Many families ask, “Is there an Air Force child care program available?” The answer is yes, and to support military families, the Department of Defense (DoD) offers a Fee Assistance program to help with the cost of community-based child care. This program aims to make quality child care more affordable by reducing the difference between what community child care providers charge and what families can afford based on their total family income.
How Child Care Fee Assistance is Calculated
The fee assistance amount is calculated by determining the gap between the monthly fee charged by a community child care provider and the DoD’s Total Family Income (TFI) based parent fee. It’s important to note that the community provider’s fee must not exceed the program’s established community provider cap for the specific type of care needed. This cap is in place to ensure reasonable costs are being considered for assistance calculations.
What Happens if Your Chosen Provider Charges More?
Families have the flexibility to choose a provider that may charge more than the set community provider cap. However, in such cases, the family becomes responsible for covering not only their assigned DoD TFI parent fee but also the additional tuition costs that exceed the provider cap. The fee assistance will only cover up to the capped amount.
Minimum Monthly Assistance and Assistance for Part-Time Employed Spouses
It’s also important to know that if the calculated difference between the community provider’s fee and the DoD TFI parent fee is less than $25 per month, fee assistance will not be provided. This is because the community provider fee is considered to be already comparable to the DoD TFI parent fee at this point. Furthermore, if a child is in full-time care and a spouse is employed or enrolled in education part-time, the family’s eligibility for full-time fee assistance may be reduced.
Important Considerations Regarding DoD TFI Parent Fees
Families should be aware that the DoD TFI parent fees used for calculating assistance in this program are based on fees from similar DoD-sponsored child care services. These fees may not always precisely match the parent fees charged at an installation-sponsored Child Development Center (CDC) or Family Child Care (FCC).
Fee Variations Based on Location: High-Cost vs. Basic
The DoD recognizes that child care costs can vary significantly depending on location. Therefore, families residing within identified high-cost installation localities will have their fee assistance calculated using established DoD TFI high-cost parent fees. Families living outside these designated high-cost areas will have their assistance calculated using the standard DoD TFI basic parent fees.
For detailed information on the current FY24 Total Family Income Categories, DoD Parent Fees, High Cost Installations, and Provider Caps, you can view the FY24 documentation. If you have further questions about fees or cost locations, please contact Child Care Aware® at 1-800-424-2246. You can also find more resources regarding payment policies and processes by clicking here.
