Childcare Fund
HGSU-UAW Child Care Subsidy Summary and FAQs
The contract between Harvard University and the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW) Local 5118 establishes a fund of $830,000 annually to subsidize the costs of child care expenses of eligible student workers. Visit the Benefits Overview page to learn about upcoming deadlines.
All applications will open at least 6 weeks before the deadline. Student workers may submit their application for reimbursements here.
Please click on the questions to see the answers.
Eligibility and Coverage
To be eligible to receive funds from the Fund, a person must:
- be a student enrolled in a Harvard University degree program at the time expenses are incurred;
- be actively employed as a Research Assistant (but not an undergraduate Research Assistant), Teaching Fellow, Instructional Fellow, Pedagogical Fellow, or Course Assistant anytime in the six months preceding the application deadline;
- receive pay on a salaried basis; OR receive pay on an hourly basis and have worked at least 280 hours either between January 1 and June 30, 2023 or between July 1 and December 31, 2023; and
- be the parent/legal guardian of a child who is aged 12 and under as of October 1, 2023.
Eligibility can be complicated, so we created this guide to help you figure out which expenses are eligible at which deadline. You may need to go through this cheat sheet a few times to account for all the periods in which you may have been working.
The follow expenses are eligible for reimbursement:
- a licensed child care center
- a licensed family child care provider
- a licensed after school program
- a daytime summer camp program
- an in-home provider with a Social Security or Tax I.D. number.
Nannies and nanny-shares are covered if the caregiver has a valid Social Security number or Tax I.D. Number
All eligible applicants may receive up to a $3,500 grant for children ages 0-4 ($875 for children ages 5-12) per six month period – no receipts needed. These grants are awarded to you automatically when you apply at any deadline for the childcare fund. If your childcare expenses exceed the grant you receive (e.g. if you believe you have expenses greater than $3,500/$875), you may submit receipts for such expenses to receive a greater reimbursement. Last year, the average reimbursement per application from the childcare fund was $3,543. You can be reimbursed up to $7,500 (age 0-4) or $1,875 (age 5-12) per child each semester. All reimbursements and grants are scaled by household income. More detailed information can be found in our detailed fund rules here in the section entitled “Determination of Benefit Amounts”
Summer camps licensed or administered by a licensed day care facility or provider meet the requirements. The subsidy does not cover children’s participation in competitive sport programs such as soccer or baseball teams.
No, the fund is administered as a per-child benefit.
Application Questions
No. For simplicity of administration, household income is self-reported.
Include any income earned by yourself as well as a spouse or committed partner. You do not need to report financial information of extended family members or roommates unless they contribute significantly to household or childcare expenses.
The PAFS program is available to all GSAS PhD students (even if you are not employed in the HGSU bargaining unit). GSAS student workers in PhD programs may be eligible for both PAFS and the HGSU Child Care Fund. The PAFS program is not administered by or affiliated with HGSU, but access to it is guaranteed in our contract (Article 23, Section 2). The PAFS program is intended to provide a one-time stipend and leave time to GSAS PhD students upon the birth or adoption of a child. More details and instructions for how to apply are available on the PAFS program webpage. Please note that you cannot apply to PAFS using the application below, these are separate programs.
Complete the form as an hourly worker. You can receive Fall 2023 semester grants and/or reimbursement for childcare expenses incurred between April 13 and October 13, 2023 at this deadline. If you never received a Spring 2023 grant, you will also be eligible for a one-time grant supplement of $3,000 per child aged 0–4 and $750 per child aged 5–12 at the October deadline only. This supplement will not count towards the maximum payout for this deadline, and the supplement will not be available at future deadlines within this contract year.
If you are unable to log in to our application to apply via HarvardKey, that means that you have not worked in an HGSU-UAW eligible position in the relevant time period (July 1, 2023–present) according to the records Harvard has shared with us. If you are planning to teach this semester, try accessing the fund the first week after your class meets; you should appear in our records by then. If you have worked in an HGSU-UAW eligible position and still can’t access the application, email hgsu.benefits@gmail.com with your HGSU-UAW appointment letter and we will help you get access to the application.
Fund Rules - In Plain English
Section
Child Care
Scope
In-home and on-site care provided for children through age 12
Eligibility
Appointed to an eligible position in the bargaining unit in the semester covered by application
Application Timeline
Salaried workers: expenses April 13 – October 13 and fall grants in October; expenses October 14 – March 14 and spring grants in March; for graduating workers only: expenses November 2 – May 2 in May.
Hourly workers: for those who worked a qualifying number of hours January 1 – June 30, expenses from April 13 – October 13 and fall grants in October; those who never received a Spring 2023 grant will also be eligible for a one-time grant supplement of $3,000 per child aged 0–4 and $750 per child aged 5–12. For those who worked a qualifying number of hours July 1 – December 31, expenses October 14 – March 14 and Spring 2024 grants in March; for graduating hourly workers who worked a qualifying number of hours October 15 – April 15, expenses from November 2 – May 2 and Spring 2024 grants in May.
Benefit Structure
Pool
Determination of Benefit Amounts
Are there fixed costs/grants?
Yes—grant (based on each child’s age as of October 1 or birth date, if later)
Are there variable costs?
Yes—expenses beyond grant amount, e.g. in-home nanny or licensed daycare center
When does household income affect reimbursement?
Always
Maximum payout per deadline
$7,500 per child through age 4; $1,875 per child ages 5–12. For the May deadline, that is $2,500 per child through age 4, and $625 per child ages 5-12.
Typical documentation
Receipts, additional form for in-home providers
Applications
SmarterSelect, open from 6 weeks before next deadline
January Review (Quarterly for CC); Fund Governance
Minor changes made by vote of FBC; major changes are subject to HGSU membership vote
Full Rules
For full (legalese) version of the rules, please go here. For the most granular information on expenses we cover, refer to bullet point 1 of the Section entitled “Determination of Benefit Amounts.”
