Help - Child Care is too Expensive

Affordable child care if one of the most important issues that academic families face. I often tell my more business minded family members and friends that you don't go into the professoriate for the money. Faculty work is about passion for a scholarly interest, educating students, etc. with the perks of flexibility, autonomy, and good benefits. Yet, we do have financial realities, such as the increasing cost of child care. I pay $2,000 per month for a mostly full-time in-home child care provider which I am only able to manage with financial help from those business minded parents. Thanks goodness for their successful business ventures.

Research note that on average assistant professors make $61,000 per year with only a $10,000 increase at the associate level. Child care ranges from $4,500 to $14,000 per year for one child (see this report) and up to $25,000 per year for two children. Do the math -- that is a pretty good percentage of your total assistant professor salary. While some universities offer on-campus child care centers at a reduced rate, availability is limited, there is often little to no oversight, and the cost can still be too much for a family of four on an academic salary.

I want to praise University of Washington for their efforts to provide financial assistance to graduate students who need child care and I challenge all institutions to consider additional financial assistance to faculty to help with child care costs. A few hundred dollars a month would go a long way!