Natasha Kothari should have spent the last few days studying for a test and finishing a project due this week. Instead, the KU mechanical engineering student has barely slept while trying to find new childcare after the abrupt closure of Hilltop Child Development Center.
Like Kothari, many parents of the more than 155 students served by the long-standing childcare center on the University of Kansas campus have been left scrambling because of the closure.
“It’s desperate. It’s bleak,” Kothari said. “It feels like chaos, and it feels like going from a place of security — you know, I have community and I have this village — to a place of fear.”
The closure came after more than a year of turmoil at the center, which previously had yearslong waitlists.
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Multiple parents said they were invested in Hilltop and wanted to see it thrive, even after the center began to struggle. They felt parents’ advocacy efforts were met with a lack of transparency from the Hilltop board and administrators, which compounded ongoing issues.
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For all of the stress Kothari has been under this week, she said many other families may have it worse.
Raising a child as a college student is always a tightrope walk, she said. She is close to graduation with her second degree and never imagined she would lose her university-supported childcare in the middle of a semester.
“To balance being a student and a parent when your world is completely thrown into uncertainty is horrific,” Kothari said.
From thriving to closing
Brian Handshy Jr. grew up in Lawrence, and long knew Hilltop as the place you wanted your child to be. The center always had a long waitlist, he said.
When he moved back to Lawrence in 2022, he did so in part because of the childcare options. His wife worked at KU, and he immediately signed his two children up for the Hilltop waitlist. In the fall of 2024, they finally were accepted.
Looking back, he said, it’s shocking how fast the center that originally opened in 1972 fell apart. He said the speed makes him doubt the closure was inevitable.
“It just boggles my mind that this institution that has been here for so long just failed so quickly,” Handshy said.
Multiple parents said they first started to notice issues at Hilltop after Cori Berg took the director role in June 2025.
In August 2025, numerous Hilltop parents and staff members voiced a litany of concerns to this publication, calling it “a systemic failure.”
Parents said they loved and supported their children’s teachers, and felt Hilltop’s leadership didn’t do enough to address issues as they arose.
Berg did not respond to an email seeking comment for this article. Neither did members of the Hilltop board.
Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, a spokesperson for KU, said the closure was the result of a review that considered multiple factors, including the financial resources required to maintain Hilltop and the availability of staffing. She said the center will continue providing care through Oct. 30 if it can continue meeting safety, staffing and licensing requirements.
“KU is grateful to the educators and staff who have cared for generations of children, and the university recognizes the disruption this closure will cause,” Barcomb-Peterson said.
She said KU understands Hilltop families and staff had a range of experiences during the last few years, but emphasized the decision to close the center was not a judgement on one individual.
“Cori has been tasked with managing various challenges of the broader childcare industry, including many that pre-date her arrival at Hilltop,” Barcomb-Peterson said.
Parents left scrambling
Mavis Li spent all week dealing with shifting childcare situations, all while working to complete her dissertation.
She spent Monday night researching childcare options until midnight. She tried to get a few hours of rest before waking up at the crack of dawn to try and be one of the first parents to call childcare centers in the morning to reserve a spot.
The first place she called was full, but the second had two open spots. She quickly drove to the center and paid the $315 deposit and registration fee.
She said Hilltop parents frantically shared resources in a group chat in lieu of information from the university.
“We also felt abandoned because, you know, I think it’s one thing to close it — it’s another thing how you close it,” she said. “And you (KU) really close it with no communication, and no care.”
The search has been especially hard for students, she said. Childcare regularly eats up about half of her graduate teaching assistant paycheck. Hilltop was one of few options in town where high-quality childcare is affordable for lower-income people, she said.
Li is an international student from China working on a doctorate degree in American Studies, a massive project she needs to get done this year. She is one of 21 student parents served by Hilltop, according to KU.
Li said she learned from her professors about the center’s history, how a group of women called the February Sisters occupied a campus building in the 70s to demand gender equality at KU, a move that led to the creation of Hilltop as a form of affordable campus childcare.
Tiffany González is a professor in the history department at KU, a role she said is only possible because of childcare.
Before her child was born, she wanted them to go to Hilltop, a place recommended by her colleagues.
She put her child on the waitlist and was accepted in January. Her 3-month-old attended the infant program, where after only a few months, she noticed teacher morale dipping.
She said she had a meeting with Berg to share her worries but the director didn’t seem responsive, a feeling echoed by multiple parents.
She helped organize parents to bring in snacks and coffee for the teachers and pushed for the center to do more for teacher appreciation week.
“My experience has been that it’s been a lack of leadership,” González said.
The closing will impact González’s effort to gain tenure and finish a book. She has already communicated with her dean about a possible halt in progress.
Her child has been on waitlists at childcare centers in town since before birth. She hopes a spot will open soon.
“It’s about the children and this is hurting the children,” González said. “All this transition, hurting kids that don’t know how to advocate for themselves just yet.”
‘The university is diminished by this’
Handshy said the closure reveals KU’s priorities.
He will be watching closely what KU does with the property. He said how KU moves forward from this will define its relationship with Lawrence.
Phillip Wrigley has long had a relationship with Hilltop. Both of his parents worked for KU, and he was part of Hilltop’s after-school program from first to fourth grade.
His Eagle Scout service project was building a fence in the playground that encloses the nature garden. For his middle school career day, he shadowed the former Hilltop director.
“I hadn’t realized at the time that I would end up being a teacher, but it seems appropriate now,” said Wrigley, who teaches history and civics at Topeka High School.
He called the closure disappointing and shocking. He said it will only add to an already overburdened childcare landscape.
“I don’t think there’s anything that would take away the shock,” Wrigley said. “I think Hilltop should just still be thriving.”
He called Hilltop a core piece of KU, the university where he received a degree and met his wife.
“The university is diminished by this,” Wrigley said. “It is a lesser university by closing Hilltop.”
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Cuyler Dunn (he/him), staff reporter, has worked with The Lawrence Times since April 2022. He can be reached at [email protected].
Read his complete bio at this link. Read more of his work for the Times at this link.
More coverage of Hilltop Child Development Center:
Cuyler Dunn/Lawrence Times
Cuyler Dunn/Lawrence Times
Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
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Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
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