Ithaca College is partnering with the Coddington Road Community Center — a child care center in Ithaca — to help with its expansion program and to serve as a temporary new opportunity for students and faculty. Even though this collaboration is temporary and the main concentration relies on helping the CRCC, it still offers a great start to something bigger, like a permanent on-campus child care center.

A trustful child care center is good for all busy-scheduled parents, but child care that is not even a mile away from work and school is better. Having the ability to check up on their children whenever needed without worries of skipping a class could help to reduce large amounts of stress on parents’ shoulders. Not only will it allow parents to have a low-stress work environment, but it will also help with their time management. An on-campus child care center would also allow student parents to have a better chance at graduating on time or graduating at all.

On-campus child care would be beneficial not only for parents but for student employment. It would create more on-campus jobs and allow students, especially the ones concentrating on social work, education and child care, to learn necessary child care skills. Having a child care center would also boost the college’s reputation among faculty and student parents and attract more student and faculty parents. It would show the college’s awareness of the hardships these parents face and the amount of effort put into improving those problems.

Above all, on-campus child care would be a great deal specifically for children. Attending daycare and being away from family can be scary for children, especially at early ages. However, knowing that their parents are next door would allow children to find a sense of home in the center.

Ithaca College’s collaboration with CRCC should become an opportunity to have a permanent child care center, like Cornell University and Tompkins Cortland Community College. While it is understandable that this new center would require a lot of input and possible construction, it should not hold the college back from creating a more inclusive environment for student and faculty parents.