With all the direct and indirect costs of getting an education (tuition fees, ancillary fees, text books, transportation, rent), the cost of childcare puts even more of a stain on parents and can even prevent students from attending at all. Access to affordable childcare is crucial to ensure that students with children are able to attend post-secondary education.

In lieu of a national childcare strategy, it is the provincial governments’ responsibility to ensure that there are enough places for parents seeking childcare and that the childcare that is available is affordable. Unfortunately, the 2010 provincial budget cut $447,000, from childcare centres in Meadow Lake, North Battleford, Saskatoon, Oxbow, Regina, and Shaunavon. Previously the Community Solutions grant provided funding for projects such as parenting classes, funding to improve pre-school and toddler programming, and in-home childcare for rural farm families during peak farming periods.

According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), Saskatchewan ranks last in childcare spaces available when compared to provinces across Canada. Currently, there are only enough licensed childcare spots for 9.1 per cent of children between the ages of zero and five across Saskatchewan, compared to the national average at 20.3 per cent.

The Saskatchewan Government took a positive step forward this spring in the 2011-12 budget by committing $2.1 million to develop 500 new childcare spaces, however, with the current state of available childcare spaces in Saskatchewan, the extra 500 spaces only scrapes the surface of what is needed. The CCPA projects that 5000 new childcare spaces would need to be developed in order to address the current childcare need.