New Hampshire child care assistance: NH Child Care Scholarship and preschool options (2026)

How the scholarship works: one DHHS program, paid to your provider

You qualify if each child you need care for lives in New Hampshire with you and is a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen. The child must be under 13, or 13 to 17 with a verified disability or significant special need. Each child can be linked to only one enrolled provider ⁠³. You attest that your household’s assets are no more than $1,000,000. Assets are not otherwise counted ⁠³. Families receiving TANF cash assistance, or TANF-related medical assistance, are financially eligible whatever their income ⁠³.

Eligibility lasts 12 months. It starts on the date you apply or the date your provider is linked to your child, whichever is later. Payments also start from that date ⁠³. Your eligibility ends early only if your income goes above 85% of state median income (SMI) ⁠¹.

The three income steps for July 2026 through June 2027

DHHS updates the limits every July 1. Your gross monthly income and family size put you in one of three steps. Your step sets your cost share ⁠¹⁠³.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Source: DHHS Supervisory Release SR 26-17 ⁠¹. Limits are published for family sizes up to 15. For a family of four, 85% SMI is $129,693 a year.

Some income does not count. This includes foster care payments, adoption subsidies, TANF cash, and student aid used for tuition, fees, books and school travel. It also includes a grandparent’s income when three generations live together, the earnings of a dependent child in school, and SSI paid to a dependent child ⁠³. If you are self-employed, DHHS counts your net income after IRS-allowable business expenses ⁠³.

What you pay: $0, $5 a week, or 7% of gross income

Rule He-C 6910.18 sets the family cost share. Step 1 families pay nothing, Step 2 families pay $5 a week, and Step 3 families pay 7% of gross monthly income, converted to a weekly amount by dividing by 4.33 ⁠²⁠³. It is split equally among your enrolled children ⁠². The CCDF State Plan confirms that New Hampshire waives the cost share at or below 100% of the federal poverty guideline ⁠⁴.

Our calculation using the He-C 6910.18 formula and SR 26-17 limits ⁠¹⁠³. There is a jump at 138% FPG. A family of three earning $3,142 a month pays $5 a week, but one earning $3,143 pays about $50.81.

The amount set at application or redetermination becomes your “family cap” for the next 12 months. Your cost share can go down if your income drops during that time, but it never goes above the cap ⁠².

The cost share is not always your whole bill. DHHS pays up to its weekly standard rate. For full-time care at a licensed center, that is $344.42 for a child under 18 months, $317.26 for ages 18 to 35 months, $280.00 for ages 3 to 6, and $236.25 for school-age children. For licensed family child care, it is $250.00 under age 6 and $200.00 for school-age children ⁠⁷. If a provider charges more, it may bill you the difference on top of your cost share ⁠². In the state’s CCDF plan survey, more than 60% of providers charged that difference ⁠⁴. Ask for the provider’s weekly price before you enroll.

The federal 2026 CCDF rule removed the national requirement to cap copays at 7% of income, effective July 13, 2026 ⁠¹⁵. New Hampshire’s 7% figure comes from its own rule, He-C 6910.18. As of October 2026, DHHS’s manual still lists the same three steps ⁠²⁠³.

Work, school and the 92-day clocks

Each parent in the household must be in an approved activity. Approved activities are a job (including self-employment), a job search, job training or education that prepares you for work, high school, HiSET, adult basic education or English classes, or an approved activity in NHEP (the TANF work program) ⁠³. Mental health or substance misuse treatment also counts, but only if you receive NHEP or FAP cash assistance ⁠³. In a two-parent home, one parent may instead be verified as unable to care for the children because of a disability ⁠³.

The care DHHS approves depends on your activity hours plus up to one hour of commuting a day. Full-time care is for more than 30 hours a week, half-time for more than 15 and up to 30, and part-time for up to 15 hours. In a two-parent home, the parent with fewer hours sets the level ⁠³.

The rules set several clocks ⁠³:

• Job search is approved for up to 92 calendar days. A new job search period needs paid work or another activity in between, or six months must pass.
• Continued assistance of up to 92 days applies after a permanent job loss or the end of a training program. It is not given when a job search ends.
• Training is limited to 104 weeks of scholarship in a lifetime. It must lead to an associate’s degree or lower, or a bachelor’s degree for TANF recipients. Basic education has no time limit.
• Temporary breaks of up to three months do not end eligibility. Examples are illness, seasonal layoffs and semester breaks.

