Local community colleges are preparing for the possibility of further federal cuts to programs that serve low-income students.
At Monroe Community College’s Brighton campus, a federal program providing free early childhood education for low-income parents who are enrolled in college full-time could end next fall.
That opportunity has been available through Child Care Access Means Parents in School, or CCAMPIS, a federal grant program that covers nearly 40 children at the college’s childcare center. The center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Ginny Geer-Mentry, executive director of the Monroe Community College Association, which oversees the Richard M. Guon Child Care Center, said there’s currently no application to renew the grant, which is set to end next September. That does not bode well for families who would no longer have access, she said.
“Early childhood education is critical,” Geer-Mentry said. “If a child is falling behind at two, or there's a problem at two, we can help them, get them assessed, get them services, and so by the time they're starting kindergarten, they are up and ready with the rest of their class.”
MCC received nearly $2.1 million in CCAMPIS grant funding from Oct. 2023 to Sept. 2026.
About 20% of students at MCC are parents, Geer-Mentry said, and many are Pell grant eligible, meaning they have financial need. Those who had access to child care through CCAMPIS were more likely to continue their studies than those who did not, she added.
“Not only does it fully pay for their tuition, but it helps cover some of the overhead costs so that we can get additional training for our teachers," she said. "It helps us pay people a little bit better, so that we can have retention in our staff, so we have trained staff watching and teaching the children. And so for us this, CCAMPIS grant is critical,”
The outlook for college grants like the childcare subsidy is currently unclear.
The Trump administration proposed eliminating $75 million from the CCAMPIS program in its 2026 budget request released in May.
“The recommended funding levels result from a rigorous, line-by-line review of (fiscal year) 2025 spending, which was found to be laden with spending contrary to the needs of ordinary working Americans and tilted toward funding niche non-governmental organizations and institutions of higher education committed to radical gender and climate ideologies antithetical to the American way of life,” Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought said in the May 2 letter to Senate Committee on Appropriations Chair Susan Collins.
Specific to CCAMPIS, the recommendation stated that "subsidizing childcare for parents in college is unaffordable and duplicative” and advised that funding could instead be “secured through the Child Care Development Block Grant.”
Through the Child Care Development Block Grant program, the federal government provides states with money to help working families afford child care. In Monroe County, parents are eligible for child care subsidies if they have incomes below 85% of the state median income. That's just over $9,000 a month for a household of four.
A Senate bill introduced in September called the CCAMPIS Reauthorization Act is currently in committee.
Maintaining that child care opportunity for parents attending college full-time is “part of our mission,” MCC Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Mike Jacobs said.
“We have students who struggle with food and housing insecurity, students who struggle with transportation issues, students who struggle with basic needs, and students who have had historically to make choices between going to work or taking care of a child and coming to school,” he said. “So I see it as all part of the same paradigm."
"Every dollar counts”
Robert Nye, president of Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, said FLCC has lost about $74,000 in federal grants that support students in financial need, including the federal work-study program and a supplemental educational opportunity grant.
Nye said, though the cuts are small in comparison to other colleges, the effect on impacted students and their families is anything but.
“Every dollar counts and so every dollar that we can put into supporting students to help them succeed in their financial aid counts,” Nye said. “Once we help them succeed, go out and earn family-sustaining wages and well-paying jobs based on the courses of studies that they had, there's probably a multiplier effect of many more people in their family in the future that are able to take advantage of just helping get that one student through school.”
About 50% of students in any given year qualify for financial aid, Nye said.
Going forward, his administration is planning for different scenarios and looking into alternative funding sources depending on what other cuts may come down the pike.
"I think it's just important for all schools to plan for all conceived potential contingencies that could occur, so at least you've thought through them before they happen, and can better plan for them if they do occur,” Nye said.
Finger Lakes Community College is part of the State University of New York system (SUNY). In an interview with the New York Public News Network, SUNY Chancellor John King said the network of state colleges and community colleges have lost more than $20 million in grants so far — including research grants, too.
“It's heartbreaking what the administration, the Trump Administration, has done to try to undermine what really are core American values,” King said. “This is a country that is diverse. We have people from many backgrounds. It's one of our strengths. This is a country with a deep commitment to equality of opportunity.”
