FAQs

Registration for the 2019-20 school year is open now! You may enroll at any time on your chosen school’s page. If you are registering after the school year has already begun, you will be charged for your first month on the day of registration.

Their first tuition  payment is charged on the first day of the student’s attendance and on the 1st of the month throughout the rest of the academic year. If you register during the school year, you will be charged on the day of your registration for that month, providing you wish your child to start participating immediately. If you are registering your child to participate for future months you will be charged on the first of the month.

Tuition is calculated based on the total number of school days in the academic calendar year and therefore does not bill for holidays and other days of student non-attendance. The total tuition for the academic year is divided into equal monthly payments for convenience. There are no refunds given for any days of student non-attendance (i.e., illness, absences from school days, school closures  or school holidays).

Yes! We offer drop-ins into our program at a flat fee per child per day. In case of a Drop-In, you must contact our Customer Solutions team at least 24 hours in advance: you can do so by emailing support@jccchicago.org or calling 844.452.2244. When contacting Customer Solutions please give your child’s full name and which school they attend.

Absolutely! You may change your child’s J at School schedule at any point by contacting our Customer Solutions team at support@jccchicago.org or 844.452.2244. If you are sending an email, please include your desired new schedule and the date which you want the new schedule to take effect. Please note that there are no refunds or credits provided for the current month of service. These requests can take 2-3 business days to process so please plan accordingly. Any same-day changes to your child’s schedule will incur an additional drop in fee. All changes go into effect for the following month. If you need to add days for the remainder of the current month, please sign up for 1 day visits.

No refunds are given for programs that are cancelled due to weather, facility issues, school closures, school-dictated unavailability of space, or any other issue beyond J at School’s direct control. If the program was cancelled by J at School, you will receive a refund for the day.

There are no refunds given for student absence (including illness, vacation, suspension, etc.). If your child becomes ill with a communicable illness or disease, they will be prohibited from attending J at School programs until they are healthy and no longer contagious. Any days missed because of illness will not be refunded; please see the waiver for more information about our policy regarding child illnesses.

All program staff members have experience working with school-age children and are background-checked upon hire to meet all CPS requirements. At the beginning of each school year, we provide Red Cross CPR certification training to all site leads and Red Cross First Aid certification for all other staff members. Our staff have extensive training every year before school begins and throughout the school year. Our site leads are certified by SEL Chicago in social and emotional learning. Our staff are also trained with Social and Emotional Learning tools and techniques as well as positive discipline and de-escalation techniques. Site leads and staff are trained and practice Calm Classroom techniques to help students settle in before and after school. Many of our staff have been working with children full time or part-time for many years while also pursuing a career in a related field or in the creative arts. We strongly encourage our staff to share their unique talents and passions with our students!

We partner with Illinois Action for Children, and funding may be available to those who qualify. Please visit their website to apply.

In addition, JCC Chicago does have a limited amount of fee assistance for qualified families. All questions relating to the Fee Assistance application process, documents needed, application status, and final determinations should be directed to feeassistance@jccchicago.org.

We’d love to chat. Please contact the customer solutions team.

We highly recommend registering before school begins. However, if your childcare needs have changed since then, we are most likely able to assist. Please contact us for details.

You can manage your authorized pickups at any time through your JCC account. Follow the steps below to add/change authorized pickups on your account.

1. Log into your account.
2. Select the “my account” tab.
3. Select “authorized pickup” from the drop down menu.
   Select the person from the list you wish to add, or add a new person. (Note: no one is automatically entered to your pickup list.)
4. To remove someone from your authorized pickup list, click the pencil to the far right of their name.
5. Click “delete pickup” and the person will be removed.

Should you ever need help with your account, you may contact Customer Solutions.

Due to an unexpected surge in registration, some of our schools are currently waitlisted. We are working diligently to complete the necessary background checks to add additional staff. Those that are currently enrolled in the program may make program changes, including adding additional days/months. If you have not yet signed up for the program and would like to, please add your child onto the waitlist. When the next space becomes available, our Customer Solutions team will reach out, charge your payment method on file and add you to the program. We appreciate your patience and interest in our program.

Perhaps! Please call 844.452.2244 or email us at support@jccchicago.org.

Each school has their own specific webpage which details which enrichment classes are offered at that location. You can find the list of classes available at your child’s school by clicking here.

There are two ways to register. You can call our Customer Solutions team at 844.452.2244 or register online from the page for your child’s school by clicking here.

The cost of our enrichment classes are determined by the vendor who charges a specific rate per child per class, which means the cost of our classes can vary significantly depending on the type of program and the provider. The day of the week can also affect the number of classes per session and so prices may vary depending on the day of the week during which they are offered. Pre-planned closures for holidays, school improvement days, etc. have already been accounted for in the pricing of our enrichment classes.

For our yearlong classes, the total number of classes throughout the year are calculated and the price is divided into equal monthly installments for your convenience. Please note that we do not offer prorations or discounts for late registrations.

We still allow registrations through the first week of each enrichment session. Please note that J at School does not prorate in cases of late registration.

We make final decisions about which enrichment classes will run and which will not one full week before the class is scheduled to begin. You will receive an email from our Customer Solutions team either confirming the class or notifying you that the class has been cancelled for the session.

Although students at some of our schools may have the opportunity to receive a school-provided snack before their enrichment classes begin, we recommend that all students who are registered for enrichment bring a snack just in case. Any specific supplies needed by students in order to be successful in a class will be communicated to you by the vendor. Other than that, your child just needs a willingness to learn!

If an enrichment class is canceled due to an instructor being unavailable, your child will be absorbed into the regular After School program free of charge for the day. You will receive an email notification of the cancellation as soon as possible. Should you decide to pick up your child after school rather than having her or him participate in the After School program, we highly recommend that you reach out to your child’s classroom teacher to inform her/him of the change in plans.

In the event of a cancellation due either to the instructor’s absence or CPS being closed (due to inclement weather or for other extenuating circumstances), we will make every effort to provide a make-up class at the end of the session. If there is not an opportunity for a make-up class at the end of the session you will be provided a refund for the cost of the missed class.

We do not provide prorations or refunds in cases of missed classes when the absence is due to the child’s personal schedule. We contract with our vendors for a specific number of classes; for this reason, our vendors cannot provide individualized make-up classes for student absences.

Our yearlong programs are designed to sustain and support your child’s growth and development throughout the course of the full academic year. For this reason, even if you do not select each month upon registering, your child will be automatically enrolled in the program throughout the entire year. You will be automatically charged for the first month of participation upon registration; for every month following, you will be charged on the first of the month. If you elect to participate in one of our yearlong programs, this will be considered authorization to charge the card on file on your account on the first of each month.

If you would like to cancel your registration at any point, or change the card on file for automatic payments, please note that we require two weeks’ advance notice for our yearlong programs. All requests to cancel registration must be received the full two weeks in advance in order to ensure that you will not be charged for the following month’s tuition. You can cancel your registration by contacting our Customer Solutions team at 844.452.2244 or support@jccchicago.org.