The Merrill-Palmer Institute at Wayne State University received a $318,485,four-year federal grant to help provide low-income student parents with quality childcare.

Vice President Al Gore announced the 87 recipients of U.S. Department of Education Child Care Access Means Parents in School grants, including Wayne State. This program, funded by $4.9 million in the Higher Education Act of1998, is the government's initial effort to insure affordable, quality campus childcare. To promote childcare quality, all recipients are required to earn and maintain national accreditation.

Institute Director Rita Casey and Child Development Lab (CDL) faculty coordinator Melissa Kaplan-Estrin, who wrote the grant proposal, are excited about the program, which will allow student parents to advance their education while meeting the needs of their children.

They say that two of the most transforming experiences in life are a college education and parenthood. The goal of this program is to improve the quality and success of both experiences by giving low-income student-parents childcare tuition assistance so their children can attend the CDL.

To be eligible for a childcare tuition grant Wayne State students must below-income, U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens, undergraduate or graduate, who meet federal Pell grant eligibility criteria.

Federal funding is tied to the amount of Pell grant assistance provided to students. At Wayne State, some 4,407 students were awarded Pell grants totaling $7,503,727 in the 1998 fiscal year. The grant awarded to the laboratory will provide $75,000 a year for four years.

The CDL provides childcare five days a week, 50 weeks of the year, to children ages 12 months up to kindergarten. Merrill-Palmer is known for its pioneering work in promoting and developing quality childcare both nationally and locally. The CDL has been in service for more than 50 years, training many childcare educators and providing good developmental care for thousands of children in metro Detroit.

The program started this semester by awarding reduced tuition to currently enrolled children of student parents who satisfy the qualifications. Most classrooms are filled, but interested student-parents may obtain information and place their names on the waiting list.

Interested students should contact CDL Director Cheryl Cronley at (313) 873-0724. Information about the program is also available on Merrill-Palmer's web site.