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July 1, 2026

148 Chapter 18 Subsidy

Section 18.1 Subsidy Wisconsin Shares subsidies assist eligible, low-income parents with the cost of child care while they participate in approved activities. CSAW considers several factors to determine the amount of subsidy for which a child may be eligible.

Copayment The copayment is the amount that is reduced from the subsidy amount based on household income and family size (see 18.2). CSAW subtracts the copayment from each child’s subsidy amount prior to loading funds to the MyWIChildCare card.

Note: The parent is responsible for paying the difference between their subsidy amount and the provider’s price. This may be more than the copayment reduced from the subsidy amount. This difference is usually referred to as the “Parent Share” (see 18.8).

Subsidy Amount The subsidy amount is the final amount of funds that are loaded to the parent’s MyWIChildCare EBT card. CSAW considers many factors to determine the subsidy amount, including but not limited to: • The county where the provider is located • The number of subsidized hours of care for the child • The provider’s regulation category

See Section 18.5 and the CSAW User Guide – Benefit Calculations for more information about how the subsidy is calculated.

This section last updated 10/1/2023

Section 18.2 Copayments CSAW determines the copayment that will be subtracted from the subsidy amount based on the: • Copayment Type (see 18.3) • Assistance Group’s Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (based on family size and income) • Number of children in subsidized child care • Sum of subsidized hours for all children in the Assistance Group (AG)