Child Development Center

Priority is given on the waiting list with the following considerations and in the following order:

The demand for quality childcare is high in Boone. All classrooms have a substantial waiting list.

#1 Priority: Student Families: Children of degree-seeking, full-time App State students actively enrolled in programs of study receive priority.

#2 Priority:  Currently enrolled children of full-time App State employees who are changing classrooms receive priority.

#3 Priority: Full-time teachers/aides employed by the center who become pregnant or have children who require childcare services receive priority.

#4 Priority: Families who currently have children enrolled at the center will be given priority if they need additional childcare. The priority will be given only if the family maintains their full-time student status or full-time, benefit-eligible employment status with App State. 

Families that adopt or foster, or have extenuating circumstances, may receive priority consideration  **limited availability**.

Student Families

Parent(s) must be enrolled at Appalachian for at least twelve undergraduate hours OR six graduate/post-doc hours per semester and be degree-seeking. Any other circumstances will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Faculty/Staff Families

Families must maintain full time, benefit eligible App State affiliation to qualify for affiliated rates. Families must notify the Director in writing within 10 days of any change in full time, benefit eligible App State affiliation. 

Community Families

In the event that the center does not fill all spaces with University affiliated families, community families may request childcare. 

Once a family has been identified for potential enrollment, the Director will notify the family of the opening. The family has 48 hours to respond to the Director. If the family does not respond within the allotted time, the space will be offered to another child on the waiting list.

Enrollment Process

The Director or a Master Teacher will reach out to families contact information listed from their waitlist appplication if their child is being offerend an enrollment opportunity. Once offered and enrollment opportunity, families have 48 hours to accept their spot or it will be offered to another family.

A non-refundable registration fee of $100.00 is due upon initial enrollment of each child in order to secure the space. Slots are not held for children without tuition payment. Families may opt for a later time to start their child’s participation in the classroom, but in such a case, they must pay tuition in order to hold the slot.

An initial conference between the director or a Master Teacher and the family will be held prior to the child’s entry into the center. Program policies, personal information about the child and an introduction to the center will be given prior to the child’s start date of enrollment. The Center serves approximately 120 children of the University community and makes some availability to serving children with special needs.

Waitlist FAQ

• "Where am I on the waitlist?" Due to our priority waitlist system, we do not give out waitlist numbesr as a variety of factors can influence where a child is in line at any time. 

• "How did you determine who is offered an enrollment opportunity?" When we have an opening in a classroom for a specific age range we look at all of the eligible children in that age range and who have the same Kindergarten enrollment year. We first see if we have a child already enrolled who might be developmentally ready to move into another room if that is a possibility. If not, then we contact any children of student parents who may have a child that age. If there are none, we reach out to the siblings of currently enrolled children, then move on to the faculty/staff wait list. If we utilize the faculty/staff wait list we search our waitlist spreadsheet by date of application and use that to contact families. In a rare instance we have an enrollment oppertunity for a specific age range and Kindergarten enrollment year that the only eligible children are community members. In that specific case, we prioritize children who have extenuating circumstance on a case by case basis. 

• "How long will it take to be offered enrollment?"  It is unknown how long any one given family may be on our waitlist. At this time we have over 200 families on the waitlist.