C. Oregon child care costs can top college tuition

In Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Obama stressed the importance of affordable child care, a topic affecting many Central Oregon families.

“It’s time we stop treating child care as a side issue, or a women’s issue, and treat it like the national economic priority that it is for all of us,” the president said. “And that’s why my plan will make quality child care more available, and more affordable, for every middle-class and low-income family with young children in America, by creating more slots and a new tax cut of up to $3,000 per child, per year.”

At the Cobblestone Children’s Center in Bend, the issue is hitting close to home.

“Child care is extremely important for working parents right now,” Debi Smith, owner of the facility, said Wednesday.

Stephanie Angelechio, a single mom whose daughter is at Cobblestone, said, “Child care is probably one of the single most important things in my life.”

While care for children is imperative for working parents, it is also increasingly costly.

“Child care is the most expensive bill I have,” Angelechio said.

According to a study by Child Care Aware America, the cost of child care often exceeds the cost of housing, food and even college tuition. The annual average cost of child care in Deschutes County is $8,100, while average annual public tuition at OSU costs $6,679.

“At the end of the day, you often end up poorer working than staying at home and raising your child by yourself,” Angelechio said.

The study also finds Oregon is the third-worst state, when it comes to affordable child care. Angelechio said it is still more affordable in Central Oregon than in other areas of the state.

“This (day care) in Portland would easily be over $1,000 (a month),” Angelechio said.

Cobblestone officials said they are trying to help parents as much as possible.

“I do scholarships and I let them pay bi-monthly. I just work with families,” Smith said.

Angelechio said many of her single mom friends in Portland end up staying at home because they simply cannot afford the high cost of child care.

“Without this (day care), I don’t know how I would handle anything, really,” Angelechio said.