Trump Budget Proposal Eliminates Childcare Subsidy for Parenting College Students
Credit: Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images News- The CCAMPIS program has historically enjoyed bipartisan support.
- In recent years, however, the program has been on the chopping block for Republican lawmakers.
- CCAMPIS grants help thousands of college students afford childcare and continue their studies each year.
- Student advocates worry that cutting the program could lead parenting students to drop out of school.
President Donald Trump’s 2026 budget proposal calls for cutting all federal funding to the Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program.
CCAMPIS provides grants directly to colleges and universities to provide childcare services for low- and middle-income parenting college students. Congress allocated $75 million for the program in 2023 and 2024, and grants help over 10,000 college students afford childcare each year.
Student advocacy groups previously told BestColleges that cutting CCAMPIS funding would likely have devastating effects on parenting students’ ability to earn a college degree.
In his budget, Trump called the program “unaffordable and duplicative.”
“Funding can instead be secured through the Child Care Development Block Grant,” the budget proposal states. “Further, [institutions] could offer to accommodate this need among their student population, and many do.”
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) provides federal funding to states to subsidize the cost of childcare for low-income families with children under the age of 13. CCAMPIS, meanwhile, is designed specifically to accommodate college students and funds are directed toward institutions that enroll a high percentage of Pell Grant recipients.
CCDBG was funded at $8.75 billion in 2024, according to the First Five Years Fund.
It remains unclear precisely how many students and families CCAMPIS grants help each year.
In 2018, $55 million in CCAMPIS funding helped approximately 11,000 college students pay for childcare, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. That was still only a small portion of the estimated 1.8 million college students with dependent children who could qualify for the program.
Research suggests childcare costs can be a burden for many college students.
A January 2020 report from California Competes found that a single, low-income California parenting student’s average cost of college is 34% greater than that of a nonparenting student. Parenting students pay $7,592 more per child each year than nonparenting students.
Experts told BestColleges that many institutions — particularly community colleges — are not equipped to subsidize childcare costs on their own. These institutions often relied on the federal government to either provide childcare directly on campus or subsidize the cost of care at off-campus centers.
The cut likely didn’t catch advocates off guard, however.
The House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies called for eliminating the CCAMPIS program in its 2025 budget request. Many expected CCAMPIS to once again be on the chopping block as Trump looked to slash the federal budget to enact unspecified tax cuts.
Advocates React to Proposed Cut
Nicole Lynn Lewis, founder and CEO of Generation Hope, told BestColleges that CCAMPIS is an important resource for more than 1 in 5 undergraduate students in the U.S. who are parenting while attending college.
“Rather than cutting the funds for this program, we should be increasing funding to ensure that thousands of students across the country have quality childcare so they can continue to further their education,” she said. “This doesn’t just benefit families, it benefits our communities and our country as a whole.”
She stressed that the cost of childcare is one of the most significant hurdles for caregivers trying to earn a degree or credential.
Sameer Gadkaree, president of The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS), shared similar concerns, adding that cuts to the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) program would also undermine critical student supports.
“Simply put, college must be available for everyone — not just the wealthy few,” Gadkaree said in a statement. “We urge Congress to reject these cuts.”