At Hillsborough College, all eyes lately have been on the school’s Dale Mabry campus, the potential site of a Tampa Bay Rays stadium.
But another one of the college’s campuses will also be changing over the next few months.
The Ybor City campus’s Child Development Center is closing on May 8, according to a letter to parents obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.
The center offers child care to students, staff and faculty members from all of the college’s campuses, as well as to community members. It’s a teaching lab, which means Hillsborough College students studying child development work on the site alongside trained professionals.
Parents say the letter was distributed as a printout in January. The college has not released a public statement, and the day care’s website does not display any information about the closure.
A college spokesperson confirmed the center is closing but did not immediately respond to further questions.
The college has been navigating changes in federal funding and rising operational costs, according to the letter. Funding from a U.S. Department of Education grant that supported both operations and tuition was also discontinued, the letter said.
According to the letter, the college is in discussion with an “external organization that has expressed interest in assuming operations of the center,” and will share more information with families if the plans progress.
The letter also directs parents who need assistance identifying new child care options to the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County.
Alex Thorpe, a parent who has sent his four kids to the day care, said factors that drew him to the center are now open questions.
“To have an outside group come in, things are going to change,” he said.
Caroline DeBruhl, another parent who sends her daughter to the program, said she is devastated. She and her husband aren’t sure what they’re going to do, because other day cares have long waiting lists or are out of their budget.
Thorpe said having a day care that is well-run and accessible has been a godsend for him and his wife, who both work. When his family moved to Tampa in 2019, he said he felt other day cares they looked at were focused on making money rather than child development.
The day care’s curriculum is based on science, but also dedicated to what the children are interested in, said Hillsborough College reading instructor Sarah Gonzalez. Her daughter is interested in numbers, so the day care staff created a unit on counting just because she wanted to learn about it, Gonzalez said.
She also said many parents who drop their kids off at the center are Hillsborough College students who don’t make an income because they’re taking classes. Tuition for college faculty, staff or students is $875 per month, and community members pay $1,000 per month. The average price of child care in Tampa is over $3,000 per month, according to Care.com, a site that connects families and caregivers.
“It was really frustrating to hear that maybe the school is going to get all this money from a professional sports team, and in the same month, hearing news that they’re closing the child care center due to costs and funding,” Gonzalez said.
Thorpe said closing the center takes away from some of the most vulnerable people in the community.
“We should be providing more resources and services, not taking them away because there’s a flashy stadium going up down the road,” he said.