Direct services and resources to support MIT faculty and their families, including family or parental leaves and childcare
The MIT School of Science and the Institute offer a range of direct services and resources to promote the health and well-being of MIT faculty members and their families.
MIT Work-Life Center: Faculty Resources
The MIT Work-Life Center offers a range of direct services and resources to promote the health and well-being of MIT community members and their families, including guidance on adult and senior care, child care services and schools. The Work-Life Center provides access to MyLife Services, free round-the-clock access to a network of experts who are available to help with life concerns.
Medical and Family Leaves
MIT provides several paid medical and family leave benefits for faculty. The policies describing these leaves can be found at Policies & Procedures Section 7.5. MIT Human Resources maintains a detailed overview of medical and family leave options for faculty here.
Family Care
Technology Childcare Centers and Faculty Priority
MIT hosts five Technology Childcare Centers, four on the main campus and one at the Lincoln Laboratory, managed by Bright Horizons Family Solutions. Although spaces are in high demand, all tenured and tenure-track faculty members receive enrollment priority for infants ages eight weeks through 14 months.
Dependent Care for Faculty Travel
Institute policy provides for reimbursement associated with travel on MIT business above those normally incurred by the faculty member while at MIT. Faculty are eligible to be reimbursed up to $5,000 in direct expenses, plus an additional 25% allocation to cover the tax due on the expenses, per year in reasonable childcare or dependent care expenses. For junior (untenured) faculty, this reimbursement will be provided by the Dean’s Office. For tenured faculty, the reimbursement will be drawn from a discretionary account.
Expenses over $5,000
The Dean of Science may approve a reimbursement for expenses paid by a faculty member or a department that are larger than $5,000 and/or additional reimbursements beyond the $5,000 outlined in the policy. Such reimbursements will be considered additional compensation (taxable) and paid as a salary supplement; however, the supplement will not be subject to employee benefits and no incremental benefits will be paid (that is, it is not counted in the pension calculation). It cannot be charged to federal research projects unless the PI has explicit permission from the donor/sponsor, to any external funds. The reimbursement/supplement is not subject to research F&A nor fund overhead.
Spousal Travel
In general, the Institute does not reimburse travel expenses for spouses of faculty members. Occasional exceptions are made when the health or well-being of the faculty member, spouse, or child depends on traveling together and there is no reasonable alternative. In such instances, reimbursements must be approved by the Dean’s Office before travel arrangements are made.
How to request Reimbursements
DLCs should field initial requests from faculty to ensure program eligibility before submitting to the Dean’s Office. The request should include details about how the trip is related to MIT business as well as a strong justification for why the dependent(s) need to accompany the faculty on the trip. Department administrators can review procedural steps on Canvas.
Questions about any of these policies or procedures should be directed to the Dean’s Office Faculty Affairs team.
Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
Eligible MIT employees can set aside up to $5,000 pre-tax salary in a flex account to spend on day care, preschool, day camps, and after school care.
Backup Adult and Senior Care
Eligible MIT employees can sign up for Care.com BackupCare to arrange for day or night in-home care for children or another family member who needs assistance. Employees are responsible for the hourly cost of screened and trained caretakers.
Child Care Benefit
Faculty may request reimbursement of child care expenses for pre-kindergarten-aged children for up to $10,000 per child per year.
On-Campus Lactation Rooms & SoS Breast Pump Loan Program
MIT has several dedicated lactation rooms around campus intended for the use of the MIT community, and the School of Science and its departments sponsor several more for their own communities. All rooms have at minimum locking doors, good lighting and ventilation, electrical outlets, a comfortable chair, waste baskets and cleaners, and a nearby refrigerator and sink.
The School of Science Dean’s Office offers hospital-grade Medela Symphony breast pumps for loan for nursing faculty members. Please send any inquiries to sos-dean-facaffairs@mit.edu.
Tuition Support for Children
Dependent children of eligible MIT employees who are admitted to and enroll at MIT will have their full tuition covered. MIT also offers low-interest loans to eligible MIT employees to help with the cost of an undergraduate or graduate college education for dependent children.