Childcare and day-care in Vaud for student and staff parents
To verify This page has 3 items that could not be confirmed on an official page. Check them yourself before relying on them:
- Keep your file up to date. Rules for confirming or renewing a waiting-list entry differ by network. To verify …
- Moving to another commune can change your network. To verify with both networks whether your waiting-list posi…
- How student income or scholarships are counted in the fee scale: To verify with your network.
How day-care works in Vaud for children aged 0 to 12: the regional day-care networks, how to get on a waiting list, how fees are set, what the cantonal FAJE foundation does, and where EPFL's family pages come in.
Key facts
- Vaud runs day-care through regional networks (réseaux d'accueil de jour). You apply to the network your home commune belongs to, not to the canton or to FAJE.
- FAJE (Fondation pour l'accueil de jour des enfants) funds the networks for children 0 to 12; it does not take registrations.
- Fees depend on parents' income. Each network sets its own scale; FAJE checks that fees are income-based and that the top fee does not exceed the average running cost.
- Register early. EPFL says to register as soon as possible; most communes accept enrolment from the first months of pregnancy.
- No standard Vaud price. Fees vary by network, income and hours, so this page gives no CHF figures. Use your network's fee rules or online calculator.
1. How the Vaud system is organised
Since 2006, FAJE has coordinated and subsidised day-care across the canton for children from 0 to 12. It funds the networks, which group:
- pre-school care (0 to 4): crèches and garderies;
- after-school care for pupils (4 to 12): UAPE and APEMS;
- family day-care (accueil familial de jour): authorised childminders, coordinated by the network. Communes authorise the childminders.
A network groups communes, private partners, non-profit care centres and coordination services in a given area. To be recognised by FAJE it must offer all three types of care and have a fee policy that takes income into account.
2. Finding and registering for a place
- Find your network. Enter your postcode or commune on the vd.ch page Ressources pour les parents, or use vaudfamille.ch. FAJE also publishes a list of network contacts.
- Register with that network. Each network has its own form and waiting list. Lausanne's network (Réseau-L) is described in Family and partner permits, with its access rules and contact.
- Register as early as possible, often during pregnancy (EPFL). Being on a waiting list does not guarantee a place.
- Keep your file up to date. Rules for confirming or renewing a waiting-list entry differ by network. To verify with your network.
Moving to another commune can change your network. To verify with both networks whether your waiting-list position carries over.
3. Fees
- Fees are set by the network, not by FAJE or the canton (FAJE).
- They must depend on parents' income, on a basis each network fixes, and the maximum fee may not exceed the average running cost of that type of care (FAJE).
- Networks publish fee rules or online calculators on their websites. ch.ch adds that cost depends on the institution and often on income, and to ask the institutions about your case.
- How student income or scholarships are counted in the fee scale: To verify with your network.
4. EPFL and UNIL options
EPFL's official Child care solutions page says:
- the Croquignole, Croq'cinelle, Polychinelle and Primavera nurseries, run by the FAPE foundation on the UNIL and EPFL campus, welcome in priority children of people with a valid work contract or studying at EPFL/UNIL;
- registration goes through the Lausanne city parents' office (the page still names BIP);
- places are still insufficient, so register as soon as possible.
Student parents: EPFL's Students with children page points to Social consultation for study and budget questions. Staff: EPFL's Family and work-life pages. More detail on the campus nurseries and Réseau-L is already in Family and partner permits.
5. Money help and tax
- Family allowances (Vaud amounts, non-employed students): Family allowances for student parents.
- Scholarships and emergency support: Student financial aid.
- Tax deduction for childcare costs: see vd.ch Les déductions (section on frais de garde) and the Vaud 2026 deductions table (PDF).
- Bringing your children to Switzerland: Family and partner permits.