Financial Assistance

In order to qualify for Action for Children, you must meet the following requirements:

• All parents and or/adults living in the household must be working and/or in school during the time the family is requesting the care in need.
• Parents/Guardians must be Illinois Residents
• Children receiving care must be under the age of 13 (children can be up to age 18 if there is a documented special need requiring they be supervised)
• You must meet the income guidelines as listed below (please note the monthly income must be BEFORE taxes)

You would need to complete the application found above and submit to feeassistance@jccchicago.org and include two consecutive pay check stubs within the last 30 days OR a letter from your employer on your company’s letterhead verifying your hourly wage, work schedule, with your employers’ contact information if pay check stubs cannot be provided.

Once your paperwork is received, please allow 3-5 business days to receive an email from one of our fee assistance team members to confirm if you qualify and what your estimated coverage would be.

There is no cost to apply for Illinois Action for Children.

Depending on your income, family size, and the program registered for, you can receive anywhere from 25% to 100% off your child care costs.

Fee Assistance helps offset a portion of JCC program fees and is made possible through JCC Chicago and Women’s Board funding in addition to the generosity of donors. Fee Assistance is awarded on a first received, first completed basis, and is based on financial need and our available budgeting dollars for assistance. All JCC Chicago families are eligible to apply for Fee Assistance

Step 1:
Register for the program you are inquiring financial assistance for (this is a pre-requisite to be considered for aid).

Step 2:
You will receive a confirmation email from one of our financial assistance team members with a link to apply through FAST.

Step 3:
Once your FAST application is complete, please make sure to upload your most recent tax documents including the following: federal, state, W2 for each working parent (1099 if self-employed), and 2 most recent paycheck stubs.

Step 4:
Your application normally takes 7-10 business days to be verified through FAST if you have all your documents uploaded. Once verified you will receive a confirmation email from one of our fee assistance team members confirming when your application will be reviewed by our financial assistance committee. During this time, please make your normal scheduled payments until you have been contacted about your financial assistance status.

Step 5:
Once your application has been reviewed by our committee, you will receive an e-mail letter from our financial assistance team member with your notification status and your revised payment plan if awarded. If awarded, your assistance will be applied to your account right away.

Applications are on a rolling process, based on funds and availability.

Yes, you can still apply after the deadline has passed. Please be aware that most of our scholarship dollars are awarded by the deadline. Applying after the deadline might decrease your chances of receiving the maximum aid you are eligible for, or you could be denied assistance based on our remaining funds.

No. Only one Fee Assistance application should be submitted per family per JCC fiscal year (July1-June 30) and should be submitted each year. All submitted applications expire on June 30th of every year.

We first review your AGI, current income and family size to determine initial eligibility. From there we assess any outstanding assets or liabilities that impact your income and financial hardship. If there are special circumstances that we cannot see listed in your application, we encourage you to share that in the essay portion of your application.

While we try our best to honor an award percentage that has been granted to your family from the previous year, we cannot always guarantee that the same award will be provided. There are several factors that impact our award determination such as: number of applicants applying for assistance, remaining funds available for assistance, and the time of year you are applying for assistance.

All questions relating to the Fee Assistance application process, documents needed, application status, and final determinations should be directed to feeassistance@jccchicago.org.