Higher Education Child Care Project

Higher Education Child Care Project (HECCP)

The Dean of Students team is administering a pilot project for reimbursement of qualified child care expenses through the Higher Education Child Care Project (HECCP) funded by the Arizona Department of Economic Security (ADES). The pilot project end date is June 30, 2024. The purpose of the NAU HECCP is to provide qualified child care assistance to income eligible undergraduate student-parents (of children age twelve (12) and under) who are enrolled full-time in one of the following programs/areas: School of Nursing, Early Childhood Education, or K-12 Education.

Applications for Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Summer 2023 or the full 2022-2023 Academic Year are now being accepted. Retroactive applications for Spring and/or Summer 2022 will be considered through October 2022.

Review Guidelines

Submit Application

Submit Receipts

Eligible and verified child care expenses will be reimbursed to qualified project participants per allowable rates.
Participants may use the qualified child care provider if it is listed at Arizona Child Care Resource & Referral per the HECCP Guidelines.
Student-parents must apply for reimbursements each academic year or for individual terms and HECCP eligibility will be verified prior to each monthly payment.
Summer 2023 reimbursements may be considered if the student-parent is enrolled as a full-time undergraduate in Summer 2023 or in Fall 2024. However, Summer 2024 will not be reimbursed as the pilot project will be ending mid-summer.
Any ADES child care assistance received by the student-parent outside of the HECCP must be utilized prior to reimbursements through this project.
Should funding become limited, priority will be given to Nursing majors participating in their clinicals and Education majors who are student teaching. A wait list will be created for eligible student-parents.

Undergraduate in-person, online, and statewide campus students must be enrolled full-time at Northern Arizona University in the School of Nursing, Early Childhood Education, or K-12 Education programs/areas and have dependent children twelve (12) years of age and under.
Student-parents must have an annual Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of no more than 165% of the current ADES Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and be Arizona residents
Child care expenses for legally dependent children ages twelve (12) and under must be from qualified providers listed on the Child Resource and Referral (CCR&R) website: Arizona Child Care Resource & Referral.
Children must be twelve (12) years of age or younger and be United States citizens or Qualified Immigrants.
Eligible student-parents may be asked to provide additional information when the student’s spouse or partner is also an NAU student or ADES HECCP participant at any other institute.

The HECCP will reimburse eligible student-parents monthly for qualified child care expenses per verified receipts submitted by the student-parent per the instructions provided upon enrollment using the “Submit Receipts” tile above. Monthly reimbursements will be distributed four to six weeks from the submission of qualified receipts.
Only one application per household may be submitted, and applications must be resubmitted each academic year or for individual terms based on enrollment. Students who apply will be notified of their acceptance into the project via their student email account.
Any changes to participants’ enrollment, contact information, child care facility, resident status, graduations status, and/or age of children must be communicated to ADES.HECCP@nau.edu.
Participants agree to complete semesterly and year-end surveys to comply with project deliverables.

Learn more about the HECCP requirements: HECCP Guidelines

Additional resources

Students are encouraged to explore other helpful resources throughout the Flagstaff community and NAU. Some of these resources include on-campus housing, WIC, DES programs, and tribal care programs. Any State of Arizona or other ADES assistance must be communicated and fully utilized prior to reimbursement from the NAU HECCP.