For Parents

How did Little Vikings come to be?

The idea for Little Vikings was sparked by an article Lisa Wittorff, the Director of the Resource Center for Students with Children, saw about a drop-in childcare center opening at Oregon State. The idea was presented to the Student Fee Committee in Winter 2013, and they encouraged Lisa to submit a proposal for funding to build Little Vikings. The Student Fee Committee approved $160,000 in funding to build Little Vikings, and has committed about $40,000 in annual funding to subsidize the student cost for Little Vikings. During the summer of 2013, RCSC staff, 26 student parents, and numerous PSU staff met together in work groups to further develop the concept of Little Vikings. Our goal is to serve students, staff and faculty in a flexible manner that meets your needs. Please let us know how we can best serve you!

How does it work?

Every child who comes to Little Vikings must be registered. You will only need to register your child once, however you are asked to keep the form updated with the most current contact and medical information. Once your child is registered, you will be able to reserve care and you can reserve care for the entire term if you are a student or staff member. Community members may reserved up to one week in advance.

Little Vikings has a limit on care. The limit is 5 hours per child per day, and 20 hours per child, per week. If you have an emergency or special circumstance and need extended care, please email our Director, Marisol Barce at mbarce@pdx.edu or call 503-725-8800.

The care at Little Vikings is charged on an hourly basis. You will be charged for the care you reserve, whether you use it or not. If you reserve care far in advance and cancel it at least 2 business days in advance, you will not be charged for the care. The minimum amount of reserved care is one hour. Check out our Rates page for more information.

Little Vikings also has special “Day Camp” days when Portland Public Schools has in-service or non-school days that coincide with days where class is in session at PSU. On these days, we will have Day Camp available for school-age children, and a special all-day rate for care. More information about that on our Rates page. Although children under three can reserve care on camp days, their is not a special rate for infants and toddlers and parents will be charged by the hour.