Office of Graduate Affairs

Finding a suitable childcare provider, especially for infants and children under five, can be extremely challenging. Please start your childcare search as early as you can.

You may wish to check out the following providers in the greater Waltham area. Please note that, aside from the Lemberg Children's Center which is located on campus, Brandeis does not have business relationships with any of these facilities and cannot vouch for the quality of their care.

• Bright Horizons At Waltham is a chain childcare facility that provides childcare for children aged one month to six years.
• Discovery Village Childcare is open to children aged one month to seven years. 
• Lemberg Children's Center offers child care for children aged six weeks to six years. The center is open to the public and often has a waiting list, so contacting them as soon as possible is recommended for parents interested in enrolling their child.
• Waltham Childcare Center offer a year-round program for children aged fifteen months to five years.
• Integrated Preschool Program (Waltham Public School) is a special education program offered through the Waltham Public Schools. Located at the Northeast and Stanley Elementary Schools, the integrated preschool program is one in which less than half of the children have a diagnosed special need. In order to provide identified children with access to typically developing peers, children without diagnosed or suspected needs are invited to participate in classes on a part-time basis.

The Waltham Public School district contains seven elementary schools (one of which is a dual language school), two middle schools, and two high schools. Elementary schools serve children from kindergarten through grade five,  and the middle schools serve children from grades six through eight.

As soon as possible after locating housing in Waltham, we suggest that families visit the Parent Information Center (PIC) at Waltham High School, 617 Lexington Street, Waltham, MA. You can pre-register online, but you still will need to come in to the PIC with the required documents to complete the registration process. Please call 781-314-5524 (English), 781-314-5668 (Español), or submit a contact form as soon as you have all the required documents for student registration. You may also request a phone or video appointment. If you are unable to keep your scheduled time or arrive late to an appointment, you will need to contact the office to reschedule.

Students who qualify and have signed up for the Student Health Insurance Plan can add dependents in the following ways:

• Add a dependent at the start of the student’s coverage at the beginning of the academic year.
• Add a dependent mid-academic year as a qualifying event.
• Note: Students who wish to add dependents either at the start of the academic year or mid-year as a qualifying event will need to pay a substantial payment (approximately $10k) in full directly to the insurance company. The health insurance company does not allow for monthly installments. For current dependent rates, please contact University Health Plans at 833-251-1737. 

Many students with dependents have had success getting insurance for dependents at a lower cost through MassHealth. Below are resources for searching and applying for a MassHealth plan:

• Massachusetts Health Connector - The Massachusetts Health Connector is an independent agency that helps Massachusetts residents find health insurance coverage. This website offers information about Commonwealth Choice (an online marketplace where you can compare and purchase insurance plans from various carriers) and Subsidized Health Plan (a low-or-no-cost insurance program for qualifying uninsured adults).
• Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee - The CEOC can help you with applying for health insurance like MassHealth, Health Connector plans, Health Safety Net and dental plans through the Massachusetts Health Connector. They can also help people choose the right plan, choose a medical provider, or make changes to their coverage if something changes in their lives. 

Nursing individuals are provided with private spaces throughout campus to express milk for their babies.

Those wishing to request special parking accommodations on campus may call the parking office at 781-736-4250. Due to limited parking on campus, special accommodations cannot be guaranteed.

Yes, if you are enrolled in a PhD program at Brandeis University, actively working as a TA, TF, or RA at Brandeis, and have minor children during the period of your Graduate Assistant appointment.

Having minor children means that you are the parent or guardian of a child who is under the age of 18 for at least a portion of the semester in which you work as a Graduate Assistant at Brandeis. Graduate Assistants who are expecting children during the semester will be eligible provided the child enters the Graduate Assistant's household on or before the date that grades are due.

No, graders are not eligible to apply for childcare subsidies. However, all full-time PhD candidates, regardless of whether they are working as TAs, TFs, or RAs, are eligible for back-up dependent care benefits offered through the University’s partner, Bright Horizons. PhD students can open a Bright Horizons account and book up to five sessions of back-up dependent care, which include center-based and in-home care, at subsidized prices. For instance, a full day of center-based care for one child can be booked for $15.00 per day. In-home care by a certified provider costs $6.00 per hour. Additionally, Bright Horizons is offering a new benefit for out-of-network care, which allows PhD students who use friends and family as childcare providers to apply for and receive reimbursement for up to $100 per day for childcare costs. Additional information is available on the Office of Human Resources Dependent Care Resources webpage.

You will receive an email from the Union, asking you if you have a minor child and providing instructions as to how to submit your name for a childcare subsidy payment. Additionally, the same information will be published by the University in such venues as the Office of Graduate Affairs website newsletter.

Once Graduate Assistants respond to the Union’s request for those eligible for the childcare subsidy, the list will be forwarded to the University so that payments may be processed. Payments will be issued as soon as possible after submission via direct deposit in the same manner as other Graduate Assistant wages. Please note that childcare subsidy payments are subject to IRS and other required withholding; the actual amount of the payment received will be less than the gross payment amount due to applicable withholding.

Childcare subsidy payments do not go up if Graduate Assistants have more than one minor child.

You can receive a childcare subsidy in any semester in which you work as a Graduate Assistant and are enrolled in a Brandeis PhD program.

Yes, if you both count the minor child as a dependent, you are both eligible for a childcare subsidy if you are both working as Graduate Assistants. Again, the childcare subsidy is only available to PhD students when they work as Graduate Assistants, so both parents must be serving as Graduate Assistants in order to receive two childcare subsidy payments in the same semester.