It is tough for a parent attending school if they are wondering how they will take care of their children while attending class.

At the moment, childcare is a topic that seems to be stuck in the shadows.

Childcare was previously offered as a service on-campus, but today there seems to be a lack of information across all departments about whether the service will come back.

After some initial research on the SJCC website, there is a list of support programs for those students who are in need of specific assistance.

SJCC listed on their support program page a grant named the “Care Grants,” but students must be part of EOP, or Educational Opportunity Program, and must be considered a single head of a household, or single, divorced, separated or other. The Care grants are only given to those who are eligible.

There is also additional eligibility which could be found online through the SJCC Support Programs section.

The Care Grant aims to assist a student with the high costs of childcare.

After trying to find answers about childcare, the SJCC official website stated that childcare on-campus has been “acknowledged”.

Although there is a message on the site about childcare, the date or any estimated time of when more information will become available has not been updated.

But the message does state that SJCC will plan to implement childcare services back on campus, eventually. There is no clear timeframe for when on-campus childcare services will be implemented.

If students are looking at the Support Program Section on the SJCC website, there is another program on the list.

CalWORKS is a state funded program and is similar to the Care Grant.

It is for student-parents with children that are dependent and are receiving county assistance.

CalWORKS claims in its description that it is lifting families through education.

To complete an application, students can visit the Santa Clara County Social Services Agency page.

After a series of empty responses and answers regarding childcare, so far SJCC seems to only be providing two programs for students to apply for those who are eligible.

Marilise Edwards, an English professor at SJCC, shared her experiences as a professor working with student-parents over the years.

“I witnessed firsthand how students are dropping out, failing and struggling in general because of not having a childcare system on our campus,” Edwards said.

Edwards added that she heavily supports the comeback of the childcare system on-campus.

“Childcare can provide critical support for SJCC students trying to focus on their education,” she said.