ETSU has been selected as one of two Tennessee institutions of higher education to receive a federal Child Care Access Means Parents in School grant.
The $65,059, four-year award to the ETSU Child Study Center will assist with child care for low-income ETSU students through reduced rates at campus facilities for infants, toddlers and pre-school age children.
ETSU’s Little Buccaneers Student Child Care Center, located in Warf-Pickel Hall, has been receiving a similar grant since 1999, allowing the center to hire a part-time secretary and provide a resource library and parent training sessions. Now the Child Study Center, recently relocated in refurbished quarters at 2101 Signal Drive, will offer sliding scale fees to eligible parents in addition to hiring a family support specialist to act as a parent liaison, make available helpful literature and community resources and coordinate parenting education sessions.
Educational institutions must disburse more than $350,000 per year in federal Pell Grants to needy students to be eligible for the grants, authorized under the Higher Education Amendments of 1998. The Child Study Center’s grant was based upon 1 percent of Pell Grant expenditures for ETSU.
U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige points out, “Access to quality child care should not be an obstacle to job training or college studies. These grants can help parents complete school and make their career goals possible and their futures more promising.”
For further information about this project, contact Beverly Dugger, director of ETSU’s Child Study Center, at (423) 439-4887.

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