While the idea of an on-campus day-care service for students at Southeast Missouri State University is now being studied, most Missouri colleges and universities similar in size to Southeast already offer the service.

A survey of these institutions found that several of them have had day care in place for at least five years and that, in most cases, students were the primary users.

Southeast, one of the state's comprehensive universities, has an enrollment of about 8,500. Members of the Non-Traditional Student Association (NSTA) at Southeast claim at least 25 percent of the university's students are non-traditional. The non-traditional students include those who are parents.

The NSTA, along with the Student Government Association, is pushing for Southeast to establish some type of day-care service for students.

Cliff Bangert, vice president of NSTA, said students need day care that is affordable and is available at night and on a drop-in or unscheduled basis.

"Many students can't come to the library at night or on weekends because they don't have anywhere to take their kids," Bangert said.

"The university has said it doesn't want to get into the day-care business. They don't want to compete with local day-care centers for business, but I wonder if there isn't enough need out there to go around," he said.

A survey by the Southeast Missourian of state colleges and universities with enrollments similar to Southeast found several of them do have on-campus day care.

Central Missouri State

At Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, on-campus day care has been in operation for nine years, said Janet Richtor, director of the university's day-care center.

And Central, which has an enrollment of about 11,000 students, will open a second on-campus center, able to care for about 50 more children next fall.

"This is in really big demand," said Richter. "Five years ago, we thought we were going to have to close down because we weren't funded at all by the university.

"Families just literally went into an outrage. They went into the president's office and demanded that it be funded."

Richtor said the center now receives 20 percent of its funding from the university.

She said the center cares daily for about 120 children of students, faculty and staff. Fees for care are based on income. Students usually pay the lowest weekly fee of $40 to $45 per child, while faculty and staff can pay up to $60 per week per child for unlimited hours of care. The center is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Rates for part time or up to 20 hours per week of care range from $20 to $35.

After the second center is completed, there will be space for about 170 children in on-campus care, Richtor said.

"Parents really love it because it's close by," she said. "They can come by on their lunch hour or in between classes and see their kids."

In the fall, the new center will begin offering nighttime care. Richtor said more students are opting for night classes, making the service essential.

Northwest Missouri State

The day-care program at Northwest Missouri State in Maryville is one the director said he'd like other universities to use as a model. The university has an enrollment of 5,400.

Director Arnold Lindaman, who has been with the center for two years, said 125 children are enrolled at the center, which is located on campus within the university's lab school.

Children can also attend kindergarten through sixth grade there, and stay at the child-care center before and after school.

For example, a kindergarten or preschool student who attends school for a half-day can spend the morning or afternoon at the center.

Parents of the children are students, faculty and staff members. The university provides the building, pays the utilities, and pays the administrator's salary. Other expenses are covered by hourly or weekly fees, ranging from $3 to $30 depending on the number of hours needed.

The downside, Lindaman said, is that the waiting list is long. It sometimes takes years for a child to get into the center.

Missouri Southern

Students at Missouri Southern State College in Joplin have had the option of on-campus day care for five years.

The center, which cares for about 65 children per week, is funded by the university and charges a daily fee of between $6 and $9.

"I would say no more than one-fifth of the children here are children of faculty and staff," said Sharyl Ritschel, the center's director. "Most of them are children of students."

She said a large number of the 6,000 students at the university are considered non-traditional. The average student age, she said, is 28.

One of the reasons the university established the center is to help retain students.

"Because so many of our students are students with children, (the administration) wanted to be sure they could stay in school," Ritschel said.

Ritschel said that when the center was established, it was first run by a community day-care center. It didn't work, she said.

Now that the university owns and runs it, it also serves as a learning laboratory for students of early childhood education. Almost 20 students are also employed there, she said.

University of Missouri

Of the four campuses in the University of Missouri system, two of them provide day-care services for students. The University of Missouri-Columbia, which has the largest enrollment of any Missouri institution at nearly 24,000, provides day-care services for infants and toddlers up to 2 years. Fees are $1.60 an hour and the center is university supported.

At the University of Missouri-Kansas City, which has an enrollment of nearly 12,000, students can place their kids in the university funded day-care center, which also cares for children of the faculty and staff.

Mineral Area College

Although not comparable in size of enrollment, Mineral Area Community College in Flat River has an on-campus day-care center that other schools might envy.

The community college has an enrollment of only 2,500. But because a significant portion of its students are in their 20s and 30s and have children, university officials consider the day-care center a "good investment."

"We've got a lot of single parents, and if we didn't provide a place for them to put their children, they couldn't come to school," said Glenn Roux, the university's business manager.

Roux said the center, which moved into a newly constructed building in March, serves as not only a "recruitment tool," but as a learning center for students studying child development.

He said students are employed at the center, as well as two full-time directors.

Last year, the center took in just $11,000 and paid out $17,000 in expenses. But Roux said it's not meant to be a moneymaker.

"We do have to support it, but it's a way to keep the students here," he said. "It's a real comfort for students to know their child is being taken care of on campus. They can come and eat lunch with them if they want."

Roux said the school has worked to ensure the care is affordable. Students pay a $5 one-time-only enrollment fee and 75 cents per hour for care. But they only pay for the hours the child stays at the center.

Staff and faculty can also use the center, he said. Because students often work for credit instead of wages, costs are kept down. About 80 children are enrolled at the center.

"Students really appreciate it," he said. "You just can't beat it."