Your children may be able to get help of their own while you are in school, from early learning to meals and health coverage. Here is what each program does, who runs it and how to ask.
Early learning and care
Head Start serves children aged 3 to 5 in families with low incomes, and Early Head Start serves pregnant people, infants and toddlers. Both offer early learning, health screenings and family support without fees to families, through local programs that set their own hours. Some run a full day, which can line up with a class schedule.
Your state child care assistance program helps pay a provider you choose. Each state decides whether attending college counts as an approved activity, how many hours it will pay for and what papers it wants. Ask the state agency, and ask the campus child care center whether it accepts the subsidy.
Food for your children
WIC provides specific foods, nutrition advice and breastfeeding support for pregnant and postpartum people, infants and children under 5. State agencies run it, and it has an application of its own apart from SNAP.
Once your child starts school, the school meal program can provide breakfast and lunch at no cost or reduced cost to families who meet its income rules. Some states and districts serve meals to every student. A child in a family that gets SNAP is often signed up for school meals without a separate form, and many districts run summer meal sites as well.
Children can often get Medicaid or CHIP coverage at incomes where their parents cannot.
Health coverage for your children
Children can often get Medicaid or CHIP coverage at incomes where their parents cannot. Apply through your state Medicaid agency or the health coverage marketplace, and answer every renewal notice, because coverage can lapse when a form goes unreturned.
Your college's student health plan may offer coverage for dependents at extra cost. Compare it with Medicaid or CHIP before paying for it, and ask the campus health center which clinics nearby see children.
Steps to take
- Call your local Head Start program
- Apply for WIC through your state agency
- Ask whether college counts toward state child care help
- Check that your child's coverage renewal is current
Who decides
Your state agencies and your local Head Start program
Your children can have help of their own, from Head Start and WIC to school meals and CHIP, each through its own office.