Kindergarten Fees and Subsidies in Cyprus (2026/27): Who Qualifies, How Much and How to Register

Everything depends on your child's date of birth. This is how the 2026/27 rules line up.

Sources: Public kindergarten registration for 2026/27: Ministry of Education circular of 12 December 2025 (opens in a new tab); Over-4 subsidy: conditions and amounts (opens in a new tab) (checked on October 17, 2026).

Public kindergartens are also free for younger children who get a place: the Cabinet abolished the €42 monthly fee for children below compulsory age from September 2025.

Its full name is the Tuition and Meals Subsidy Scheme for Children up to 4 Years Old. The Welfare Benefits Administration Service of the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare runs it, with EU co-funding, and the Cabinet renewed it for 2026/27 on 19 May 2026.

You can apply for 2026/27 when all three conditions are met:

• You are approved for Child Benefit for 2026. Families approved for 2025 were carried over automatically; a new baby must be declared first.
• Your child had not turned 4 by 31 August 2026.
• Your child attends, or has a place at, a nursery or kindergarten that takes part in the scheme.

Income limits (family income for 2025)

Source: Under-4 subsidy: questions and answers (opens in a new tab) (checked on October 17, 2026).

Family income includes earnings, pensions, rents, interest and most benefits of all family members. Child Benefit, student grants, scholarships and disability allowances do not count. Older children who count as dependants for Child Benefit count here too, which can raise both the limit and the subsidy.

Nationality does not matter: anyone who receives Child Benefit can apply, for example EU citizens working in Cyprus. The subsidy cannot be combined with another grant for the same costs.

The subsidy is 80% of the final monthly fee after discounts, up to a maximum set by family income, the number of dependent children, the child's age and the hours. In 2026/27 the maximum is between €75 and €350 a month per child.

Monthly maximum per child. First amount: child up to 2 years old on 31 August 2026. Second amount: child from 2 to 4. The columns count all dependent children in the family. A dash means the family is above the income limit.

Sources: Under-4 subsidy: conditions and maximum amounts (Welfare Benefits Administration Service) (opens in a new tab); Under-4 subsidy: questions and answers (opens in a new tab) (checked on October 17, 2026).

Add €50 a month when your child stays after 15:30. The day has to start in the morning: afternoon-only attendance is not subsidised.

Settings in the scheme may not raise their fee by more than €15 a month on last year (€25 when meal costs rise), and must charge every family the same price. If you see otherwise, tell the Welfare Benefits Administration Service.

1. Check that your Child Benefit for 2026 is approved. If you have never applied, or need to add a new baby, do that first.
2. Enrol your child at a nursery or kindergarten that takes part, and ask for the six-digit code of your child's class.
3. Apply online at gov.cy (under-4 subsidy) (opens in a new tab) with your CY Login account, linked to your identity first (for example through online banking). Only the parent who receives Child Benefit can apply, in most families the mother.
4. Enter the class code, the hours, the enrolment and start dates, and the final monthly fee after discounts, without optional extras that not every child in the class pays.
5. Approval is automatic. You and the nursery receive an email with the monthly amount.

Dates and payments for 2026/27

• Applications opened on 1 September 2026 and stay open until 31 July 2027. Everyone applies again each school year.
• Applications made by 30 September 2026 count from 1 September, or from the start date if later. After that, the subsidy starts in the month you apply and never covers earlier months, so apply in the month your child starts.
• The online system closes on the last working day of each month for about three to four working days while attendance is confirmed. Apply or change details before then.
• The government pays the nursery after each month ends, within 10 working days. You pay the first month in full; from the following month you pay only the difference, and the nursery refunds or deducts the extra first payment.
• Pay the fees electronically or by cheque, not in cash. Extras go on a separate receipt.
• Approval lasts for the school year, until August 2027, even if your child turns 4 during the year.

Sources: Applications for 2026/27 open: announcement of 7 September 2026 (gov.cy) (opens in a new tab); Under-4 subsidy: questions and answers (opens in a new tab) (checked on October 17, 2026).

The Welfare Benefits Administration Service answers questions on 1450 and publishes a detailed list of questions and answers (see the official sources below).

A second scheme covers children who were 4 by 31 August 2026 but below compulsory age: in 2026/27, children born from 1 May to 31 August 2022. The same service runs it, with funding from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility.

• Who: every family legally resident in the areas controlled by the Republic of Cyprus. There is no income test and no Child Benefit condition.
• How much: 100% of the fee for the morning programme, 7:45 to 13:05, up to €200 a month at a private kindergarten and €130 at a community kindergarten.
• Not covered: meals, care after 13:05 and extra activities, which the kindergarten can charge on top.
• Where: only at kindergartens approved for this scheme. Settings are approved for each scheme separately, so check the over-4 list.
• How: apply online at gov.cy (over-4 subsidy) (opens in a new tab) from 7 September 2026, with no closing date. One parent applies, with the class code from the kindergarten. Applications made in September count from the start date; later ones from the month you apply.
• Until when: approval lasts until June 2027, even if your child reaches compulsory age during the year.
• Payment: you pay the first month and the kindergarten returns it when your child's attendance ends.

Sources: Over-4 subsidy: conditions and amounts (opens in a new tab); Over-4 subsidy: questions and answers (opens in a new tab) (checked on October 17, 2026).

Only settings approved for 2026/27 can receive the subsidy. The Welfare Benefits Administration Service publishes one spreadsheet per scheme and adds settings as they are approved. When we checked on 17 October 2026, the under-4 list covered approvals up to 28 September 2026 and the over-4 list approvals up to 12 October 2026.

