More than 100 Oregon State University families are preparing for major changes after the university announced it will take over operations of Beaver Beginnings, the on-campus childcare program, this fall, replacing longtime provider KinderCare.
University officials say the move is necessary to keep the campus child care center open. However, many parents argue that the new model was developed without meaningful input from them, the people who rely on the service.
The transition comes as child care providers across Oregon face rising costs, staffing shortages, and increasing financial pressures. Yet for many Beaver Beginnings families, the controversy extends beyond child care economics. Parents say the situation has raised questions about how a university that regularly promotes student success, access, and belonging makes uncooperative decisions that directly affect working parents, student-parents, and employees whose ability to work often depends on reliable child care.
“It’s not that we don’t understand that there are financial realities,” said psychology professor Jessee Dietch, whose two children attend Beaver Beginnings. “It’s that it feels like these decisions were made for us, rather than with us.”
KinderCare announced earlier this year that it would cease operations at Beaver Beginnings on June 26 after more than 35 years on OSU’s campus. According to both the company and university officials, the decision was driven by financial challenges, enrollment concerns, and planned facility maintenance that would require the temporary closure of the building. To prevent the center from shutting down permanently, OSU stated it would assume responsibility for operating Beaver Beginnings starting on Sept. 8. The university’s plan preserves on-campus child care, but it also introduces significant changes.
The new model includes reduced operating hours from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the loss of provided lunches, and tuition increases of up to 42% for some families. This isn’t just an inconvenience; it threatens the stability of local families.
Dietch waited nearly three years to secure a spot for her oldest child, and her younger child joined later.
“It was just an absolutely wonderful child care experience for us once we got in,” she said. “We loved the teachers, and we loved the community.”
Now, she worries the new model is unrealistic for many families to use, particularly those with less flexibility in their schedules. Several parents say they have requested opportunities to discuss the transition directly with university administrators, including a public forum or town hall meeting. Though while families have received updates about the changes, some say they have not been given meaningful opportunities to provide feedback before major decisions were finalized.
“It feels very prescriptive,” Dietch said. “Like they’re telling us: this is what’s best for you.”
That frustration reflects a broader concern among Oregon parents who say child care should be viewed as essential infrastructure, not an optional workplace benefit. Without reliable child care, parents are forced to adjust work schedules, reduce their hours, delay educational goals, or leave jobs altogether.
“If you don’t have child care, you can’t work,” said Helen Higgins, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis. “You’re absolutely dead in the water.”
These challenges facing Beaver Beginnings are sadly not unique. Across Oregon, providers are struggling to balance rising operating costs with families’ ability to pay.
“The great debate is how do you pay teachers what they’re worth, provide a quality program, and make it affordable for families?” said Brenda Daigle, director of Corvallis Community Children’s Centers. “I think everybody struggles to answer those questions.”
Her organization, like many others, operates at capacity and maintains waitlists across all age groups. According to Megan Pratt, coordinator of the Oregon Child Care Research Partnership, Benton County had enough regulated child care slots for only about 35% of children ages 5 and younger in 2024. Availability was even lower for infants and toddlers.
“The system has historically and continues to be largely paid for by parents,” Pratt said. “Parents are paying a lot, and programs are still struggling.”
Those pressures help explain why maintaining child care programs has become increasingly difficult, even for large institutions like OSU. Still, parents say the Beaver Beginnings transition highlights a question many communities across Oregon are grappling with: who gets a voice when difficult child care decisions are made?
Few families dispute that keeping the center open is important. Most acknowledge that OSU inherited a difficult situation when KinderCare announced its departure. What remains unsettled, they say, is whether the people most affected by the changes were adequately included in conversations about the future of the program.
Across Oregon, communities continue to wrestle with how to provide affordable, accessible child care in a system where providers struggle to stay afloat, and families struggle to keep up.
At OSU, that statewide challenge has become personal, and for many parents, the central question is no longer whether Beaver Beginnings can survive, but whether a program designed to support families can continue fulfilling that mission if those families feel excluded from decisions about its future. Parents continue to call for greater transparency and opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their children, their careers, and their place within the university community. Whether OSU responds to those concerns could shape not only the future of campus child care but also how the university supports the families it serves.
By Taylor Pedersen
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