Judith Taylor, a professor of Sociology and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto, sent her two children to U of T’s Early Learning Centre (ELC).
The quality of such services comes at a great cost, both in terms of fees and length of waitlists. It is a cost that some staff are unable to pay.
Although her experience was positive, Taylor says it was a financial strain.
“I had a fantastic experience there. It was incredibly financially arduous for my family to do it, but it was possible,” says Taylor.
The cost of care
The fees these childcare facilities charge differ based on the age of the child and the occupational status of the parent(s). Since May 2013, enrolling an infant in U of T’s ELC costs $1,831 per month for full-time students, and $2,143 per month for full-time faculty and staff.
“I just knew that we weren’t going to be able to afford the cost,” says a staff member at Trinity College. The fees, coupled with a roughly year-long waitlist led the staff member to utilize off-campus childcare services for both of her children.
A manager at Victoria College has utilized one of the employee support programs provided by the university. “The best thing for me is the child tax credit that was run through U of T… it wasn’t huge, but it helped me recoup at least some of the costs I was paying,” says the staff member.
While the Victoria College staff member briefly looked into the on-campus childcare fees, he has since enrolled both of his children in an off-campus service closer to his home in North York.
Despite the university’s ranking as a Top Family-Friendly employer, both of the interviewed staff members said that they found these services to be inaccessible, both in terms of price and waitlists. “I don’t know how people can afford it in Toronto,” says the Victoria College staff member.
Other barriers to access
One growing cause of concern, Taylor notes, is the strict schedule by which U of T operates. “I feel like staff are the most constrained in terms of their work schedules, and most constrained in terms of their finances,” says Taylor. “They are a huge part of this campus, and they are pretty invisible… they are the ones I think who are really underserved.”
Taylor argues that faculty members, unlike staff, generally have more flexible schedules and earn a higher income, while students have a range of subsidy and grant opportunities available to them.
In a written statement, Francesca Dobbin, director of family programs and services at the University of Toronto, notes that the University offers programs to support employees. One service that all U of T faculty and staff are eligible for is the Child Care Benefit. Through this program, U of T annually reimburses up to $2,000 per child for employees’ childcare expenses.
Beyond the university, Dobbin writes of the effect municipal policies have had on commuter U of T employees and students. The city determines a parent’s eligibility for subsidies, but prohibits the use of these subsidies outside of the parent’s region of residence. “These municipal policies impact our entire commuter population (students and employees),” writes Dobbin.
“I live quite far East; I live in the Durham region, so the childcare costs are significantly less there than they are in Toronto. But it’s far,” says the Trinity College staff member. “I had to choose between leaving my child so far from where I am all day, every day, versus the cost of finding them care downtown.”
The Trinity College staff member made the decision to enroll both of her children in childcare in Durham region.
Quality of Facilities
The University of Toronto has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top Family-Friendly employers from 2012 to 2015, and as Dobbin attests, exceeds the quality requirements set by the Ministry of Education, offering a high ratio of early childhood educators for each age group.
Taylor likewise applauds the high calibre of U of T’s childcare facilities. She notes that her time at the ELC provided her with an enriching experience, as she was able to develop relationships and participate in a unique community with faculty, student-parents, and their children.
Accompanying this praise, Taylor also suggests that there is room for improvement. “The University of Toronto has money, and it decides what to do with that money,” says Taylor. “[M]y feeling is that a top employer figures out what its employees can safely pay without going into debt, and then it subsidizes the rest.”
In 2009-2010, Taylor helped to organize a fee stay, proposing to reduce the hours of the director of family programs and services by 50 per cent. The money was to be redirected to the childcare teachers, as well as to prevent a fee increase.
While Taylor says that she and the other parents were successful in implementing their proposal and freezing the fees, the director position later returned to its former full-time hours after the fee stay organizers’ children had left the facilities.
“The next horizon is I think developing more accessible daycare for staff and making sure that we’re really filling their needs,” says Taylor.
*Names of staff members have been omitted to protect privacy, by request.
