Austin Community College District (ACC) increases its support to students with children through a $4 million grant from the Department of Education’s Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) Grant Program. 

The grant is a collaboration between the college’s Children’s Lab School and the offices of Student Support, Student Life, and Financial Aid. The goal is to support student families in balancing the demands of parenting with being a college student and working.

The grant provides ACC $1 million per year for the next four years to develop the Austin Community College Child Care Access Means Parents in School (ACCAMPIS) program. 

“We all know the importance of child care and its impact on student success. Affordable, safe, and accessible child care contributes to a student’s ability to enroll at ACC and persist to completion and eventually a well-paying job,” says Dr. Mary Harris, Institutional Effectiveness & Grant Development vice chancellor. “What makes this round of CCAMPIS funding so wonderful is the decision by Congress to increase the allocation. With an annual allocation that has over tripled from our previous CCAMPIS grant, we can support more students by providing them access to high-quality childcare and wraparound student support — another major step toward achieving equity.”

ACC has been a CCAMPIS grantee since 2014. The college’s most recent award provided $153,951 annually over four years. It ended on September 30, 2022. Total funding to date is $5,134,808, which includes the recently awarded grant.

This new CCAMPIS grant will allow ACC to expand and enhance its existing project. Among these expansions, ACC will be able to provide full-time, on-campus child care at the Children’s Lab School from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. for 18 participants. Part-time, evening on-campus care will be open from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for an additional 21 participants. On-campus day and evening care will be provided at ACC’s NAEYC-accredited Children’s Lab School. 

Additional support includes: 

• 30 AACAMPIS scholarships for students to use at high-quality full- or part-time child care centers in their neighborhoods, near ACC’s campuses, or near their work.
• Access to a comprehensive range of robust wraparound services delivered by master’s level student advocates, including assistance finding and contracting for accessible, affordable child care.
• An innovative sliding scale fee that requires student parents to pay only 2% of their income for the on-campus day program and to community-based providers.

Seventy percent of the $1-million grant is earmarked specifically for child care scholarships, with ACC contributing $40,672 in in-kind support to the grant. Some of the remaining grant funds will be used to hire additional personnel, including an ACCAMPIS grant manager, ACCAMPIS child care specialist, ACCAMPIS hourly child care staff, and an external evaluator.

The college also will continue to offer vouchers, scholarships, and grants to help other students cover the costs of child care. ACC’s Board of Trustees also approved an additional $1 million in the 2022-23 budget for child care support.

Students may apply now through the Student Advocacy Center’s child care scholarship application, available HERE. Once they apply, ACC staff will review their application to determine if they are eligible for CCAMPIS funds or any other child care funding sources.

Eligible students must have an Expected Family Contribution at $500 or less or be at 200% of the Federal Poverty level to be eligible for child care scholarships.

Contact scprograms@austincc.edu for special considerations or questions about eligibility. 

For more information, visit austincc.edu/childcare.