Resources for Parents

Support for Off-Cycle Entry into Campus Child Care Policy

Note:  Please complete the “Support for Off-Cycle Entry into Campus Child Care” form. 

The FAS is committed to supporting our faculty parents both at work and at home. Enrollment in Campus Child Care (CCC) begins in late August, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) is aware that not all faculty parents have children who are old enough to enroll in care at this time. Often, parents must pay for unused months between the start of the semester and the date when their child becomes age-eligible to attend in order to secure a spot. As a support for faculty parents, the FAS will fund these unused months for tenured, senior non-ladder, and tenure track parents for up to 5 months (August through December). The FAS will engage in a cost-sharing (50% paid) arrangement with tenured or senior non-ladder faculty, and will fund 100% of these costs for tenure track faculty.

Program specifics:

• The FAS will not apply to CCC for a faculty member. Faculty members must apply to CCC following the normal application procedures and then inform the FAS of their enrollment.
• The FAS faculty member must actively inform the FAS by completing the “Support for Off-Cycle Entry into Campus Child Care” form in advance of enrollment and ideally by May 31.
• The FAS will only pay until the child is age-eligible to attend (3 months after birth). If the faculty member decides to postpone enrollment past 3 months of age, the faculty member is responsible to pay for  the additional weeks/months.
• The FAS will pay for 50% of the cost of the unused months for tenured and senior non-ladder faculty, and 100% of the cost for tenure track faculty.
• The maximum amount of time the FAS will provide support is one semester (August-December, 5 months). The FAS will not pay to hold spots into the Spring semester.
• Families are responsible for paying their own deposit ($3,100 in FY’23) due with the enrollment contract.
• The FAS will not fund partial months of care and will round up to determine the end date of funding (e.g., if a child is eligible to enroll mid-month, the FAS will fund the entire month of care as per the faculty member’s individual agreement). Please see the examples below:
  • If the child of a tenure-track faculty member turns 3 months old on October 7, upon confirmation of enrollment in Campus Child Care, the FAS will pay 100% of the cost of that care for the unused months of August, September and October. The child is free to begin attending their Center on or after October 7, or according to the Center policy
  • If the child of a tenured faculty member turns 3 months of age on September 29, upon confirmation of enrollment in Campus Child Care, the FAS will pay 50% of the cost of that care for the unused months of August and September. The child may enter care on or after September 29, or according to the Center policy.
• The FAS will not fund any alternative child care arrangements through this program.
• The FAS will not fund faculty who wish to be released from their child care contract early for any reason.
• The FAS will pay Campus Child Care directly, but because this is a taxable benefit, the faculty member will see the tax withholding in their paystub.

Application for Dependent Care Funds

Dependent Care Funds (DCFs) provide financial assistance to scholars who must travel for a professional event or research program to advance their academic careers and who have dependent-care obligations that might otherwise impede such travel. For example, DCF grants may be used to defray the costs of transporting a dependent and/or professional caregiver to a conference location or research site, hiring supplemental dependent care at home while traveling, or arranging for on-site care at a meeting.

There are two Dependent Care Funds for which FAS tenure-track faculty are eligible, and these offer a combined total of up to $2,000 per year in possible funding. DCF awards may also be used in conjunction with the existing benefit offered through the Backup Care program, which has services in many U.S. cities and abroad. (For more information on this and other work/life resources, please visit the Work/Life section of Harvard's Human Resources portal.)

To apply to either fund, please submit the above application. The associate dean for your division or School will review your request and process your application for the FAS DCF first. Once the resources available through the FAS DCF are exhausted, you may apply for the University-wide (SVPF) DCF funds. The associate dean for your division or School will forward your application to SVPF for consideration and processing of the SVPF DCF award. (Since the SVPF DCF also covers elder care, please apply directly to SVPF for reimbursement of those costs - see below). Forms and receipts may be submitted before the event or up to 60 days after the event takes place. The associate dean for your division or School can answer any questions you may have on which costs are reimbursable.

• The FAS Dependent Care Fund:

FAS tenure-track faculty should first apply to the FAS Dependent Care Fund, which provides assistance with childcare obligations and has a $1,000 funding cap per scholar, per academic year. Applicants may submit more than one request and receive more than one grant within a given academic year, up to the next funding of $1,000 (after required tax withholding) per academic year. Payment will be made as additional compensation through the regular payroll and is considered taxable income by the Internal Revenue Service. The FAS Fund accepts rolling applications throughout the year.

•  The SVPF Dependent Care Fund:

The University-wide Dependent Care Fund (SVPF DCF) provides funding to help with caregiving costs for dependent children or adults during short-term professional travel for Harvard ladder faculty (tenured and tenure-track).

Once an FAS tenure-track faculty member has exhausted the resources available through the FAS DCF, additional funding may be available from the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Faculty (SVPF), which offers a Dependent Care Fund to assist scholars with child care and/or adult dependent care obligations. Eligible faculty members may apply for one SVPF DCF grant within a given academic year, up to a maximum of $1,000 per year. SVPF DCF applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

The deadline for submitting an application to the SVPF fund is June 15 of any year for professional travel that occurred in the same academic year. For example, if your travel was between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023, then the deadline would be June 15, 2023.

• For More Information:

For more information on the FAS DCF, please contact the associate dean for faculty affairs in your division or the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. For more information on the SVPF DCF, please visit www.faculty.harvard.edu or contact Natalie Beaumont-Smith in the Office of Work/Life: (617) 495-5933, natalie_beaumont-smith@harvard.edu.

Harvard has resources for nanny placement services and a nanny payment service. There is also a one-time grant of $6,000 to help FAS tenure-track faculty defray the costs of nanny placement services. Please contact the associate dean for faculty affairs in your division or the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences for more information.