After a three-year search for a home, construction has begun on SF State’s new childcare facility and learning lab for faculty and student research.

The 8,000 square-foot Children’s Campus will be located on North State Drive next to temporary structures being built for the library and is set to open in January.

The campus will provide child care and education for about 85 kids from six months to preschool age with admission priority given to the children of SF State faculty and staff.

It resembles the Child Study Center, a child care center that closed last year, which allowed SF State students doing research on early childhood education to observe children and get hands-on training as teachers.

“A great deal of research came out of that,” said Janet Igiziano, the committee chair on Children’s Campus. It was “a piece that we wanted to maintain.”

The Lake View Center, an old diagnostic center, was demolished over the summer in preparation for the new Children’s Campus.

Charlotte Ferretti, key committee member for the new campus, said the project would cost $3.8 million. Those funds went into the beginning stages of construction and into funding the architect, Louis Torelli, who helped design classrooms.

“[Children’s Campus] will have six classrooms, a big community room and a curriculum prep room,” Ferretti said. Faculty and staff job descriptions for Children’s Campus are now being posted.

The fees for Children’s Campus are broken down according to age group and how many hours a week the child will be in care.

According to the Children’s Campus Web site, fees for preschool children ages three to five years are $6.90 per hour. For a semester of five half days it costs $3,278 and $6,555 a semester for five full days.
For infants and toddlers ages six months to 36 months, it is $8.31 per hour and costs $3,952 for five half days and $7,904 a semester for five full days.

“Our fees are almost the same as the Associated Students Center except for our preschoolers, which is 64 cents more [per hour],” Ferretti said.

The Associated Students, Inc. Early Childhood Education Center is subsidized by student fees so that it is much cheaper for students.

Another difference between the ASI center and Children’s Campus is that early childhood education students can use the campus and get hands-on experience observing a child.

“The research opportunities will also be very rich and a great opportunity for faculty projects,” said Julie Law, who helped set up the student teacher training program.

As far as fees, Ferretti said that the Children’s Campus has to be self sustaining to help pay for staff salaries and help cover operating charges.

The enrollment period for Children’s Campus ended on Sept. 12.

Kathleen Chug, a committee member and administrative coordinator for Gateway to Quality, put her son Nicholas on the waitlist for the new Children’s Campus.

Chug said that it is very convenient for her because in case of an emergency she can pick up her son and not have to worry about things like traffic.

While she can afford the fees with her and her husband’s combined income, she hopes the price will go down because she said it “is more on the high end.”