Early Childhood
Workforce Scholarship

Educators seeking degrees, credentials, and certification in early childhood education may be eligible for financial assistance through Early Childhood Workforce Scholarship Program funding.

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Information

Please read the following information carefully before applying for the Early Childhood Workforce Scholarship.

Attention

Make your appointment with Advisors:

NYC Long Island Southern Tier Mid-Hudson Western NY Finger Lakes Capital North Country Central Mohawk Valley

If you are seeking funding for 2026, you MUST submit a NEW application. Please fill out a new application .

To ensure a successful and complete advisement and goal setting meeting with your advisor, please be prepared with the following information and items. If you are still in the application and enrollment phase with your college or have not applied, please notify your advisor.

If you have not completed the current year's scholarship application, please complete it. A new application is required EACH YEAR.

Personal ASPIRE ID (not the Organization ASPIRE ID number)

School ID number

School email address

School course codes, number of credits for each course

Ebill (PDF)

Student transcript of graded - PDF (for end of semester meetings and grade reporting)

Feel free to email this information ahead of time to your advisor.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this needs-based scholarship, you must:

Applicants must be employed 20 hours or more per week in a licensed Child Care or Family/Group Family Child care setting.

Hold an Aspire Registry ID. Learn more and get your ID!

Selected applicants are required to meet with an Institute advisor to engage in career advisement activities, create a Study Plan and sign a participation agreement.

Frequently asked questions

Applications are currently being reviewed on a rolling basis until funding has been exhausted.

If you work in a participating QUALITYstarsNY program, QUALITYstarsNY may cover international transcript evaluation and translation.

If you work in a participating QUALITYstarsNY program, QUALITYstarsNY may cover your early childhood education teacher exam fees.

Funding can be used for early childhood education teacher certification exams, including:

Educating All Students (EAS)
Content Specialty Test Birth - Grade 2 - Parts I, II, III
Content Specialty Test Birth - Grade 2 - Students With Disabilities
Content Specialty Test Pre-K - Grade 12

Exam fees for subjects outside early childhood education (such as School Building Leadership or all grades literacy) are not covered.

Contact

For questions about the scholarship, please contact:

careeradvisor@earlychildhoodny.org

Apply

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