Dear AU Community,

Due to ongoing challenging circumstances, we have made the difficult decision to close the AU Child Development Center (CDC) effective August 30, 2024. We have been tracking, evaluating, and seeking to address issues with the Center for a considerable amount of time, including hiring and staffing challenges, significantly declining CDC enrollment, the effect on our CDC families, a changing market for childcare services, and a continuing financial deficit in the CDC’s operations. We know this decision will impact our CDC families and we are implementing a transition plan to support them.

Unfortunately, we have reached a point where the CDC’s extensive and long-standing operating challenges make continuing operations unsustainable. Prior to the pandemic, the CDC’s enrollment averaged approximately 30 students. Since our return to in-person operations, our high point of enrollment was 20 students, and we currently have 18 students enrolled. Given the growth of remote and hybrid jobs, more families seek flexible offerings and part-time care options. The CDC model and physical space only allows for full-time student care of children aged two and half and older. With such underutilization of the Center, it is difficult to justify continued operation.

There is a shortage of qualified childcare teachers in the region, and we have struggled to fill vacant positions. This has led to ongoing staffing challenges impacting CDC operations and our families, reaching a critical point this summer when we had to close the Center for a week. Along with these factors, the CDC has run a substantial annual deficit over the past four years.

We recognize the challenge that closing the CDC will present for families and we are committed to supporting them in multiple ways during this transition. We wanted to notify our CDC families and the community as soon as this difficult decision was made to help our families transition to other childcare options. To help in this transition, we will invest a full year of tuition subsidies for CDC families who enroll their children at Bright Horizons, the university’s backup care provider, which has guaranteed space available for all current CDC students. There are more than 20 Bright Horizons locations within 15 miles of AU, including four centers that are within a mile and a half of campus. This arrangement will provide flexibility to parents in choosing the best center for their families, including being close to campus if that is their preference.

Closing the CDC is a difficult outcome, but one that is necessary and appropriate. We are engaging with the CDC staff to support them as we implement the transition. The Center has served the AU community for many years and numerous faculty, staff, students, and alumni have fond family memories from the CDC that will always be part of their AU story. We will continue working with our CDC families throughout the summer to help facilitate an effective transition.

Onward.

Bronté Burleigh-Jones
CFO, Vice President, and Treasurer