The average UH-Clear Lake student is 32 years old. Many students are working parents. This makes child care a necessity and on-campus child care an immediate need.

Conventional child care often costs too much for students to afford and many facilities do not offer services at night. This leaves working parents who attend night classes in a real bind. Without child care on campus, these parents are forced to make other arrangements.

There have been several instances this semester of young children sitting in the halls unattended while their parents are in class. While this is obviously a last resort, this is no solution.

With no one to check up on the child, the parent is forced to leave class to ensure everything is all right. This not only interrupts the class, but also does a disservice to the parent who is trying to get an education.

A young child sitting alone is also a perfect opportunity for a kidnapping. This campus is considered one of the safest in the country, but it only takes one incident to change that.

So how do we solve the problem?

Some instructors allow students to bring their children to class in extenuating circumstances; however, this is not a permanent solution. Sometimes young children simply canšt sit through a three-hour class without disturbing the other students, and some subjects presented in a college course are inappropriate for small children.

We could have all instructors allow all students to bring their children to class, but this would only lead to more problems.

A student can not concentrate on class work if he or she is worrying about or tending to a child. And a room full of children could be distracting to the class.

We could require parents to find alternative solutions. But, this might discourage enrollment. People attend UH-Clear Lake because it allows them to work around home and work schedules. If these options are taken away, students will simply find another institution that will better meet their needs.

The only logical solution is to provide child care on campus. This has been an issue in the past, but with the increase in unattended children being left in the halls, it has become a necessity.

Having on-campus child care would allow parents the ability to concentrate on their studies because they would know that their children were being taken care of.

A child care facility would provide a safe place for children on campus and would keep parents from having to make the agonizing decision of leaving their children in the halls while they are in class.

On-campus child care is the only way to safely and completely solve the problem.

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