Key Dates

Related Announcements

• April 25, 2025 - Updated Procedures for Childcare Costs for Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Awards. See Notice NOT-OD-25-100.
• May 22, 2024 - Childcare Costs for Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Fellows and Institutional Research Training Awards. See Notice NOT-OD-24-116. 

Issued by

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)

Purpose

This notice informs the community of updates to NIH Frequently Asked Questions for childcare costs for Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Awards and Individual Fellowships.

The following update has been made to Section B. Fellowship-Specific Questions, to reflect NIH’s discontinued use of Notices of Special Interest for this purpose:

1.  How do institutions request childcare costs for Fellowships?

Administrative Supplements

Current fellows may request an administrative supplement to provide childcare costs on an existing award. Applicants must use the Parent Administrative Supplement Notice of Funding Opportunity. Applicants must select the Opportunity Package with “ADMINSUPP_FELLOWSHIP” Competition ID and complete the Childcare Costs Section of the PHS Fellowship Supplemental Form as outlined in the How to Apply – Application Guide. Applicants are strongly encouraged to request childcare costs for all applicable years that the project will be funded based on the dependent(s) age eligibility factor.

The following question has been added to Section C. NRSA Training Award-Specific Questions to address how supplemental funds can be requested through eRA Commons for institutional training grant awards:

7. Per NOT-OD-25-100, NIH will automatically provide childcare cost funds to cover childcare expenses for 25% of the full-time training slots in the Notice of Award. If my training program has obligated the awarded childcare costs and gets additional requests from appointed trainees, how do we request supplemental childcare costs from NIH?

NRSA institutional training grants can use the Prior Approval function in eRA Commons to submit a request to the funding Institute or Center. Recipients should use the “Other Request” option, indicate supplemental childcare costs in the description field, and provide a justification verifying the number of full-time trainees that have requested childcare costs for the current budget period and the additional funds needed to meet these needs. 

Note: When PA-20-272 is reissued in FY2026, it will contain instructions for how to submit the request for additional childcare costs for NRSA institutional training grants, and this FAQ will be updated accordingly.

There have been no changes to the underlying policies regarding childcare costs on NRSA awards, such as regarding the funding amount, allocation of resources, or reporting requirements. These updates solely reflect updated guidance on the submission methods for supplemental funding requests, based on updates to NIH systems. 

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration
Division of Grant Systems Integration, Systems Policy Branch
Email: [email protected]