need appears to be about 330 children (number subject to verification), of which more than half need full time care. The age distribution is approximately smooth. Based on the basic numbers and on the strength of the comments (see attached), and on the very long time over which there has been discussion of but no action taken on daycare at the Medical Center, we rank this as the highest priority for expansion of UCSD services for pre-kindergarten children.
The Medical Center has employees with special needs in terms of hours of operation. However, the large number of responses indicating normal work hours suggests that it might be best to start with whatever is possible immediately and easily, which would probably be a full-time, regular work-day day care.
4.d. Scripps Institution of Oceanography
The need for daycare at SIO is for approximately 70 pre-kindergarten children. Very similar numbers were obtained in an internal SIO survey in 1993. Because of the proximity to the main UCSD campus where SIO employees can and do make use ECEC and ICNS, we will not be ranking an expansion at SIO as a high priority, particularly in comparison with expansion at the Medical Center/downtown area and expansion of school age programs. However the large numbers and enthusiasm indicated in both surveys indicate that a daycare at SIO would be welcomed and used.
4.e. Other
Other locations where employees indicated interest in daycare can mostly be served by daycare located at the main UCSD campus and at a new facility near the Medical Center in Hillcrest. There are several remotely located groups (for instance, a group of about 20 at Kearny Mesa and two at SIO Point Loma) who would not be well served by these two locations, but most UCSD employees would have easy access to daycare if available at both locations. It might be useful for the UCSD Oversight Committee to make expertise available to groups such as the one at Kearny Mesa who might wish to start a local daycare.
4.f. Sources of error in the survey
Sources of error which could result in an overestimate of the number of children requiring daycare in particular categories are: (1) misinterpretation of the questions 2 through 6, which were intended to record number of children currently in these age groups, rather than projected need, (2) misinterpretation of questions 8 through 12 for the same reason, (3) misinterpretation of question 13 for the same reason, and (4) responses from both spouses if both work for UCSD. The total number of respondents indicating need for daycare was 1106. The total number of children indicated in response to questions 2-6 was 1945 children. Several respondents indicated an impossible number of children in small age categories, suggesting that they were checking off their lifetime needs rather than current needs. The total number of children indicated in response to questions 8-12 was 1231. The much smaller number recorded for questions 8-12 compared with 2-6 suggests that there might have been confusion about whether 8-12 referred only to preschool care since the difference between the numbers is approximately the number of school age children. The total number of children indicated in response to question 13 was 936.
Sources of error which could result in an underestimate are principally the distribution and response to the survey. The overall response was similar to what might be expected for a survey: 13.4%. However, it is probable that response was much greater among those with a need for daycare, and so the relative positive and negative response cannot be used simply to extrapolate the true need. There was apparently a major problem with distribution to the 3300 graduate and medical students since only 47 responded with an interest in daycare. This population is therefore likely severely underrepresented in the survey results. There was also faulty distribution to the Medical Center due to an out-dated mailing list.
Because there are sources of both over and underestimates in the survey response, the numbers should be used as a general guideline only. However, it is our conclusion that the needs represented are large and immediate, and prioritization of new programs is possible using the results.
5. Conclusions
A summary and recommendations are given at the beginning of the report. All items listed are of high priority. We reserve the highest priority for a new Medical Center daycare. In response to a draft of the survey results which was distributed in May, 1995, several actions have already been taken, as indicated in the following. We did not list items of lower priority based on the survey such as new separate facilities near the UCSD campus, sick child care, or daycare with more flexible hours, although there is substantial interest in lower numbers in such programs.
The highest priority recommendation, to create daycare facility for the Medical Center, will require an investment of time and possibly money. Given the large group of people interested in UCSD-sponsored daycare in Hillcrest, it is possible that with leadership from groups and individuals at UCSD and in the Medical Center with expertise in establishing daycare centers, and with funding from UCSD similar to what has been available to support the ECEC, a volunteer effort at the Medical Center could result in a quality daycare which begins to meet the needs. Action as of 8/15/95: the Director of Human Resources at the hospital has begun as assessment of daycare availability in the Hillcrest area and initiated discussions of formal cooperation with existing programs and use of existing facilities.
The second recommendation is to expand existing summer programs for school-age children and possibly create new ones. Existing programs are under-recognized (Recreation Department), do not meet the hours needed for effective daycare (Aquarium), or are costly (Mission Bay Aquatic Center, which is also located far from campus). Of these three programs, the most promising one to us for expansion is the Recreation Department's program because it is both relatively low cost and meets parent's and children's needs. Expansion in numbers is the primary recommendation. Inclusion of additional light academic content perhaps through liaison with the Aquarium's program and creation of additional academic activities is a suggestion, but a full recommendation would need to be based on the wishes of parents and children in the program.
The third and fourth recommendations concern expansion and some change in operations of the current UCSD daycare centers, to better meet the needs of UCSD personnel. Expansion of the ECEC is underway, with the building of three new classrooms. Action as of 8/15/95: the ECEC expansion will permit conversion of one of the existing classrooms into two infant classrooms. Changes (expansion) in hours of operation at ICNS are suggested to better meet the needs of the large number of parents who work regular hours at UCSD (8 AM to 4:30 PM) and who desire part-time daycare. Action as of 8/15/95: extended care at ICNS is now being provided between 7:30 and 9AM and between 4 and 5:30 PM.
The fifth recommendation is to create after school and school holiday programs for school age children. There could be a linkage between the after school and summer programs. (ECEC will continue to focus on pre-school needs and so is not considering initiation of school-age programs.) Other after school programs in the area around UCSD have shuttle buses which pick children up at local schools and take them to the programs; a similar arrangement would be needed for UCSD.
These five are our recommendations for immediate action based on the survey. Other expansions in order to bring UCSD daycare services closer to employees would be effective at SIO, Kearny Mesa, and possibly the V.A. Hospital. If groups within these organizations or others at UCSD wish to establish on-site day care, the Daycare Oversight Committee is ready and willing to assist in organizing, furnishing and licensing.
In conclusion, the survey revealed clear daycare needs at UCSD, and prioritization of those needs was relatively easy given the responses. It is hoped that our findings will result in an improvement of options and availability of daycare.
Acknowledgments: This survey was undertaken and supported by Steven Relyea, Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs. Monica Gonzalez of the Early Childhood Education Center key-entered the results and provided the tabulations and graphs of results.
Members of the UCSD Daycare Oversight Committee, 1993-1995:
Lynne Talley, Chair Faculty Representative
Jackie Edwards Business Affairs Representative
Josie Foulks Director, Early Childhood Education Center (non-voting)
Ken Garber Graduate Student Representative
Liora Gutierrez Student Affairs Representative
Evelyn Hidalgo Women's Caucus Representative (94-95)
Jack Hug Assistant Vice Chancellor - Auxiliary and Plant Services (non-voting)
Cammie Ingram SIO Representative
Nancy Johnson Medical Center Representative
Rebecca Klatch Committee on the Status of Women Representative
Rachel Klein Faculty Representative
Donald MacLeod Committee on Faculty Welfare Representative
Jane Milner-Mares School of Medicine Representative
Yvonne Reid-Hairston Women's Caucus Representative (93-94)
Virginia Watson Director, International Center Nursery School (non-voting)
