Hilltop Contacts

Hilltop Child Development Center, Inc. is located in the KU Child Care Center building on the University of Kansas campus near the Anschutz Sports Pavilion and Burge Student Union.

Hilltop uses a developmental approach to program planning. We emphasize pre-academics as well as social, emotional, and physical development. Our primary goal is to provide warm and loving care while simultaneously offering a stimulating and educational curriculum. (See Page 2 Hilltop Programs: Philosophy & Goals for extended description)

7:15 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. Monday - Friday

Hilltop is licensed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Our program has been accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children since 1987. This accreditation was recently renewed through August of 2009.

Hilltop is open year round except for 1-2 weeks at the end of December & the first or second week in August. We are also closed for the following holidays: Labor Day, Thanksgiving & day after, Christmas, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day.

Hilltop offers student-friendly services: sliding fee schedule, scholarship fee subsidies, priority to student families on the waiting list and optional care for periods when KU classes are not in session. Our Optional Care includes 6 to 7 weeks throughout the year (between semesters and spring break) when care is optional & only the parents who sign up to use the service pay for it. Optional care hours are 7:40 a.m. - 5:20 p.m.

Hilltop enrolls children with special needs and has services provided for these children by the Lawrence Public Schools and the Douglas County Infant-Toddler Coordinating Council.

Van Transportation from some public schools for After Kindergarten and After School programs is available.

Priority to University of Kansas students, staff and faculty. Limited non-KU enrollments may be possible. (See enrollment and admissions for acceptance time line).

Scholarships for income eligible families may be available through funding from Social and Rehabilitation Services, Douglas County Child Development Association, United Way of Douglas County, the Student Senate and Hilltop.

Hilltop is very fortunate to have families who represent a variety of cultures. We welcome their sharing of activities and customs with the classrooms. Many different types of families are also represented in the center. Children learn to recognize and accept this type of diversity, as they do other types, through social interactions and planned learning activities in the classroom. Our goal is to help every child feel part of a cohesive, accepting, loving group. We do not want any child to feel different, left out or discriminated against because of their race, nationality, family type, disability, or their family's religious preference or non-preference. Hilltop is a child's world and in this world everyone is special and respected.

In the early 1970's the February Sisters Movement brought to the attention of the University Administration and the Student Body the need for campus childcare. Through the combined efforts of Molly Laflin, then a student representative on the Student Senate, and an initial allocation of $20,000 by the Student Senate, Hilltop opened at its original site on Jayhawk Blvd. in the fall of 1972. The Center was originally established to provide all day care for children whose parents were in some way affiliated with the University: student, staff or faculty.

The program grew from three to eight classrooms as the need for quality child care increased through the 70's and 80's. By the early 1990's the building was full and long waiting lists made it clear that more space was needed. Attempts to find additional space on campus had failed. In 1994 the university-wide Child Care Task Force assigned to study the need for campus child care proposed that a new larger facility was needed. The continued strong support from the Senate and the student body convinced the university administration to move forward with plans for the new child care facility. Design work began in the fall of 1997. The ground breaking for the "new Hilltop" was held on June 27, 1999, and the move to the new building was completed in early August of 2000.

Hilltop serves the University in many ways. First, the Center provides quality child care and education for a wide age range of children whose parents study, teach, or work at the University. As many of Hilltop's parents are students, Hilltop's service is directly related to the University's outreach and affirmative action goals. As more and more parents with young children become students, the need for high quality campus child care will continue to grow.

Hilltop also provides a work site on campus for students who are interested in working with young children. Other services to the University include a site where students may aide for class credit or as part of a class assignment, where they can conduct special projects, implement research, or observe teachers, children, or special activities. Students from the Special Education Department are placed in Hilltop classrooms each semester as part of their training programs.