Paying for Child Care

Harvard employees are eligible for a dependent-care flexible spending account that allows them to set aside money on a pre-tax basis to pay for eligible expenses associated with the care of a dependent child or adult so that they (and their spouses) may work, attend school, or seek employment.

Harvard employees may be eligible for one of several child care scholarship programs. Each year, these programs make limited funds available, based on need, to eligible employees to help defray the cost of child care.

Harvard doctoral/PhD students with a child enrolled in a Harvard-affiliated center may be eligible for limited funds from a pilot child care fellowship program. Download application here. Email worklife@harvard.edu for more information.

Harvard ladder faculty -- assistant, associate, and full professors -- may be eligible to apply to the ladder ACCESS program. It makes significant awards available to income-eligible parents of children under the age of 6 in child care. For more information, please visit www.faculty.Harvard.edu.

For information on financial aid for child care for Massachusetts families, visit the Child Care Resource Center’s website and download its Financial Assistance Document or call its Parent InfoLINE at 617-547-1063, ext. 72, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For information about child care subsidies in Cambridge, call Cambridge Community Partnerships for Children at 617-547-1063, ext. 212, or the Cambridge Department of Human Service Programs at 617-349-6254.