Prospective Families

All interested families should complete an enrollment application form and submit it via email to UKEarlyChildhoodLab@gmail.com. Forms may also be mailed to the UK Early Childhood Lab at 621 S. Limestone, Lexington KY, 40508. Applications are accepted throughout the year and class assignments are made in late March for the upcoming school year. Due to the volume of applications received, families are only notified if their child is admitted to the ECL. Families are welcome to call to check on the status of their child’s application at any time.

Upon receiving notification that a child has received an offer of enrollment at the ECL, a family can schedule a time to tour the ECL prior to making a decision about enrollment. The ECL does not offer tours to families while they are on the waitlist. Community members and UK faculty, staff, and students interested in a tour for reasons other than child enrollment, should contact Dr. Collin Shepley (collinshepley@uky.edu).

The ECL serves children from 7:30am to 5:30pm, Mondays through Fridays for 182 days from August through May every school year. Enrollment at the ECL for June and July is optional for families. Given that the ECL is operated as an center within the University of Kentucky, the ECL must close on days when the University is closed. In addition, given that a large percentage of the ECL’s staff are graduate teaching assistants and student workers, the ECL closes during breaks before the start of UK courses in the spring and fall semesters due to students often being unavailable to work.

Tuition is paid by the 15th of each month for 10 months, August through May. Information about the optional Summer Program and associated tuition will be sent to enrolled families in March. Tuition rates are detailed below.

2024-2025 Tuition

Infants $1050/month

Toddler $1050/month

Preschool $1050/month

2025-2026 Tuition

Infants $1,425/month

Toddler $1,375/month

Preschool $1,350/month

***Letter to ECL Families Regarding Tuition Increase***

There is often a misconception that the ECL is solely for families with employment at the University of Kentucky. In addition, there is often a misconception that the ECL provides discounted tuition to families with employment at the University of Kentucky. The ECL is a community-based child care and education center that is open to enrollment from all Kentucky families regardless of their affiliation with the University of Kentucky, and there are no discounts offered to families based on affiliation with the University of Kentucky.