(FIAT) Child Care Tuition Scholarship Program

Goals: Increase availability, affordability and quality of infant and toddler child care for at risk families
Establish an infant and toddler child care financial aid system

Who provides funding for these scholarships?

Funding for this program is provided by the Success by 6 Coalition of Douglas County through a Kansas Early Childhood Block Grant.

Who provides the childcare?

Care is provided by Douglas County early learning programs that meet the following criteria:

• Be a licensed child care home, group home or center in the State of Kansas
• Be contracted with SRS and verify with a copy of their SRS agreement.
• Provide full-day care
• Enroll in the Kansas Quality Rating System (KQRS) to ensure that programs
• Engage in continuous quality improvement
• Communicate quality to families
• Develop supportive relationships with working families

How do families qualify for a scholarship?

• A child must be less than 30 months of age and a resident of Douglas County.
• Family income would qualify them for participation in the federal free or reduced lunch program (up to 186% FPL).
  
• Parent(s) living in the home must be working at least 20 hours per week or have a documented need for childcare.  Documentation must support the risk of the child being developmentally delayed and be approved by a mental health professional, special education consultant or physician.
• Families must apply for SRS child care subsidies.

How much of the childcare bill does the scholarship pay?

Scholarships are paid on a sliding scale according to the parents’ income.  Parents will pay only the SRS suggested family share.

How do parents get a scholarship?

Eligible families should call the FIAT Program Assistant at Douglas County Child Development Association (785) 842-9679 for application materials. You can also download the Fiat Scholarship Application (Word).

What are the income eligibility guidelines?

Families are eligible to apply if they make no more than the following amounts monthly:

• 2 member family - $2,159
• 3 member family - $2,714
• 4 member family -$3,269
• 5 member family - $3,824
• 6 member family - $4,379