By Sean LaPlaca

UK Student Government is offering childcare grants this semester for students who are also parents.

The grants are offered to both part-time and full-time undergraduate or graduate students.

A main focus is to help students with day care service for their children, said Micah Fielden, SG president.

“As for my take on them I am very passionate about providing monetary assistance to students at UK that have children,” he said.

Fielden said he hopes the program will give parents the opportunity to finish college.

“By providing funding, we help pay for day care and other activities that allow the parent to attend class and successfully earn their degree,” he said.

SG has made it a priority to increase the effectiveness of the program, Fielden said.

“Vice-President Nikki Hurt and I felt that SG needed to provide more funding for this great program, so we decided to raise the funding for Childcare grants by 33 percent from last year’s $15,000 budget allocation to this year’s $20,000 allocation,” Fielden said.

Stephen Bilas, the chief of staff, said that childcare helps give student parents assistance in continuing their education at UK.

“We all need help along the way and Childcare grants allows us to extend a helping hand to a select group of students responsible for more than just getting to class on time,” Bilas said.

“We have had people in the past say that their grant was the reason they were able to continue their education.”

Applications are available on the student government association website under applications and resources.

The form consists of basic information and recipients will be notified the week of Oct. 3. The grants for childcare are available each semester.