Beginning in Fall 2024, students must be 5 years old by September 1 to enter kindergarten impacting the elementary school starting point for an estimated 9,000 children state-wide.

GREENWICH, Conn., DECEMBER 14, 2023 – While the Greenwich United Way awards more than $100,000 in preschool scholarships every year, that support will now be even more critical than ever before when the State of Connecticut’s kindergarten age cutoff date moves up more than four months in the 2024-2025 school year. Students will need to be 5 years old by September 1 to enroll in kindergarten in the state; the current age cutoff date is January 1.

According to the State of Connecticut Office of Early Childhood State Department of Education, an estimated 9,000+ students in 2024-25 will be unable to automatically enroll in elementary school in Fall 2024. Families will be financially responsible for an additional year of preschool education programming, which often have a half-day model that is challenging for working parents.

“As early childhood education programs in Greenwich prepare for increased demand, we anticipate an influx of applications for preschool scholarships,” said David Rabin, CEO of GUW. “The elementary school preparation provided by preschool is invaluable for closing the achievement gap among students in our town. We estimate the dire need to fund many more scholarships next fall and we will work tirelessly to deliver for these hard-working, deserving families striving to provide their children with a firm academic foundation.”

GUW provides preschool scholarships for Grace Daycare & Learning Center, Family Centers Early Care & Education program, and Greenwich Public Schools preschool programs at New Lebanon School, Hamilton Avenue School, North Street School, Old Greenwich School and Julian Curtiss School. If you or someone you know is in need of a preschool scholarship, contact administrators at participating programs or GUW’s Robert Moore, Vice President of Community Impact, at rmoore@greenwichunitedway.org.

For those interested in making end-of-year gifts to GUW’s early childhood education scholarship program, please contact Jeremy Nappi at jnappi@greenwichunitedway.org.

About Greenwich United Way

The Greenwich United Way (GUW) shares a name with approximately 1,200 other similar organizations across the nation, although the Greenwich, Connecticut division is a privately incorporated, locally governed, nonprofit agency. As a volunteer-driven organization, the Greenwich United Way exists to help identify and address the health, educational and self-sufficiency needs specific to its local community and to create and affect meaningful, lasting solutions. Through various fundraising efforts and on-going research, the organization is able to directly grant the funds necessary to accomplish this goal. The Greenwich United Way also invests in and conducts collaborative efforts to address broad-based community needs with partnering nonprofit agencies. For more information, visit https://greenwichunitedway.org, or follow us on Instagram and Facebook.