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Child and Family Resources

Northwestern supports the healthy integration of students’ personal, academic, and professional priorities and is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive environment for pregnant and parenting students. The Graduate School (TGS) provides a variety of resources and information as well as a dedicated Dependent Care Specialist for individual work/life consultations.

 Family leave information

Childcare

The University offers the following resources for parents seeking information on childcare.

Finding childcare:

Financial assistance for childcare:

Health insurance

The University offers students the option of enrolling dependents in the student health insurance plan. Learn more on the Student Health Insurance website. Please note that you may now pay for dependent coverage up front or on a quarterly basis. For additional information, please go to Aetna's Dependent Enrollment page, enter your Student ID and date of birth, and then click on "View Plan Details" (and scroll down) to review the quarterly payment schedule. Please select an option via the drop down box on the Aetna payment page. 

The All Kids program provides comprehensive, affordable health insurance to Illinois children whose families cannot afford private health insurance. All Kids also offers two health insurance programs for pregnant women. Parents who meet certain income requirements may have access to coverage through Illinois FamilyCare Health Insurance

Accommodations

Lactation support

Providing a family-friendly environment for faculty, staff and students is important at Northwestern. Read about Lactation Support on the human resources website.

View lactation resources and maps of lactation rooms for Evanston and Chicago.

Relocation

There are many housing options available to students both on and off-campus. TGS is also working with Graduate Housing to offer priority applications for students who are parents at the Garrett Place Apartments

The HR Well-being team is happy to help you find schools, pet care, community information and other area family resources.