SB 608 and the presumptive eligibility pilot: changes on the books

Chapter 109 of the Laws of 2026 (SB 608) was approved May 28, 2026. It will remove the cost share for children cared for by a caretaker relative, such as a grandparent raising a grandchild. It will also count retirement at Social Security retirement age as a qualifying activity ⁠⁹. Neither change is in effect yet. Both start only after the federal Office of Child Care approves them and DHHS certifies that, and DHHS does not have to implement them until funding is available ⁠⁹⁠⁸.

RSA 167:83 also created a 24-month presumptive eligibility pilot starting January 1, 2026. Under the pilot, applicants who pass an initial screening can receive scholarship payments for up to 60 days while DHHS decides the application. Neither the family nor the provider has to repay that money if the child turns out to be ineligible, unless there was fraud ⁠⁸. DHHS may suspend the pilot while a waitlist is active ⁠⁸.

When New Hampshire would use a waitlist

Rule He-C 6910.11 requires a waitlist only when DHHS projects that it will spend more than the year’s funds ⁠³. The DHHS manual says it “will be activated” when the number of children exceeds available funds. As of October 2026, no DHHS page announces an active waitlist ⁠⁶. If a waitlist starts, three groups skip it ⁠³:

• Families on TANF, or applying within 92 days after TANF ends
• Children experiencing homelessness, or families applying within 92 days of finding housing
• Children whose preventive or protective services case closed within the past 92 days

Everyone else would be released in order of their eligibility start date. Two children from Priority 1 (family income at or below 100% FPG, plus siblings of children already receiving the scholarship) would be released for each child from Priority 2 ⁠³⁠⁶. DHHS does not pay for care while a child is on the list ⁠⁶.

Granite Steps for Quality and choosing a provider

Granite Steps for Quality (GSQ) is New Hampshire’s voluntary quality rating and improvement system for licensed early childhood and out-of-school-time programs ⁠¹⁰. Programs earn one of four Quality Steps, judged on staff qualifications and learning environments. Early childhood programs choose either the Environment Rating Scales pathway or the Pyramid Model pathway ⁠¹¹. Programs that take the scholarship receive incentives. Under the CCDF plan, Licensed Plus programs (the older rating) receive 5% of the previous month’s scholarship billing each month, and nationally accredited programs receive 10% ⁠⁴. Higher GSQ steps also earn larger quarterly incentive payments ⁠⁴.

You may also choose a license-exempt provider enrolled with DHHS. However, the scholarship will not pay a license-exempt center to care for a child under 6 ⁠³.

No state-funded pre-K: options for 3- and 4-year-olds

New Hampshire has no state pre-K program. In 2024-25, state pre-K enrollment was zero and state pre-K spending was $0 ⁠¹². Districts decide locally whether to run preschool. In 2023-24, 144 public school programs served about 5,067 children, many on tuition ⁠¹². Three options remain:

• Preschool special education. It is free for children ages 3 to 5 with disabilities. Your school district must identify eligible children and have the IEP in place by the child’s third birthday ⁠¹³.
• Head Start and Early Head Start. These are free for children from birth to 5 in low-income families, children in foster care and children experiencing homelessness. They are run by five community action agencies ⁠¹⁴.
• The Child Care Scholarship. It can pay for a licensed preschool program. The full-time center rate for ages 3 to 6 is $280 a week ⁠⁷.

Applying through NH EASY and your DHHS district office

1. Check your step

   Compare your household’s gross monthly income with the SR 26-17 limits for your family size ⁠¹.

2. Apply

   You can apply on NH EASY, in person at a DHHS district office, or by phone, fax, email or mail ⁠⁵.

3. Complete the interview

   DHHS schedules an eligibility interview within 5 days of receiving your application. It can be held by phone or in person ⁠⁴⁠⁵.

4. Send your documents within 30 days

   You need ID, your child’s birth certificate or passport, proof of address, income proof (or a full prior-year tax return if self-employed), and proof of school, training or job search ⁠³. If DHHS sends a list of missing items, you have 10 days to provide them ⁠³.

5. Pick a provider and return Form 1863

   Form 1863 is the “Child Care Provider Verification.” You and the provider must return it within 30 days. DHHS can grant a one-time 30-day extension, for example if a resource and referral agency could not help you find care ⁠³.

6. Watch for your notice of decision

   DHHS must decide within 30 days, or within 7 days for families experiencing homelessness ⁠³. Notices appear in your NH EASY account ⁠⁴.

7. Appeal if needed

   You have 30 days from the notice to appeal. If you appeal within 15 days, your scholarship continues during the appeal. You would repay it if you lose ⁠³.

8. Renew before your 12 months end

   Ask DHHS to redetermine your eligibility before the period ends, or your scholarship stops ⁠³.

See child care assistance in other states or more help in New Hampshire.