Grad Employee Family Benefits
Multiple campus organizations provide support to grad families--please review the helpful UMass Child Care Subsidies Info Sheet prepared by Student Parent Programs.
The Trust Fund Child Care Reimbursement
The Trust Fund plans to distribute over $150,000 during this plan year across eligible graduate
employees for their childcare costs.
The basic eligibility requirements are:
1) Applicants must be GEO-eligible, according to the guidelines for dental and vision insurance.
2) Eligible child care includes:
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state-licensed (or equivalent) infant, toddler, or preschool care in center based and group home-based settings
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before and after-school based care
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summer camp
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organizational/center based extracurricular activities (i.e. excludes private lessons)
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tutoring, homework assistance and online instructional programming costs for school-aged children
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Family, Friends, and Neighbor (FFN) informal care in (limited by a lower $3000 maximum)
Licensed care means that the State of Massachusetts' Office of Early Education & Care (or comparable state office in another state) has provided a license to your provider to operate. The state publishes a list of licensed providers. Please check with your provider if they are not on this list, as some are exempt under the EEC guidelines.
There is also a $6,000 per child (for whom receipts are submitted) annual maximum on the amount a family can be reimbursed. The full eligibility requirements and guidelines for how we determine childcare reimbursements are available below.
There is a $3,000 per child (for whom receipts are submitted) annual maximum on Family, Friends and Neighbors (FFN) Informal Care receipts effective with the fall 2022 period.
Important Documents & Deadlines
Deadlines
Summer 2022 receipts (June-Aug): DUE 9/15/22
Fall 2022 receipts (Sept-Dec): DUE 12/31/22
Spring 2023 receipts (Jan-May): DUE 5/31/23
Summer 2023 receipts (June-Aug): DUE 9/15/23
Predicting your Trust Fund Reimbursement
The Trust Fund cannot guarantee reimbursements because so many changing variables impact the number and amount of reimbursements per period: the number of eligible applicants, their actual total childcare costs, etc. However, it can be useful to review what families similar to yours have received in previous rounds of reimbursement. Please account for the fact that any other subsidy received for the same period will reduce your total reported child care costs.
Find your income level using your family size and your household's Adjusted Gross income from your last federal tax return using this chart.
Please find the most recent percentage reimbursements for all income levels below:
Subsidized Childcare Slots at CEEC
For those with qualifying incomes whose children attend the University's Center for Early Education and Care (CEEC), there are free slots in the Flex-Care classroom, paid for by the Health & Welfare Trust Fund. Get on the waiting list as soon as you can by calling CEEC at (413) 545-1566.
Subsidized Family Plan Rates
The Trust Fund uses funds to keep the cost of family plans as low as possible. The Trust Fund subsidizes over 90% of the cost of the GEO family dental plan and 100% of the cost of the GEO family vision plan. We also contribute funds towards keeping your UMass student health plan contributions low.
Campus Lactation Station Locations
The Health & Welfare Trust Fund has purchased a breast feeding glider chair for the breast feeding spaces operated by the Office of Family Resources (OFR), Rm. 428 Student Union Building, as well as the location in the Lederle Grad Research Tower. We'd like to encourage graduate student mothers to use the space! Click here for a map of breast-feeding rooms on campus.