The University of Saskatchewan Board of Governors has approved a new 90-spot childcare facility to be built in the university’s College Quarter.

The new childcare centre is intended to alleviate the growing pressure from the campus community for additional childcare spaces.

“It’s going to be for students, staff and faculty and the proportion of spaces allotted is representative of our campus makeup,” said U of Students’ Union president Max FineDay. “This goes a long way to alleviating stress on student parents who have been looking for solutions to the childcare crisis on campus for so long.”

In March 2013, the Board of Governors approved the construction of the $4.8 million facility. However, due to the university’s financial situation, senior administrators halted the creation of the facility to combat a projected $44.5 million deficit for the 2015–16 fiscal year.

“The former administration said that this wasn’t the direction they wanted to move in and shelved the plans for this childcare center,” FineDay said. “Thankfully, though, we’ve seen them backtrack on that and put these plans to good use.”

A construction date will be negotiated shortly, FineDay said.

“This is a great step forward but the work is by no means completed yet,” said FineDay. “We need to continue to look at how we can reduce the wait times for childcare. The list is hundreds of names long.”

The U of S currently has two childcare facilities that offer a combined 110 spots: one in the R.J. Williams Building and one in the Education building. In recent years, the demand for childcare spaces on campus has grown sharply.

The Board of Governors also gave the go-ahead to explore other childcare possibilities, including the the renovation and expansion of the USSU Childcare Centre.

“We need to continue to look at expanding our current centres,” FineDay said. “We’re going to be sitting down with the university administration in the coming weeks. It’s something I’m definitely in support of, but we need to find those partners and have those conversations about what that would look like and what comes next.”