A child care scholarship worth up to $12,480 a year

Two ways people get here

You're probably one of these

One of them has never applied and assumes the answer is no. The other already has the award and still can't get their child through a door. Different problems, same phone number.

Never applied

You looked at the price and stopped looking.

I saw $240 a week and closed the tab.
I turned down the shift because child care cost more than the raise.
My mom watches him, but she can't keep doing it.
I'm sure I make too much. That stuff is for people worse off than me.
I don't even know where you apply, and it looked like a lot of paperwork.

Then start with the only question that matters. A household of four can earn up to $95,403 a year and still qualify. Most parents who assume they're over the line are under it. The questions above use the state's own table and tell you in sixty seconds, and if the answer is yes, we sit down and do the application with you.

Already approved

You have the award and nowhere to use it.

Every place I called said they're full for CCS right now.
They put me on a list in March and I never heard back.
The ones that took it weren't places I wanted to leave my kid.
They close at six. I don't clock out until six thirty.
Nobody there knows my son's name, and there are no cameras.
I want to move him, but I'm scared I'll lose the scholarship if I do.

You don't lose your award by changing centers. It follows your child. We have CCS spots open right now, not a waitlist, we're Texas Rising Star rated, and we're open 6:00am to 7:00pm, later than any other center in Katy. Bring your award letter to a tour and we'll handle the transfer with Workforce.

📅 Book a Tour 📞 (281) 646-7600

What it's worth

Do you qualify? Here's the line.

This is the state's published table, not our estimate. If your household income is at or under the figure on your row, you are within the income limit. Count everyone who lives with you, including your children.

Texas child care scholarship income eligibility limits by family size
People in your household	Per year	Per month	Per week

PDF Income limits, official table PDF Fee scale, official chart Texas Child Care Connection

The other half of it

What you'd actually pay

Being under the limit does not mean free. The state sets your share on a sliding scale that rises with your income, and it is capped by law at 7% of what your household brings in. This is that scale, for a family of four.

Parent share of cost sliding scale, family of four
Household income, per month	Your share, 1 child	2 children	3 children

Weekly figures, for a household of four. Your own row depends on your family size, your income, and how many children are in care, which is exactly what the questions above work out. Full tuition at Kidco runs $170 to $240 a week per child, so the gap between those two columns is what the scholarship covers.

Plain English

How CCS works

Child Care Services is a Texas scholarship run through Workforce Solutions. It is not a loan, it is not a credit, and you do not pay it back.

1

You apply

Online through Workforce Solutions. We sit down and do it with you if you want, at the center, in one visit.

2

They set your share

Your income, your household size, and your work or school hours go into the state's fee scale. Out comes your weekly share, capped at 7% of your income.

3

They pay us directly

The rest goes straight from Workforce to Kidco. You never front it and you never get reimbursed later.

4

You pay your share

That is your whole bill. No registration fee, no meal fee, no field trip fee, no transportation fee.

Straight answer

How long does it take?

This depends almost entirely on which of these you are, and the gap between them is years. We'd rather tell you now than have you tour expecting to start Monday.

1

Already approved

This week. You've done the waiting. Bring your award letter, we confirm the spot, and Workforce moves your funding to us. No new application, no going back in any queue.

If this is you, call rather than fill in the form. (281) 646-7600.

2

In Choices or SNAP E&T

You may not be waiting at all. Families taking part in Choices, SNAP Employment & Training, or TANF Applicant child care are in Texas's first priority group, which is assured, not funding-dependent. Just getting SNAP or TANF benefits does not put you here. Your caseworker sends the child care referral, so ask them for one and name Kidco. If you had Choices child care and your TANF ended in the last 12 months because you got a job, earned more, or hit the time limit, you are in this group too, and you can apply without going on the waiting list.

If this is you, talk to your caseworker, then call us. (281) 646-7600

3

A priority family

Texas serves several groups ahead of the general list as funding allows, including children of veterans, children of foster youth, children experiencing homelessness, children of teen parents, children with disabilities, and the children of child care workers. In its June 2026 board meeting packet, Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast said priority cases were being processed in under a month, while the waiting list for everyone else was about 24 months.

The full list is in the questions below. If you think you might be on it, call us rather than wait.

4

Already on the list

Call and ask where you stand. Nobody can tell you from the outside, and the answer depends on when you joined and whether you're in a priority group. Workforce checks in every few months to confirm you still want it, so keep your phone number current with them and answer when they call.

