DOE Selects UNMCC for a CCAMPIS Grant with a Significant Funding Increase
September 26, 2022 - Dorene DiNaro
The Department of Education (DOE) has awarded the University of New Mexico Children’s Campus a four-year, $4 million Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) grant—marking a substantial increase from the program's previous CCAMPIS awards. The CCAMPIS grant supports the participation of low-income parents in postsecondary education.
Daniela Baca, director for the UNM Children’s Campus, says that student parents make up more than 22% of higher education campus populations in the United States and face a unique set of obstacles.
“A number of significant barriers impede a student parent’s ability to fully access and participate in higher education, ultimately impacting their ability to persist and graduate,” Baca says. “Some of the obstacles include child care, the high cost of quality child care, feelings of loneliness and isolation, and a lack of available family services.”
Through the provision of comprehensive campus-based early childhood services, including subsidized child care up to 400% of the federal poverty level for eligible student families, the Children’s Campus aims to help provide a pathway to degree attainment for student parents.
The CCAMPIS grant allows the Children’s Campus to offer free or reduced childcare to Pell-eligible student parents while they are in class, receiving tutoring, meeting with professors, and participating in study groups.
If you would like more information about our CCAMPIS program, please email UNMCCenrollment@unm.edu.
