Admissions
Where Toddlers Can Be Toddlers
Welcome to the 2021-22 Admissions Process
Thank you for your interest in the Barnard Toddler Center. We are now taking names for our wait list.
Please click HERE to provide us with the child's name, birthdate, and your contact information. We will reach out to you if an opening for your child's age and gender becomes available.
Eligible birthdates for the school year are December 1, 2018 through January 31, 2020.
A Vibrant Learning Lab
The Toddler Center is a research, education, and training center. In addition to our warm and nurturing, professional teachers, the assistants at the Barnard College Toddler Center include Barnard and Columbia students enrolled in a year-long developmental psychology course focused on this important stage of life. For this reason, we are able to offer a low student-teacher ratio of 2:1. Students in Developmental and Introductory Psychology courses also come to observe toddlers as part of their coursework. These students learn firsthand about toddler development and how to design observational studies from behind the mirror. Graduate students and early childhood professionals in a range of disciplines from throughout NYC, the U.S., and countries around the world also come each year to observe and learn about toddlers.
Research Commitment
A variety of studies are conducted throughout the year and infuse the center with cutting edge research and scientific information to inform our work with toddlers. All families who attend the Toddler Center agree to take part in research and observation.
Research studies vary from year to year, with the aim of better understanding early social and emotional development and the important role of parents. Participation may include parents filling out questionnaires, which in the past has included subjects such as records of children's sleep, parental thinking about how children play, and parenting styles. Research involving toddlers can also include toddler-friendly games done with a teacher and research assistant, naturalistic videotaping within the classroom or playing with a child in an adjacent room. Recent studies of children's learning and memory have involved a parent-child research visit outside of class time. For each study, a full detailed description of the protocol is provided to parents, questions are answered, and consent is obtained before a toddler can participate.
For more detailed information regarding ongoing and past research, please visit the Research tab above.
Eligible Birthdates
Younger Toddler Classes: Birthdates April 01, 2019 - January 31, 2020
Monday and Thursday mornings 9:30-11:45
OR
Tuesday and Friday mornings 9:30-11:45
OR
Wednesday afternoon 1:30-3:45
Older Toddler Class: Birthdates December 1, 2018- May 31, 2019
Monday and Thursday afternoons 1:30-3:45
Where to Begin
Please click HERE to fill out a short survey and add your name to our wait list. You will receive a confirmation of submission within 7 days. If an opening becomes available, we will make arrangements for a zoom meeting.
If you have questions, please contact us at toddlercenter@barnard.edu.
Information Session
After you have provided your contact information, you will receive an email to schedule a virtual Information Session. These sessions are for parents only and last approximately one hour. Sessions take place in December and January and will give parents the chance to learn about our program and philosophy, what a day at the Center looks like, and meet some of the staff members as well. Due to Covid-19 precautions, this year's sessions will take place on Zoom and we will do our best to offer day and evening options to accommodate parents' schedules.
Observation Session
Typically, as part of the application process at least one parent must visit the Center to observe a class in session. Due to Covid-19, this is not available to us this year. Through video, conversation, and the chance to hear from current and past parents, we will do our best to give families a good sense of the program.
Tuition
The Toddler Center is committed to having our classrooms reflect NYC's racially, culturally, and economically diverse community. Our commitment to equity in practice means that we believe a family's financial contribution should be in proportion to its income and financial resources. In that spirit, we use a sliding scale tuition model and encourage all families to submit the financial application. This, along with two years of tax returns, helps us determine the annual tuition and will not impact acceptance decisions. Financial information is reviewed by the financial aid officers at Barnard. More than 35% of our families pay tuition on a sliding scale.
Once tuition is set, we can also work with families on a payment plan to spread tuition out over several months. Our aim is to make the center affordable to all families who want to be here.
Important Dates
October - December: Provide child's age and contact information via link after October 15, 2020
November-December: We will contact you to sign up for an Information Session
December - January: Attend required virtual Information Session
January 15, 2021: Application and Financial Application deadline
February 25, 2021: Acceptance and Waitlist notifications sent
March 12, 2021: Deposits Due
March - August: Families from wait list accepted as openings become available
Frequently Asked Questions
Beginning October 15th
Applications are emailed once you have attended an information session.
We contact families beginning in November to schedule a required information session. If you haven’t heard from us by late November, email us at toddlercenter@barnard.edu and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
The information sessions are required for all applying parents. We hold several sessions in December and January so parents have an opportunity to attend. Only one parent needs to attend.
Our decisions are based on multiple factors. Priority (although not a guarantee) is given to returning families and employees of Barnard College. Based on the research conducted here and the education of college students, we take an even number of boys and girls and have an age distribution within each class. In addition, we strive for a diverse group of toddlers for each class.
We are committed to a sliding scale model in an effort to make the Toddler Center affordable and encourage all applicants to apply. Tuition decisions are made based on information from the financial application and recent tax returns and does not factor into acceptance decisions at the Toddler Center. Nearly 35% of our families pay tuition on a sliding scale. We also offer payment plans to spread payments out over several months.
Tuition is set on a yearly basis. Because we use a sliding scale model, families pay what they are able to afford based on income and other resources. We don’t want tuition costs to deter any parent who is thinking of applying to the Toddler Center program. Apply and we will work with you as best we can.
In a typical year, as part of our application process, prospective parents come to observe a class in late January. Due to Covid-19, this will not be possible. We will do our best to show you the Center and what a day looks like through videos and conversation.
Our prospective 2021-22 families will not need to schedule a physical visit to the Center. Parents will be required to attend a virtual Information Session.
All visits suspended for the 2020-21 school year.
When you arrive for your visit, wait until all of the children have entered the classroom (after 9:45 or 1:45) before you enter the observation room. Please be sure there are no children in the hallway prior to entering the observation room. You will leave the observation room before the children have finished class.
Food, drinks, and cell phones are all prohibited inside the observation room. Be sure cell phones are turned off—for texting, messages or calls. Photographing/videotaping of any kind is not permitted. And please use your phone sparingly in the hallway, as we share the floor with academic departments and classrooms at Barnard.