Portland State has a new child care service that makes it more convenient for parents with a changing schedule, or who require minimum child care. The Little Vikings drop-in child care service gives students, staff or faculty the option of a child care service without having to commit to a set amount of days and times.
The hours for drop-in child care are from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday–Thursday, and 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Fridays. Little Vikings is the only service at PSU that allows drop-ins while also offering guaranteed reserved slots. Reservations can be made in advance or day-of, and Little Vikings accepts children aged from 6 weeks to 12 years.
“We have activities for all the age ranges of kids,” said Jody Day who is an Oregon licensed early childhood education and elementary teacher. Day will lead the drop-in childcare service along with 9 licensed PSU student staff members.
The drop-in care has a limit of 4 hours per day, and 12 hours per week. Exceptions are made for the day camps: These are set up when Portland public schools do not have school while PSU is still in session.
According to a press release, “The mission of the Little Vikings drop-in child care center is to support students with children and the university community with the means to meet their educational, personal and professional commitments and demands.”
“They needed child care right then,” said Lisa Wittorff, director of the Resource Center for Students with Children, referring to parents who needed just a few hours of service from time to time.
Little Vikings was created to meet these needs and make it easier for parents. Since parents pay hourly for the child care, it saves them money when compared to having to pay a set fee. Each additional child is charged $1 per hour less than the normal rate, which for students range from $6.70 to $8.80 per hour. Rates for staff and faculty range from $9.00 to $12.10.
The press release states that “in order to qualify for the student rate, students must be enrolled in at least 8 undergraduate or 5 graduate credits.”
Wittorff made a proposal for the idea after hearing about the drop-in child care center at Oregon State. Little Vikings was made possible from a grant of $160,000 from the Student Fee Committee, along with $40,000 in annual funding which subsidizes the cost for students.
For more information, visit Little Vikings online at littlevikings.org.