713-334-5980. Tour now anyway; having a center picked makes the last step faster.

5

Everyone else

Be prepared for a long wait. Harris County demand far exceeds the funding, and the non-priority queue has run into years, not months. Get on the list anyway: the date you join is the date that counts, and it costs nothing.

We'll help you with that at your tour, whatever the wait turns out to be.

Wait times move with funding and we won't quote you a number we can't stand behind. Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast is the only place that can tell you where the queue actually is today: 713-334-5980. None of it stops you touring Kidco now, and if you're in group 1 or 2, none of it slows you down either.

Everything the state asks

The full list of requirements

Income is the one everybody worries about, but it is not the only one. Here is the whole list, so nothing surprises you later.

✓You live in Texas.
✓Your child is under 13. Or under 19 with a disability.
✓Your child is a U.S. citizen or has legal immigration status. This is about the child, not the parent.
✓Your income is within the limit for your family size. See the table above.
✓You work, look for work, or attend school or job training. An average of 25 hours a week for a single parent, or 50 hours a week combined for two parents.
✓Your household has under $1 million in assets. Which is almost everybody.

Two situations skip parts of this: a family experiencing homelessness, and a child with a deployed military parent who meets the income limit. If either is you, call us and we'll walk you through it.

Bring these

What you need to apply

This is the part that stops most people, so here it is up front. Nothing here is hard to get, and if you're missing something we'll tell you how to replace it.

✓Photo ID for the parent. Driver's license, state ID, or passport.
✓Proof of income. Your last month of pay stubs, or a letter from your employer if you're paid in cash.
✓Proof of your work or school hours. A schedule, a class registration, or that same employer letter.
✓Your child's birth certificate. Or another document showing their date of birth.
✓Immunization records. Whatever your pediatrician has on file.
✓Proof of address. A utility bill or a lease.

Missing one? Come anyway. We've helped a lot of families through this and most gaps have a workaround.

Why it matters here

Texas Rising Star rated

3-Star certified of 4

Texas Rising Star is the state's own quality rating for child care, and it runs to four stars. Plenty of centers that take CCS hold no rating at all. It means our classrooms, our ratios, and our teachers were measured against a state standard and passed, so a scholarship here buys you a rated program, not just an available one.

What's included, at no extra cost

✓Breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Every day. Not a line item.
✓Transportation to and from school. Six Katy elementary schools, before and after.
✓Field trips. Included, not billed per trip.
✓Cameras in every classroom. And daily photo updates to your phone.
✓6:00am to 7:00pm. If your shift runs late, you're not paying a late fee for it.

Questions parents actually ask

I'm sure I make too much to qualify.

This is the single most common reason families never apply, and it is usually wrong. A household of four can earn up to $95,403 a year and still qualify. For a household of five it's $110,668. Check the table above against your own number before you rule yourself out.

Is the number your quiz gives me the number I'll actually pay?

It's an estimate built from the state's own published fee scale, using the income and family size you enter, and its monthly figure lands within about a dollar of the state's chart. Your official amount is set by Workforce Solutions when they process your application, and it can differ if your household details differ from what you told us. Treat ours as a close preview, not a bill.

Do you actually take CCS, or just say you do?

We take it, we have spots open right now, and we've been doing it for years. Call and ask for Monica, she'll tell you the same thing on the phone.

Where do your numbers come from?

Two PDFs published by the Texas Workforce Commission: the income eligibility limits table and the parent share of cost sliding fee scale. Both are linked above, and you can check any figure on this page against them.

Can you help me apply?

Yes. Bring your documents to the center and we'll sit down and go through the Workforce application with you in one visit. That's not a marketing line, it's a thing we schedule.

Who gets moved to the front of the waiting list?

Two tiers, and the difference between them matters more than most people realise.

The first is assured rather than funding-dependent. It covers children of parents who are eligible for Choices child care, TANF Applicant child care, or SNAP Employment & Training child care. That means taking part in those programs, not just getting SNAP or TANF benefits, and your Choices or SNAP E&T caseworker sends the child care referral. It also covers parents who had Choices child care and whose TANF was denied or ended in the last 12 months because of a job, higher earnings, or reaching the time limit. Those parents still apply for CCS, but they skip the waiting list.

