Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a child under the age of 3, then there will be a waitlist. Most children over the age of 3 could receive an immediate offer after completing the application process. This would apply to both facilities.

As vacancies occur, children are accepted in the following order according to the date of application: 1. Children of Hilltop staff 2. Siblings of children currently attending Hilltop 3. Children of KU students 4. Children of KU faculty & staff 5. Non-KU affiliated children Enrollment procedures vary for school age K-5th grade children. KU affiliation does not apply to school age enrollment. Administration will consider schools available for pickup, transportation capabilities and siblings as we enroll our classrooms. These rooms are incredibly limited on spaces each year.

Hilltop is considered a controlled affiliate of KU. This means that we are connected to the university through Student Affairs and a negotiated management agreement. KU has a voting position on our Board of Directors. However, Hilltop is a private 501C-3 non-profit corporation. Hilltop employees are not state employees. All employees report to the Executive Director and the Executive Director reports to the board.

Optional care periods are times when the University is not is session, but Hilltop is open. Parents will receive an email registration each semester to sign up for these times. If a parent registers for these weeks, then they are charged a weekly fee. If a parent opts not to register, then they do not have to pay for these weeks. These are all predetermined weeks and parents must register in order to attend. See fee schedule for more information on dates and associated fees.

Parents may drop off any time after 7:15am. If you want your child to have breakfast they should arrive no later than 8:30am. You can see each classrooms schedule to see what may be missed if you arrive later in the mornings. We ask that parents do not pickup or drop off between 12-3 as this is nap time and incredibly disruptive to the classrooms. Children must be picked up no later than 5:30pm. Significant late fees will apply if after 5:30pm.

The Hilltop parking lot is a KU parking lot and does require a loading pass. This lot is a 20 minute loading zone. No other KU parking pass is valid in the lot. All fees collected by Hilltop are paid in full to KU.

NAEYC is the National Association for the Education of Young Children. This is a national accreditation that has a significantly high bar for early childhood centers. The qualifications of staff are higher, playground accessibility and safety have higher standards, curriculum implementation has greater significance as well. Hilltop remains the only NAEYC accredited facility in Douglas County.

Hilltop has had a longstanding policy of no "superheroes" in our early childhood rooms. This is in place because our young children struggle with separating fiction from reality. Our goal is to create a safe environment for all children. We don't want to have materials that glorify or highlight the violence that occurs within the superhero genre. Our children try and mimic behaviors of these characters which is unsafe for peers.

Hilltop can accommodate most allergies or medical concerns. If a child needs to have an accommodation, they would need to have a medical diagnosis from a medical doctor. There would need to be a note from a medical doctor stating the nature of the medical condition and what accommodation needs to be made. Hilltop will review all recommendations and determine all reasonable methods to accommodate.