Campus Early Education and Care Centers

Original Issuance Date: April 20, 1987
Last Revision Date: November 4, 2025

1. Policy Purpose

This policy affirms and/or addresses the following issues:

access to childcare for students, faculty, and staff and the role(s) Campus Early Education and Care Centers (Campus Centers) can have within the university;
accreditation requirements;
use of funding sources; and
accountability measures.

2. Responsible UW System Officer

UW System Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs

UW System Vice President for Finance and Administration

3. Scope and Institutional Responsibilities

This policy applies to all University of Wisconsin System (UW) Campus Early Education and Care Centers (Campus Centers). Universities may develop their own policies, procedures, and/or guidance, using this System policy as a minimum level of restriction.

Given that the term “child care” can be a limiting one and may not fully capture the scope of some UW university campus programs, this document uses the term “Campus Early Education and Care Centers (Campus Centers)” to describe these programs.

4. Background

Board of Regents’ policy on childcare is stated in Regent Policy Document 14-3, Equal Opportunities in Education: Eliminating Discrimination Based on Gender. This policy provides a framework that permits appropriate variation between and among universities, yet ensures compliance with Board policy. Each UW university must define “Campus Early Education and Care Center(s) (Campus Centers)” in the context of its own needs, decide upon a mission for the Campus Center (or differing missions for particular centers if a university has more than one), and set university priorities regarding the services that the Campus Center(s) provide. The UW framework is to be used in the operation of any Campus Center(s) with an official university affiliation, as defined by the institution for their campus. Examples of the factors to be considered by each university are listed in Appendix A, Enumerated Needs of Various University Constituencies.

5. Definitions

Campus Early Education and Care Centers (Campus Centers): University facilities that provide high-quality child care and early education while often also providing instructional programs, academic research, future teacher training, and broader institutional family support.

6. Policy Statement

The leadership role of campus-based children’s services is recognized within this policy. The Universities of Wisconsin relies on the expertise of the campus early education and care system to promote high quality, research based and best practices that provide leadership to the early childhood education profession, to children and families and to the students that conduct pre-service training and/or research within UW Campus Centers.

Each Campus Center has its own unique mission and vision statements that reflect the distinct characteristics of the families and campuses they serve. UW Campus Centers have the authority to tailor their mission to align with the unique needs and dynamics of their campus and community, while maintaining their commitment to UW’s overarching mission of teaching, research, and outreach.

A. University Obligation for Quality

Successfully pursuing national accreditation to ensure high-quality early education programming is required for UW Campus Centers. However, considering the challenges of financial and staffing shortages that may create barriers to achieving accreditation, there can be an exception. In such circumstances, pursuing YoungStar System (the Wisconsin’s Child Care Quality Rating and Improvement System) to achieve a 4 or 5-star rating will be acceptable while working toward national accreditation within five (5) years.

All extant Campus Centers must be accredited within no more than five (5) years from the time the site opens on a UW campus. They are required to continuously maintain accreditation. Accreditation requirements are consistent and essential whether a UW campus directly operates the center or contracts with a vendor (contracted service).

All UW Campus Centers have an obligation to provide high-quality care and education for children and families served as well as to ensure high-quality standards in teaching, research and community outreach. Therefore, each Campus Center should seek and maintain accreditation by one or more of the following Accreditations:

This accreditation requirement does not pertain to UW Campus Centers that operate programs for school-aged children.

Accreditation is essential to ensure that our programs meet high-quality standards across various key areas, including staff-child interactions, curriculum, staff-parent interactions, administration, staff-child ratios, group size, director and teacher qualifications and training, physical environment, health and safety, nutrition, and continuous program evaluation.

B. Framework for Implementing Board Policy

In order to meet the requirements of Board policy, certain conditions must be met by all UW universities’ Campus Centers, within the context of university mission statements and allowing for appropriate university variations.

In order to assess whether or not community childcare providers can meet the needs of the university, planning a new Campus Center must gather available statewide sources of data on community childcare providers, available services, and estimated needs (including standardized data sources such as Community Resource and Referral (in each county), campus needs assessments, student government or other campus departments that could have data regarding child care needs). In consideration of community providers, the survey should address at least the systemwide “Enumerated Needs” [see Appendix A], national accreditation outlined in section 6.A, and additional university specific needs, such as the needs of target populations.

If needed, each UW Center Directors will collaborate with their campus administrators, departments, and community partners to conduct a comprehensive child care needs assessment. This assessment will offer valuable insights into the child care needs of the populations they serve, enabling the development of more effective and tailored solutions to support their families.

After assessing community resources and campus needs, universities must then designate their own priorities in terms of the mission for their Campus Center(s), range of possible activities, and available funding sources according to functions. If all needs cannot be met, each UW university will prioritize its goals and determine means to achieve them within the Universities of Wisconsin framework.

