University-affiliated daycares face difficulties while navigating loss of funding

On January 10, 2025, the University of Alberta announced its decision to withdraw funding from all six daycare centres across North Campus, effective January 2026.

According to Brenda Drozd, the executive director of the Hospitals and Community Child Care Centre, the U of A’s reasoning behind the funding cut was to save costs. The funding amounted to roughly $298,600 per year, or 0.0154 per cent of the university’s operating budget.

As of January 2026, the six child care centres are experiencing challenges while navigating the loss of funding. According to Louise Booker, the executive director of the University and Community Early Learning Centre (UCELC), entering the first fiscal year without funding is “going to be devastating.”

“We all probably wondered if we’re going to be able to exist, so it’s a detrimental effect on all of us,” Booker added.

Additionally, Kimberly Gravel, the executive director of the University Infant Toddler Centre (UITC), stated that the university has supported these daycares since the 1980s.

“The university has always gained from the high-quality child care on campus. It’s been expected from this community,” Gravel said.

“So when you talk about devastating, that is what it’s going to be at risk. It’s not like we’re going to change and go, ‘gee, we can’t buy a pack of crayons.’ But, it may mean that the quality … [and] volume of staff will take the hit,” Gravel added.

“Under the current structure of funding for child care, we are unable to raise our fees to compensate,” Gravel says

All child care centres in Alberta are regulated by the Federal-Provincial Child Care Agreement. This agreement reduced fees by 50 per cent in 2022 and established a flat rate of $10–15 per day for any service.

“Under the current structure of funding for child care, we are unable to raise our fees to compensate,” Gravel said.

Because of this, the programs will have to roll back costs in areas such as staffing levels, according to Gravel.

“How do you say that without scaring people? Because that’s really where we’re at,” Gravel added.

Additionally, Booker stated that the programs will have to make cuts on field trips and other experiences, such as music and gym programs.

Lack of funding and affiliation with daycare centres affects members of the U of A

The university’s affiliation with the six child care centres around North Campus granted student parents, faculty members, and staff priority access to the services. However, without the agreement, daycares are no longer required to grant such access to members of the U of A.

“So there you have six centres all in the university campus and surrounding areas that will no longer be required to give priority to university families,” Booker said.

According to Andrea DeKeseredy, U of A PhD student and representative for Student Parents on Campus, “these centres have painstakingly taken care of our children in order for us to give our labour to the university. 70 to 90 per cent of the people who use these centres were part of the university community.”

“One of the most impactful consequences of this is that those of us in the university community, especially the most vulnerable among us, will no longer have access to those spots,” DeKeseredy added.

Student Parents on Campus has sent an open letter to the U of A Board of Governors (BoG) requesting a reinstatement of on-campus child care funding. Several representatives from campus associations signed on to the letter.

Gravel said that parents will no longer have a trusted and convenient place to drop off infants and children. Instead, U of A members will have to find other institutions where “that peace of mind is not necessarily going to be the same as it has been in the past.”

“This decision goes against everything this university claims to stand for,” DeKeseredy says

According to DeKeseredy, “this decision goes against everything this university claims to stand for.”

“They have a sentence in [SHAPE] that states, ‘we must therefore take deliberate steps to support our people and create a culture where everyone can achieve their full potential.’ And I think they should take that out, because people are not at the heart of what they do, and they have engaged in policies that are exactly the opposite of what they claim to be doing,” DeKeseredy added.

Drozd shared similar sentiments, stating that while “there are universities across Canada that are developing, building, and expanding child care programs … we’re choosing to go the opposite way. Rather than enhanc[ing] [and] evolv[ing] [the] partnerships that exist … [the U of A is] dismantling it,” Drozd said.

Gravel highlighted that because daycares no longer have an affiliation with the U of A, there is minimal action that can be taken to restore the relationship between the two.

According to Nathan Thiessen, vice-president (operations and finance) of the University of Alberta Students’ Union (UASU), the UASU will continue to advocate and support the early learning centres on campus. This includes promoting funding for child care and working with campus partners in voicing issues and concerns involving daycare services.

“First and foremost, we’d like to see the restoration of funding to ensure that these early learning centres have the resources necessary to provide a crucial service to the university community,” Thiessen said.

U of A media relations said in a statement to The Gateway that it understands “the impact that this decision has on the child care centres and the families they serve.”

It said the decision was one of several cost-saving measures and the university continues to offer “robust benefits for faculty and staff … as well as students who parent.”