The University of Alabama at Birmingham has opened a new Early Learning Center to help employees find child care.

The new building can accommodate 228 children and 46 infants and offers reduced tuition to UAB staff – and all of the spots are already full, according to Brian Burnett, senior vice president for finance and administration.

UAB representatives said they are already looking into solutions to open up more availability for child care, as parents across the city and the country wrestle with rising costs and few options.

“Childcare is a big issue across the state of Alabama and UAB is no exception to that,” Burnett said. “We had a waitlist for several years of over 200 families wanting access to childcare while they study, or serve our hospital or teach our students in the various operations of UAB, so this was in great demand.”

The Early Learning Center will offer reduced tuition and discounted child care to UAB faculty, staff and students. The project cost about $11 million.

Peter Jones said the Early Learning Center has helped him and his wife, both UAB faculty members and parents to three children, balance their family’s needs and research goals.

“We do research and the Early Learning Center allows us to do that. We don’t have family here. A lot of faculty don’t. And so it’s really kind of a necessity that we have this,” Jones said. “We drop our kids off. We know that they’re safe, they’re loved. The teachers are incredible. It’s just a really good space to be in.”

In 2022, almost 85,000 Alabama families needed access to child care but had no affordable, quality options in their communities, according to the Business Council of Alabama.

Alabama has the most child care deserts in the southeast, according to the Center for American Progress. As many as 19% of working parents in Alabama said they had had to miss work due to child care issues, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found in 2021.