NIH Childcare Reimbursement

Full-time NIH-funded trainees (appointed on T32, TL1, TU2, or T90 grants) and fellows (on F30, F31, F32 and F33 grants) are eligible to receive reimbursement for childcare costs up to $3,000 per budget period. NOA for the current budget period will confirm if such funding has been provided for your grant. Reimbursement is NOT available for students/postdocs employed on other types of NIH grants (e.g., R01).

The requirements for obtaining these funds through the related grant are slightly different between fellows (on F30, F31, F32, and F33 grants) and for trainees (appointed on T32, TL1, TU2, or T90 grants) but the reimbursement process to receive up to $3,000 to cover eligible childcare costs per budget period is the same. A summary of how this process works, plus links to other resources, are available in the NIH Childcare Summary of Key Provisions.

NIH Childcare Reimbursement Process

If you are administering an eligible grant, follow these steps to obtain reimbursement for the fellow/trainee:

  1. The department grants administrator deploys the Childcare Reimbursement Form to the fellow/trainee.
  2. The fellow/trainee completes sections 1-5 of this form in order to document their eligibility for this reimbursement and then submits it to the Certified Approver of the related sponsored project.
  3. The Certified Approver (CA) verifies that the fellow/trainee has fully completed section 1-5 of the form and completes the “for department use only” section.
  4. If the fellow/trainee is an enrolled student, the CA forwards the form to Regina Moran ([email protected]) in Student Finance. If the fellow/trainee is not an enrolled student (for example post doctoral fellow), go to step #8.
  5. Regina Moran posts the reimbursement to the fellow/trainee's student account. 
    NOTE: If the reimbursement puts the fellow/trainee over their "cost of attendance," or COA, the reimbursement or other financial aid may be reduced. Fellows/trainees may appeal by using this COA appeal form)
  6. Regina Moran notifies the CA when the reimbursement has been processed to their student account. The trainee/fellow receives notification through their student account.
  7. If the fellow/trainee is not an enrolled student, the CA forwards the form to the department EFS expense report preparer.
  8. The EFS expense report preparer processes the reimbursement request as an expense report using the EFS chartfield string on the form. The trainee/fellow receives notification via email.