• Under-4 subsidy: approved nurseries and kindergartens (opens in a new tab)
• Over-4 subsidy: approved kindergartens (opens in a new tab)

Settings apply to join every school year, and once approved they stay in for the whole year. Before you pay a deposit, ask the setting:

• Are you approved for 2026/27, and for which scheme?
• What is the class code for my child?
• What is the final monthly fee after discounts, and what does it include?

Settings we found on the official lists show a dated fee-subsidy marker on their profiles. A setting without one may still take part: check the official list, or ask it through its profile with Request info.

The three types differ in cost, places and hours.

Sources: Community kindergarten grant for 2026/27: Ministry of Education circular of 4 March 2026 (opens in a new tab); Public kindergarten fees abolished for younger children: Minister of Education statement of 27 August 2025 (opens in a new tab) (checked on October 17, 2026).

Public kindergartens run from 7:45 to 13:05, and some offer an optional afternoon programme (the Ministry lists them). Private settings often open earlier and close later, which is where the €50 supplement for hours after 15:30 helps.

Day nurseries for babies and toddlers are licensed by the Social Welfare Services; kindergartens are registered with the Ministry of Education. At compulsory age your child must attend a kindergarten registered with the Ministry, which publishes the lists of registered kindergartens (opens in a new tab).

Public kindergartens register new children once a year, in one week in January. For 2026/27 that was 12 to 16 January 2026, set out in a Ministry of Education circular of 12 December 2025. Watch for the circular with the 2027/28 dates: after the January week, registrations are accepted only for a good reason.

Source: Public kindergarten registration for 2026/27: Ministry of Education circular of 12 December 2025 (opens in a new tab) (checked on October 17, 2026).

Where to register

• A child of compulsory age registers at the kindergarten of your educational district. The Ministry publishes the districts for each school year.
• If an older brother or sister is in Years 1 to 5 of a primary school, you can register at the kindergarten next to that school instead.
• Missed the January week with a child of compulsory age? Contact your District Education Office by email. No extra classes open after January, so the child goes to the nearest school with free places.

What to bring

• The application form: YPAN DDE 11 for compulsory age, YPAN DDE 30 for younger children. Both are on the Ministry's website and at the school.
• Birth certificate, ID card or passport; for children born abroad, the Alien Registration Certificate (ARC).
• Two recent bills for your home: refuse collection and electricity. Tenants without a refuse bill bring the rental agreement; families in Aglantzia bring the title deed; families who have just moved bring the building permit; families living with relatives bring the relatives' bills and a certified declaration.
• Every child living in Cyprus can register, whatever their nationality or their parents' residence status.

Younger children: 3 to 4 years 4 months

• Children born from 1 May 2022 to 31 August 2023 can apply in the same January week, on form YPAN DDE 30, at any public kindergarten.
• They get a place only if one is left after compulsory-age children. Children with special educational needs approved by the district committee come first; then 4-year-olds (born 1 May to 31 August 2022) before 3-year-olds; in each group, children from the kindergarten's district before others, and on-time applications before late ones.
• In 2026, families heard by 30 April (4-year-olds) and 7 May (3-year-olds). Places still free on 24 September were offered to the waiting list on 25 September.
• A place outside your district does not guarantee that your child can stay at that kindergarten at compulsory age.

1. Ask for the letter. A kindergarten without a free place must tell you in writing. Attach that letter to an application at another public kindergarten with free places, and it counts as on time.
2. Stay on the waiting list. Places kept for compulsory-age children were offered to waiting families at the end of September in 2026.
3. Use a subsidy at a community or private setting that takes part. For a 4-year-old born May to August 2022 the morning fee is paid up to €130 or €200, with no income test. For younger children you can get up to 80% of the fee if you receive Child Benefit.
4. For a child of compulsory age the state has to provide a place: contact your District Education Office.

Then compare settings near you. Each hub lists every nursery or kindergarten by city, with published fees where the setting has them:

The subsidy reduces the monthly fee. Ask what else the setting charges:

• Registration or enrolment fee, and any deposit
• Meals: part of the under-4 calculation when they are in the fixed monthly fee, but not covered by the over-4 subsidy
• Hours after 13:05 (over-4 subsidy) and after 15:30 (beyond the €50 under-4 supplement)
• Optional activities, uniforms, books and outings
• Summer: the under-4 subsidy pays for days of the normal programme in July and August, not for a separate summer school
• Transport, if the setting offers it

Before your child's first enrolment, a private kindergarten must agree with you in writing on the total fees and every other charge for the whole time your child will attend, including books, uniform, events and outings (Private Schools Law of 2019 (opens in a new tab), article 16(1)).

Fees on PrivateSchools.cy come from each setting's profile. Compare them on the private school fees page, then add extras in the fees calculator.

Once the money is clear, choose on what matters day to day. Our kindergarten and pre-primary guide covers ages, curriculum, language and what to look for on a visit.

Ask in writing before you pay a deposit:

• Are you approved for the 2026/27 under-4 or over-4 subsidy, and what is our class code?
• Are you registered with the Ministry of Education, or licensed by the Social Welfare Services?
• What is the final monthly fee after discounts, and what exactly does it include?
• Does the day start in the morning and run past 15:30, if we need the afternoon supplement?
• How do you handle the first month's payment and its refund?
• Are you open in July and August, and is that the normal programme or a separate summer school?
• How many children are there per adult, and which language is spoken during the day?