Blow to Westside child care: UCLA to close infant and toddler centers charging $3,000 a month
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Set us as preferred Parents said they are scrambling this week after UCLA announced that two university-run child-care centers serving roughly 220 children — nearly all children of UCLA staff, faculty or students — will close next year, eliminating care for infants, toddlers and preschoolers amid an acute county shortage of child care and in a region that has some of the nation’s most expensive child care.The move by UCLA, which has cited budget concerns, prompted a protest Monday in front of administrative offices at the Westwood campus, where parents and teachers held a sign reading “Little kids matter too,” written in gold and red glitter in a child’s handwriting, and sang, “If you’re happy with your teacher, clap your hands.”The closure — slated for June — is the latest in a years-long drawdown of on-campus child care at universities and other institutions that have traditionally offered it as an employee benefit.Professors, graduate students and staff who use the UCLA facilities say they are frustrated by the few options available in the Westside area and the skyrocketing cost of child care.
Recent hikes raised prices to up to $3,300 a month for infants of UCLA-affiliated families.UCLA Provost Darnell Hunt notified parents of the closure Aug.13, saying Krieger and University Village care facilities would discontinue operations at the end of the 2026-27 academic year.
“This decision followed a thorough review of the program and careful consideration of all available options,” Hunt said, adding that the program’s continuation through June 30, 2027, gives families “nearly a year to plan for future child-care arrangements,” and that UCLA “will provide transition assistance at no cost.”The university declined to say how much money closing the centers would save.Alexis Burgess, a UCLA alumna, lawyer and the spouse of a UCLA faculty member, said the centers are “among the exc...