The second is served ahead of the general list as funds allow, in this order: children needing protective services; children of a qualified veteran or qualified spouse; children of a foster youth; children experiencing homelessness; children of a parent on military deployment who cannot use military-funded care; children of teen parents; children with disabilities; and children of child care workers.

Source: the Texas Workforce Commission's Child Care Services Guide, sections B-401 and B-402 (pages 26 and 27), and D-300 to D-500, revised 19 August 2026, under rule 40 TAC §809.43.

What exactly counts for each of those groups?

These are the state's own definitions, not our paraphrase.

Teen parent: 18 or younger, or 19 and attending high school or the equivalent, with a child.

Child care worker: employed by and working in a child care facility licensed under Texas Human Resources Code Chapter 42 for at least 25 hours a week. Owners and directors are excluded, unless their child is in a program other than the one they directly supervise.

Child experiencing homelessness: the McKinney-Vento definition, "individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence." That includes staying with others, a motel, or a shelter.

Child with a disability: a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having one.

Military deployment: temporary duty away from the permanent installation or place of residence, covering regular military, Reserves and National Guard.

Veteran and qualified spouse are defined at 40 TAC §801.23 and are covered in the question below.

What counts as a "qualified" veteran or spouse?

Veteran is broad. It means you served in the active military, naval, air, or space service and were discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. There's no minimum length of service and you don't need a disability rating or combat service. Full-time National Guard or Reserve duty counts, as long as it wasn't duty for training only.

Qualified spouse is much narrower, and it does not mean any military spouse. It's the spouse of a service member or veteran who died while serving, died of a service-connected disability, has a total service-connected disability rated by the VA, or has been listed for more than 90 days as missing in action, captured by a hostile force, or forcibly detained by a foreign government.

So a veteran's own children get priority on the strength of their service. A spouse's priority depends on those specific circumstances. If the veteran later loses the status the priority rested on, such as a disability rating being reduced, the spouse's priority ends with it. Definitions are TWC's, at 40 TAC §801.23.

I already have CCS. Will I lose it if I switch centers?

No. The award belongs to your child, not to the center holding it. You pick the new provider and Workforce moves it. We do this regularly and we'll handle the paperwork side with them, so there's no gap in care and nothing for you to restart.

Everywhere I call says they're full for CCS.

Some centers cap how many scholarship children they take, and some say "full" when they mean "not right now." We have CCS spots open today. Call and ask for Monica and she'll tell you exactly which age groups have room, on the phone, in one call.

I've been on a waitlist since the spring and heard nothing.

That's the most common story we hear from approved families. We don't run a silent list. If we have room in your child's age group we say so the day you ask, and if we don't, we tell you that too and give you a real date.

The centers that took my scholarship weren't ones I wanted.

That's the trade a lot of families get pushed into, and it isn't one you have to make. We're Texas Rising Star certified at 3 stars out of 4, which is the state's own quality rating, and plenty of centers accepting CCS hold no rating at all. Cameras in every classroom, meals included, and we're open 6:00am to 7:00pm.

What if I don't qualify?

Then you're not stuck. We run a separate offer for families paying out of pocket, one week free plus no registration fee, and we'll show it to you at the end of the questions if that's where you land.

Does CCS cover before and after school care?

Yes, for school-age kids. That's the $55 to $125 a week range at full price, and CCS covers it the same way it covers full-day care. We also drive them to and from school.

I applied and I'm still waiting. Should I wait to tour?

No. Tour now. Spots go to whoever is ready when they open, and having a center lined up makes the rest of the process faster once your award comes through.

Come see it

2437 N Fry Rd, Katy

Open 6:00am to 7:00pm, Monday through Friday. Walk in, or book a time and we'll have someone ready for you.

📅 Book a Tour

A scholarship worth up to
$12,480 a year.

Check if you qualify

You're probably one of these

You looked at the price and stopped looking.

You have the award and nowhere to use it.

Do you qualify? Here's the line.

What you'd actually pay

How CCS works

You apply

They set your share

They pay us directly

You pay your share

How long does it take?

Already approved

In Choices or SNAP E&T

A priority family

Already on the list

Everyone else

The full list of requirements

What you need to apply

Texas Rising Star rated

What's included, at no extra cost

Questions parents actually ask

2437 N Fry Rd, Katy

Don't leave a scholarship unclaimed.