C. Definitions and Illustrations by Activity

Campus Centers integrate many of the appropriate activities of the university under one roof; while these activities are programmatically unified, their primary purposes must be categorized in order to designate funding sources. The Campus Centers generally use one accounting function code, but may use more if the Campus Center is organized to serve multiple purposes or missions.

To aid the universities in identifying the functions of Campus Center, Appendix C provides the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) definitions. As discussed in Section 6.D, the mix of activities and the percentage of total effort will vary with each UW university and perhaps among Campus Centers (when a university has more than one). The functions include student services, instructional/academic support, basic and applied research, public service/outreach, institutional support, and auxiliary enterprises.

D. Funding Sources to Operate Campus Early Education and Care Centers

Fee policy should reflect funding sources, the needs of the program constituents, and provision of high-quality education and care. Segregated fees may be used to reduce the cost of childcare for student-parents only; neither faculty/staff nor community users may be subsidized by segregated fees. Other funding sources may be used to provide a discount on child care services to benefit-eligible permanent employees who work within the Campus Center(s), under IRS Publication 5137 (IRC Section 132(c)(1)(B)). The current maximum allowable discount can be found here.

While user fees are usually the primary method of funding for all university Campus Centers, General Purpose Revenue (GPR)/fee and/or in kind support should be determined by the individual university. The Universities of Wisconsin support a policy that allocates a set dollar amount or percentage of GPR to Campus Centers. This allocation recognizes the vital academic role these centers play in supporting various academic programs, as well as the teaching and research missions across all university campuses.

Grants and additional private funding should be pursued whenever possible to enhance program quality and services. However, these sources should not serve as the primary funding for Campus Centers, nor should they be relied upon without the university’s commitment to supporting the operational costs of the centers.

The Campus Centers must be funded by sources appropriate to its activities. UW universities vary widely in the use of and purposes for their Campus Centers. Universities are responsible for the assignment of costs according to activity, weighing the mix of program activities accordingly.

The following are preferred/allowable funding sources by activity:

	GPR/Fees	Seg. Fees	User Fees	Gifts/Grants
Student Services	A	A	P	A
Instruction/Acad. Support	P	N	A	A
Research	A	N	A	A
Public Service/Outreach	P	N	A	A
Institutional Support	A	N	P	A
Auxiliary Enterprises	N	N	P	A

* A = allowable; P = preferable; N = not allowable

UW campuses that use vendor/contracted care or who create student subsidy programs must ensure that support dollars allocated fund only state licensed, city and/or nationally accredited early education and care center options.

Budgeting and accounting methodology must be established to properly classify the expenditures, if material, and adjusted by the university. Campus Center Directors and other involved administrators should work closely with university budget officers on appropriate assignment of costs. Cost assignments will be subject to normal university and UW Administration review. The “budgetary home” for the Campus Center accounting should be determined by the university, based on the mission and primary purpose of the program. The combination of funding sources must be consistent with UW System Administrative Policy 822 (SYS 822), Student Services Funding.

E. Accountability

Centers are responsible for keeping records regarding, for example, the type and frequency of faculty and student research activity, the amount of instructional activity, and/or the type and amount of public service work.

Universities and individual Campus Centers are responsible for regularly surveying families to assess client satisfaction and identify areas for improvement, ensuring continuous enhancements to services as needed.

F. Exceptions

Exceptions to the policies and procedures in this paper are permitted, but only with the written approval of the UW Administration Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Vice President for Finance and Administration. At a minimum, requests must include:

demonstrated need;
discussion of the impact upon parent-client costs and services; and
demonstrated consistency with the purposes of the policies and procedures contained in UW System Administrative Policy 180 (SYS 180), Campus Early Education and Care Centers.

7. Related Documents

IRS Publication 5137 (IRC Section 132(c)(1)(B))
Regent Policy Document 12-1, Competition with the Private Sector
Regent Policy Document 23-1, Basic Health Module
Regent Policy Document 14-3, Equal Opportunities in Education: Elimination of Discrimination Based on Gender
UW System Administrative Policy 314 (SYS 314), Financial Management of Auxiliary Operations
UW System Administrative Policy 316 (SYS 316), Auxiliary Enterprise Support Services Chargebacks
UW System Administrative Policy 318 (SYS 318), Charging Fuels and Utilities – Auxiliary Enterprises
UW System Administrative Policy 820 (SYS 820), Segregated University Fees
UW System Administrative Policy 822 (SYS 822), Student Services Funding
UW System Uniform Chart of Accounts
“Certification Rules PI 3,” Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI)
“Teacher Education Program Approval PI 4,” Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI)
“Accreditation Criteria and Procedures,” National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

SYS 180 Appendix A: Enumerated Needs of Various University Constituencies
SYS 180 Appendix B: Policy Directives
SYS 180 Appendix C: Definitions and Illustrations of Possible Early Education and Care Centers Functions

8. Policy History

Revision 3: November 4, 2025
Revision 2: November 11, 2022
Revision 1: July 1, 1994
First Approved: April 20, 1987

9. Scheduled Review Date

November 2030

UW System Administrative Policy 180 (formerly G38)