A recent survey of Arizona residents points to child care as a significant barrier to pursuing education beyond high school.
Education Forward Arizona, a nonprofit organization, conducted two polls earlier this year to gain Arizonans’ perspectives. The polls are part of the organization’s Everything to Gain campaign that aims to demonstrate the value of education and training after high school.
This second poll, released in May, was aimed at Arizonans who, for whatever reason, never pursued education or training opportunities after high school. The findings show clear trends in what these Arizonans cited as the key barriers that they say stood in their way.
For survey respondents, both male and female, who started a program after high school, they most often cited finances, personal issues, work, and child care as reasons for not completing education or training beyond high school.
According to the poll, child care responsibilities are a moderate issue overall, but when looking at the data by gender, child care becomes a major challenge for Arizona women.
“Cost is a major factor, it’s way on top,” said Rich Nickel, president and CEO of Education Forward Arizona. Most of the other reasons are personal choice, such as having no time or not necessary for their current job.
“But child care responsibilities are the next barrier. When you start talking about moms who want to be full-time students, but can’t afford child care, that’s a barrier. And affordable and accessible child care is something we can (create) policy around.”
According to the survey, more women (32%) cited a lack of affordable child care than their male counterparts (22%) as a major barrier for not completing education or training beyond high school.
As Arizona’s early childhood agency, First Things First, has been working with partners, the business community, economic development and chambers of commerce across the state to find child care solutions that work for families and those who employ them.
A large part of ensuring babies, toddlers and preschoolers get a strong start and supporting working families is investing in quality child care.
“We’ve heard from business leaders that recruiting and retaining workers is their number one challenge and that finding affordable, high-quality child care is a significant barrier for current and potential employees,” said FTF CEO Melinda Morrison Gulick. “We will continue to help businesses and families find tangible solutions because we know that if child care works, Arizona works.”
Arizona has set an attainment goal to add more than 500,000 degrees and certificates by 2030. This includes both new high school graduates and workers who enter school or workforce training later.
“If we can’t have moms going back to school to get additional training or a degree or professional license, then we’re missing out on a giant opportunity,” Nickel said. He points to the top barriers that Arizonans surveyed gave, including cost of post secondary education and lack of child care.
“If we decide to invest in those areas, you can actually remove that barrier,” Nickel said. The two barriers together might seem impossible to overcome, but even removing one makes the goal of returning for training or college more attainable.
Nickel said a future third poll will ask Arizonans about policy solutions and explore policy opportunities that voters might support, such as free community college courses or investing in child care to make it more affordable.
“If you have the public saying that we expect our state to do more and you’re also saying that young women are a big opportunity to expand the workforce,” Nickel said. “I understand the realities of the political ecosystem in Arizona but that’s not going to keep us from advocating for the right thing.”
