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CCAMPIS, a federal grant program, is helping eligible Arkansas Tech students with childcare costs. However, many students are unaware of the program.
“The biggest challenge is getting our students to know about it. That has been the issue I’ve faced, even when I’m setting up on campus, people will be like ‘I didn’t know anything about this,’” Lois Kimbriel, director of the CCAMPIS program, said.
Making sure students and even staff and faculty know about the program continues to be a challenge, she said.
“I still meet staff and faculty that say ‘I didn’t know about it either.’”
Students who have heard about the CCAMPIS program have been eager to take advantage of this opportunity.
“This grant is the ONLY reason I have been able to complete my degree. Without it, I would not have been able to afford childcare and I wouldn’t have been able to go to any in person classes or have quiet time to study,” Kimberlyn Olson, a psychology major from Clarksville, said.
“The only time my child is not with me is when he is in daycare. I do not have a ‘village’ that helps me with my child. This grant made it possible for me to have the opportunity to thrive during college,” Olson said.
The program’s acronym stands for Child Care Access Means Parents in School. This grant is awarded through the Department of Education.
According to a university news release, As a result of the grant, a cohort of 50 Pell Grant-eligible Tech students who have children and reside in a nine-county region (Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Madison, Pope, Sebastian, Washington and Yell) will be selected each year of the grant to receive funding for child care at daycare facilities that have agreed to partner with Tech on the initiative.
The release note that Tech had previously received a CCAMPIS grant in 2018. Total funding for the grant program is $514,478 per year. If fully funded for the period specified in the grant, total CCAMPIS funding for Tech students over the next four years will be $2,057,912, the release said.
Students who are interested in taking advantage of this program can contact Kimbriel at lkimbriel@atu.edu, or in Brown Hall 333.
