GSA Child Care Grant
The GSA Child Care Grant provides need-based child care support to eligible graduate student applicants in the form of non-qualified scholarships.
The Child Care Grant is $1,000 per semester. While these grants do not cover the bulk of child care expenses, they provide graduate student parents with financial support to help offset childcare expenses and enable graduate student parents to pursue their studies.
Non-qualified scholarships, such as the Child Care Grant, are subject to taxation by the state and federal government. The tax amount will vary by individual.
Applications for Fall 2026 are open from until Friday, October 4th, 2026 at 11:59 PM. Apply .
ELIGIBILITY
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The GSA Child Care Grant considers one application per household. Students of any citizenship may apply. If you meet the eligibility criteria below, we strongly encourage you to apply. You should still apply even if you have received this grant in the past. We do our best to balance needs with funding, which may result in some deprioritization of grantees that have previously received the award, but we welcome and support repeat applicants.
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At the time of application, Child Care Grant applicants must:
- Be enrolled in at least 19 units as a graduate student at ÓÕ»óÂÜÀò on the Pittsburgh campus. Doctoral students with an "In Absentia" status are not eligible.
- Live with at least one dependent child who is not yet eligible for public elementary school due to age requirements, or a child with special needs under the age of eighteen. Special needs are identified as children who qualify under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
- Not be receiving the Cyert Center for Early Childhood Education Sliding Scale Benefit.
Privacy Statement
All documents submitted for verification purposes will have any personally identifiable information redacted. Demographic information submitted as part of the application will be retained for program improvement purposes.
Audit
The GSA Executive Committee reserves the right to request additional documents that verify dependent status or household financial information. We will only request further documentation from recipients of the grant.