Community Colleges & Child Care

Community college students are often balancing lives and responsibilities outside of school — from work to family obligations. For community college students with young children, the struggle to find and afford child care can make a tricky balance close to impossible.

In this series, EdNC explores how community colleges are expanding child care access and affordability in three primary ways: providing on-campus child care options; utilizing state grants to help students afford care; and strengthening the child care workforce, including through fast-track options like child care academies.

The series includes the following articles:

• Overview: Community college student parents need child care. Here’s how colleges can help
• Strategy 1: Providing on-campus child care
  • EdNC’s analysis of models to provide early childhood education on the campuses of community colleges
  • How Cape Fear Community College provides drop-in child care at no cost to students
  • Bladen Community College is bringing a century-old school out of ‘retirement’ to serve children, families, and their community
  • Sandhills Community College invests in on-site after-school program to support family wellness
  • Playbook by McDowell Technical Community College
• Strategy 2: Utilizing state grants
  • How NC community colleges used child care grant funds in 2024-25
• Strategy 3: Strengthening the child care workforce
  • North Carolina announces short-term training for future early childhood teachers