A different picture emerges when comparing two year and four year institutions. On four year campuses the function of centers is more evenly divided. A text version of this table is presented in the paragraph above the table. The data indicate that few campus centers depend entirely on parent fees for their operating budgets. In-kind support, received by many centers, includes such things as facility, maintenance and utilities.
Students participate in centers in a variety of ways as indicated by the table below.
For those reporting other centers affiliated with the institution, the average number of additional centers is 2.9. Respondents report that relationships range from openly competitive, hostile or disrespectful to friendly but no relationship. A few respondents discussed the dichotomy between the child care service-laboratory school concepts, emphasizing the perceived differences and hierarchical nature of the two types of programs. For example, on some campuses collaboration occurs between the laboratory schools when more than one exist, or the child care services, but not between the two types of centers. Some campuses report that the institutional policy to decentralize children's services discourages collaboration, and others identify the location of the centers as a limiting factor in any attempted association.