What are Extended Day and Year programs?
Some 3-K and Pre-K providers offer a longer school day of 8 or 10 hours of early education and care to eligible families through Extended Day and Year seats.
Extended Day and Year seats are free or low cost and provide up to 10 hours of early care and education a day, year-round, including the summer.
In all school districts, Extended Day and Year seats are available for three- and four-year-olds to families that qualify.
Extended Day and Year eligibility
Eligibility for these seats is based on family income and needs by completing the Child Care application on MyCity.
Your family may qualify for 3-K Extended Day and Year seats if your family's income falls below a certain amount (see table below) and you have at least one of the following approved reasons for care:
- You work an average of 10 or more hours per week
- You are in an educational or vocational training program
- You have been looking for work for up to 6 months
- You live in temporary housing
- You are attending services for domestic violence
- You are receiving treatment for substance abuse
State Income Standard: 85% of SMI for New York
Families who work 10+ hours per week must make at least minimum wage ($16/hour) to qualify for child care assistance.
| Family Size | Monthly Income Eligibility | Annual Income Eligibility |
|---|
| 2 | $6,156 | $73,869.56 |
| 3 | $7,604 | $91,250.63 |
| 4 | $9,053 | $108,631.70 |
| 5 | $10,501 | $126,012.77 |
| 6 | $11,949 | $143,393.84 |
| 7 | $12,221 | $146,652.80 |
| 8 | $12,493 | $149,911.75 |
Documentation for the child in need of care
Extended Day and Year (EDY) Birth-to-Five programs provide high-quality early childhood care and education for children from six weeks to five years old. These programs are open year-round (either 225 or 260 days annually), for 8 or 10 hours per day, and offer safe, nurturing environments where children can learn, play, and develop the early skills they need to grow and succeed in school and beyond.
Extended Day and Year (EDY) seats are partially funded by a federal grant, which has eligibility requirements. During the EDY registration process, you will be asked to provide information about your family’s income and reason for needing care, and the child applying for an EDY seat must provide proof of citizenship or satisfactory immigration status. You won’t need to share the immigration status for anyone else in your home, only for the children needing care. These eligibility requirements apply only to EDY seats and do not apply to any other NYCPS 3-K or Pre-K program types.
If your family is unable to meet the Extended Day and Year seat documentation requirements listed above, NYCPS will help you explore any available program alternatives that meet the needs of your family.
Special referrals
There are a few instances where a City agency other than the DOE determines a family's eligibility for Child Care assistance:
- Families applying for or receiving cash assistance must apply for Child Care through their Human Resources Administration (HRA) Benefits Access Center.
- Families with an active child welfare case, Preventative and/or Protective, must contact their case worker to make a Child Care subsidy referral.
- Employed foster parents must contact their case worker to make a Child Care subsidy referral.
All families, including families that may need one of these referrals, can call 311 to get help with finding a program and completing the Child Care subsidy application.