Division of Student Affairs

Summer 2023 — It’s just after lunch on the Corvallis campus at Oregon State University and students are making their way to afternoon classes as employees return to work. And at OSU Beaver Beginnings, it’s nap time.

Beaver Beginnings is one of five child care centers where student fees from the Associated Students of Oregon State University provide financial support, increasing access to affordable early care and education for 50 years.

It all started in the early 1970s, when students petitioned ASOSU to use student fees to run a co-op preschool, funding that’s been renewed every year as services have expanded to address the growing child care crisis. 

“The need for student parents and employee parents with young children to have quality early care and education is universal,” says Amy Luhn, director of the Family Resource Center, which provides programming and services to all OSU families. 

Among higher education institutions, the Family Resource Center is unique in that it serves both students and employees and is paid by student fees, as well as Education and General Funds (a mix of tuition dollars and state funds).   

“It exists because of student initiative and social action,” Luhn says. “It creates a leveling up of quality. When we provide basic need support, including child care, we ensure that a diversity of students have access to OSU.” 

Parenting students have equitable access 

Amy Luhn, director of the Family Resource Center, at the opening of Dixon Kits Early Care & Education Center.

For parenting students, including many who are first-generation or low-income, the stakes couldn’t be higher. 

“They are an incredibly tenacious, hardworking population,” Luhn says. “They’re doing this for themselves, but they’re also doing this for their children.” 

Joe Page, who was chair of the ASOSU Student Fee Committee for the past year, says he was initially surprised to learn that student fees pay for child care and other family resources and services. But soon he became a strong advocate.  

“I see the student fee as everyone’s way of contributing to the overall success of students at OSU,” Page says. “The incidental fee is an investment in community-building and mutual success.” 

Page graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public health and Spanish this year and has begun a master’s in public health. It wasn’t until he was in college that Page understood how remarkable it is that his working mom started college when he and his brother were in elementary school.  

“I didn’t fully appreciate at the time the challenges that come with being a student parent,” Page said. “I really respect and admire them for balancing their academics and their family life. I am proud to be part of the support available for them at OSU.” 

There’s a perception on a traditional campus that students are twenty-somethings enjoying a stereotypical college experience. In fact, more than half of students enrolled in higher education in the United States do not receive financial support from a parent or parents. 

Until recently, there was no student data collection to know just how many parenting students there are at Oregon State. Based on the demand for child care, the Family Resource Center estimates there are more than 3,000 parenting students. A clearer understanding of the number of parenting students may soon be possible because of a new law mandating Oregon’s public universities collect student parent data. 

Quality, convenient care available 

Stephany Vasquez-Perez is a recent graduate with two small children who utilized Family Resource Center services as a student.

Doctorate student Ariana Berenice is a single mom to 3-year-old daughter, Shanti. Not only is she head of her household, but she also lives with and supports her mother.  

Berenice is from Mexico City and lived in California before moving to Oregon to pursue a Ph.D. in women, gender and sexuality studies.  

After making it through the first year of her program, she expects the next three will be easier, especially now that Shanti is attending Our Little Village while she takes classes and works part time as a graduate teaching assistant, at Centro Cultural César Chávez and as a yoga instructor. 

Parenting students, staff and faculty can use short-term drop-in and reservable care at Our Little Village Early Care and Education Centers at Milne and Dixon Recreation Center. 

“Having child care has been wonderful,” Berenice says.  

Shanti was born just before the start of the pandemic and didn’t socialize with other people for almost three years.  

“We’re catching up with our social skills, so I was really worried about her transition to day care,” she says.  

Child care staff made them feel welcome, and after the first week, Shanti adjusted to the new routine. She begins preschool in the fall. It’s still hard for Berenice to leave her daughter, but Shanti is her biggest motivation for continuing her education.  

“I dream of getting out of poverty and I’m hoping the Ph.D. will make that happen for us,” she says.  

International student Asmaa Harfoush from Egypt is pursuing a doctorate degree in industrial engineering and has two young daughters. The oldest, Dahlia, will be in second grade and the youngest, Salma, was born three weeks before the end of spring term 2022.  

When Harfoush arrived at Oregon State in 2019, Dahlia attended the Child Development Center at Bates Hall, a preschool housed within the College of Health. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Harfoush’s daughter and husband returned to Egypt while she continued her studies. It was hard for her emotionally to be alone, especially during the pandemic, but she is determined to finish her Ph.D. and hopes to become a professor. 

“Being a role model for my daughters is the thing that keeps me always motivated,” Harfoush says. 

When life is challenging, it’s even more important for her to keep her weekly date for one hour of exercise at Dixon Recreation Center. With child care centers open again after the pandemic, she can leave her daughters at Our Little Village while she works out.  

Harfoush also participates in a parenting student support group led by Family Resource Center staff. Although their individual circumstances are different, parenting students all balance important responsibilities.  

Harfoush says sometimes it’s tough being a wife and a mom, working part time as a graduate teaching and research assistant, and taking classes while writing her thesis. That’s why she is grateful for the support she receives at Oregon State.  

“They are doing really, really good work,” she says. “I just want to say thank you!”