1. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Family Presentation Family Subcommittee Participants: –Shay Artzi –Andréa Schmidt –Pam Smalley –Kelly Smith –Kim Smith Administrative Support: –Jennifer Recklet

2. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Family Needs Presentation An assessment of the current situation and needs of graduate students with families at MIT –Family Statistics –Cost of Living Overview –Housing –Child Care –Health Care –Administrative Support/Advocacy –Discrimination –Recommendations Summary

3. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Family Statistics 38% of MIT graduate students are married/partnered Occupation of spouses/partners

4. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Family Statistics (con’t) 7% of MIT grad students have children, with an average of 1.6 children per family There are about 660-700 children of MIT grad students Only 14% of graduate student parents are mothers (28% of graduate students are women) Occupation of spouses/partners of graduate student parents

5. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Family Statistics (con’t)

6. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Cost of Living Overview

7. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Family Housing Benefits of Family Housing: –Affordable housing in proximity of work, day care, medical care, athletics –Support networks between families (e.g. shared babysitting) –Balancing work and family is difficult for parents; this is even more challenging for off- campus students with long commutes

8. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Family Housing Discrepancy in the availability of housing for single students and families Available Apartments vs. Demand –Total # of family apartments on campus: 413 (19% of on-campus total) –203 in Eastgate, 210 in Westgate Source: Housing Office –Total # of married/partnered students at MIT: 2388 (38% of all students) Source: DSL Survey, Provost’s Office New single students are guaranteed housing; new family students are not

9. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Housing Recommendations What makes building new family housing difficult? –Building regulations for buildings occupied by children –Difficult to recover cost of building through rents (e.g. Eastgate 2-bedroom is $1367/month, Edgerton 2-bedroom is $852 per person = $1704/month) Eastgate and Westgate level rents could not pay for a new building!

10. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Housing Recommendations Solution: –Build new family housing for couples with no children only (entirely 1-bedrooms) –Market as newer, nicer housing for couples who would prefer something more in the style of Edgerton but still affordable Edgerton 1-bedrooms are currently $1269/month and 585 square feet – a little bigger, much nicer, and only $123 more than Eastgate corners (the most popular type of family apartment)

11. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Housing Recommendations Benefits: –Families without children are more likely to want/afford more expensive apartments –This would free up space in Eastgate/Westgate, which may become occupied primarily by couples with children Possibility of guaranteeing housing to new family students –It would also diversify the family housing market so that incoming families have options

12. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Housing Recommendations Renovate part/all of Tang as Family Housing –Resources (like the playground) can be shared between Tang and Westgate Allow Couples in Some Singles Housing: –1-bedrooms and efficiencies in singles housing could accommodate couples –Anonymous inside source says there are about 25 “illegal” couples in S & P and 15 in Warehouse

13. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 MIT Child Care Overview 121 full-time slots allotted for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in Eastgate and the Stata Center –These are shared between the children of faculty, staff, postdocs, and students –A faculty committee determined in 1999 that in order for MIT to be competitive, we needed to 150 additional slots – Stata only added 75! Tuition: $1274-$1795/month for full time –$15,300-$21,540 per year Scholarship available for about 12 students: –eligible families are expected to pay 25% of their income per child and all scholarship money is taxable! Scholarships can only be used at TCC.

14. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 MIT Child Care - Capacity

15. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Value of MIT Child Care Improves the happiness and productivity of faculty, staff, postdocs, and grad students Makes MIT more attractive to female grad students and faculty who have/want families Family Status Tenured Women Tenured Men Non-Tenured Women * Non-Tenured Men Single 25%7%38%17% Dual-career household (spouse/partner works full-time) 65%29%62%42% Spouse/partner does not work at all or works part-time 10%64%0%45% * Figures in this column based on 13 responses Source: Faculty Survey, 2001

16. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Value of MIT Child Care Why don’t parents look for off-campus child care? Dropping kids off at MIT saves time! Breast-feeding mothers can visit on-campus child care during the day to nurse Parents can have confidence that it is a well- run center (because of its affiliation with MIT) Scholarship is currently only useable at TCC

17. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Child Care Recommendations Increase Capacity!!!!! –Build new centers –Buy up “slots” in local child care centers reserved for MIT parents –Consider collaborations with local companies (e.g. Novartis) Expand scholarship program –Some schools have scholarship programs that can be used to pay for any legal form of child care

18. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 The Westgate co-op opened in Fall 2005! Pilot program is toddlers only, with capacity of 12 Thank you to the many people who worked on the co-op! We hope that MIT continues to support part-time and cooperative child care arrangements MIT Child Care: Westgate Co-op

19. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 For the last several years, family health insurance premiums have decreased Health Care We appreciate these decreases very much – they help mitigate the financial difficulties faced by most families

20. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Non-discrimination Policy Last year, we recommended that the MIT non- discrimination policy be amended to include “married, partnered, or parental status.” Although the idea was well received, the change was never implemented Discrimination continues to affect the lives of students with families at MIT We continue to urge you to implement these changes so that students, faculty, and staff know that this discrimination is against MIT policy.

21. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Administrative Support/Advocacy Most graduate dorms have housemasters and those that do not had a residential life representative (Gabrielle Abelard) until recently Responsibilities include community activities programming, emergency management, and general advocacy Representing three graduate dorms is too difficult for a single person to manage Recommendation: Hire a full-time residential life representative for Westgate and Eastgate, who can advocate for graduate student families

22. Graduate Student Council ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Family Needs Presentation March 16 th, 2006 Recommendations Summary Housing –Build newer/nicer couples-only housing to free up spots in Eastgate/Westgate –Allow couples to live in some singles apartments –Renovate part/all of Tang as family housing Child Care –Increase Capacity!!! –Expand scholarship beyond TCC Health Care –Keep up the Good Work! Discrimination –Reconsider the proposed changes to the non-discrimination clause Administrative support/advocacy –We need stronger representation for dorms without housemasters