If all the requirements are met, the Ray Ellison Family Center will finish construction by April of this year.

When the day care opens, 50 kids, ranging from age two to four, will be accepted. The eligibility requirements will be determined by the end of the Spring semester. The day care center hopes to accept children by the summer session, which begins in June.

Everything must be in perfect condition for the center to open. Leandro Esparza, Director of Student Activities, and Patricia Parma, Coordinator of the Returning Adult Center, are in charge of the center's opening.

Parma is responsible for hiring the coordinator. He or she will obtain the center's license from the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services and will be responsible for minimum standards compliance.

Child care will not be free. The price per child has not yet been determined, although the coordinators want the price to be low.

At the family center, classes will be offered to teach parents how to be better parents, about nutrition, discipline, and tips for single parents. The parenting classes will start in the Fall semester.

Victoria Chikewee, a freshman Nursing major said, “By opening this new day care center, it could benefit most students, such that those with kids. They could take them there, and they will have the satisfaction of their children being close to them so they could check on them.”

Parma said, “This is our first step. We want to add four more classrooms and encourage students for more ideas of the day care, and also, we want students to get involved in the day care center to be volunteers.”

For more information, visit the Returning Adult Center in the Palomino Building.