A handful of UC Berkeley's poorest students could have trouble attending school next year after the university stops subsidizing child care for parents who are unable to afford it themselves.
The school had been covering a portion of the cost of day care for children of students whose families make less than $40,000 per year. But state budget cuts made it impossible to sustain those subsidies, said Marty Takimoto, a spokesman for UC Berkeley housing services, which runs the day-care centers.
Student who already use the centers will not be affected, he said, but the centers will unable to take the children of 19 new students in the fall.
"Everyone agrees that child care's important, but there's a limited pot of money," Takimoto said. "The decision's been made."
Most parents — including students and UC Berkeley employees — pay the full cost for child care, ranging from $1,400 per month for preschoolers to nearly $1,900 per month for infants.
For preschool-age children, the state pays $680 of the monthly cost for low-income students, and student fees pay an additional $450. That leaves $270 per month that the school pays itself, Takimoto said.
Without the subsidized child care, some students will probably be unable to attend college next year, said Melinda Pilling, who graduated from the UC Berkeley law school in December. Because her husband works at the