Getting Started with MCCYN

Families utilizing MCCYN owe the maximum agency reimbursement rate (currently $1900) each month. This rate is due in full 12 months of the year for the entirety of the child’s enrollment, regardless of holidays, breaks, or child absences.

Every military family is placed into a Total Family Income (TFI) category by the Department of Defense (DoD). This category is calculated based on TFI and Phoenix House (nor any other childcare provider) has no control over the TFI category of each family.

Each category corresponds to a monthly fee. For example, families who make $65,001 – $77,500 per year fall into category IV. Each month, families in category IV are responsible for paying $394.00 out of pocket directly to Phoenix House via our payment portal, Brightwheel. The remaining tuition balance of $1,506 is paid directly to Phoenix House via the DoD.

Phoenix House, like many small childcare programs, has significant monthly expenses—staff wages, rent, insurance, food, and supplies—that must be covered in real time. Because MCCYN reimbursements are always issued after the end of the month, we are not able to absorb the gap in funding by retroactively adjusting tuition that has already been paid. Instead, our policy is to apply MCCYN reimbursements as a credit toward the next month’s tuition invoice.

MCCYN benefits are always issued after the month of care is complete. Because of this, providers are not required (and in fact are not permitted) to retroactively refund families for tuition already paid out of pocket. Instead, MCCYN funds can only be applied to future invoices. At Phoenix House, this means families pay the full cost of tuition until the first reimbursement is received. Once funds arrive, they are credited forward to the next month’s tuition balance, ensuring families receive the full benefit of the subsidy as quickly as possible while keeping the program financially stable.

Families pay their monthly parent fee in full on or before the fourth of every month via an invoice that is sent out via Brightwheel directly from Phoenix House.

No additional costs beyond the fixed parent fee are incurred by families paying tuition with MCCYN.

There are very minimal clerical responsibilities for families paying with MCCYN. These responsibilities include reviewing and signing an attendance sheet every month and ensuring that all signatures and forms are up to date to ensure that Phoenix House can continue to receive reimbursement for your child(ren) from MCCYN.

A comprehensive overview of the clerical responsibilities of families paying with MCCYN is explained at the time of onboarding. Phoenix House staff will work with each family to make the process as seamless and stress free as possible.

Families will need to pay the full out of pocket tuition until the first monthly MCCYN benefit is issued. 

For example, if the first day that a child is approved for MCCYN reimbursement is January 1st, the earliest possible date that Phoenix House could submit a request for January assistance would be the last day of the month (1/31).

In this case, if Phoenix House (hypothetically) receives MCCYN reimbursement on February 10th then families would be responsible for out of pocket tuition for both January and February.

In this case,Phoenix House will credit the payment issued on 2/10 towards the family’s March tuition. Thus, March would be the first month that this family would be able to utilize the benefits of MCCYN.

Thereafter, MCCYN payments should come each month and Phoenix House would continually apply those payments towards the next month's tuition balance. 

In a child’s final month no out of pocket tuition cost will be owed because Phoenix House will have the reimbursement from the previous month on your family ledger plus the final credit from MCCYN, covering the full cost of that month's tuition.

Due to the size and scale of our program, no exceptions to this stipulation can be granted. All families utilizing MCCYN should be prepared to pay out of pocket fees for at least two months before the subsidy takes effect.

Time spent on the initial process of establishing your family with MCCYN varies depending on how accessible the required documents are, how quickly you can submit your initial paperwork, what branch of the military you are in, etc.

Families should plan to spend between 1-8 hours over the course of weeks or months actively preparing their initial application for review and working though the approval process.

Upon approval, the goal is always that families spend no more than a few minutes a month on the MCCYN process. This includes providing necessary signatures, reviewing current information, etc.

Rest assured, Phoenix House will work with families in full transparency utilizing their knowledge of the program to proactively simplify the MCCYN application and ongoing maintenance processes.