---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 1793"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "1793"
heading: "Parent fees"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/1793"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 88 — Military Family Programs and Military Child Care"
  - "Subchapter II — Military Child Care"
---

# §1793. Parent fees

- (a) **In General.—** The [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense shall prescribe regulations establishing fees to be charged parents for the attendance of children at [military child development centers](/usc/10/1800.md?p=1). Those regulations shall be uniform for the [military departments](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-8) and shall require that, in the case of children who attend the centers on a [regular](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-12) basis, the fees shall be based on family income.
- (b) **Local Waiver Authority.—** The [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense may provide authority to installation commanders, on a case-by-case basis, to establish fees for attendance of children at [child](/usc/10/1072.md?p=6) development centers at [rates](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-9) lower than those prescribed under [subsection (a)](#a) if the [rates](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-9) prescribed under [subsection (a)](#a) are not competitive with [rates](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-9) at local non-[military child development centers](/usc/10/1800.md?p=1).
- (c) **Family Discount.—** In the case of a family with two or more children attending a [child](/usc/10/1072.md?p=6) development center, the regulations prescribed pursuant to [subsection (a)](#a) may require that installations commanders charge a fee for attendance at the center of any [child](/usc/10/1072.md?p=6) of the family after the first [child](/usc/10/1072.md?p=6) of the family in amount equal to 85 percent of the amount of the fee otherwise chargeable for the attendance of such [child](/usc/10/1072.md?p=6) at the center.
- (d) **Child Care Employee Discount.—** In order to support recruitment and retention initiatives, the [Secretary](/usc/10/4951.md?p=3) of Defense shall charge reduced fees for the attendance, at a [military child development center](/usc/10/1800.md?p=1), of the children of a [child care employee](/usc/10/1800.md?p=3) as follows:
  - (1) For the first [child](/usc/10/1072.md?p=6), no fee.
  - (2) For each other [child](/usc/10/1072.md?p=6), a fee equal to or less than a fee discounted under [subsection (c)](#c).
- (e) **Prohibition of Concurrent Discounts.—** A family may not receive discounts under subsections [(c)](#c) and [(d)](#d) concurrently.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title V, § 568(a)(1), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 333; amended Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title V, § 585(a), Jan. 1, 2021, 134 Stat. 3654; Pub. L. 117–263, div. A, title VI, § 642, Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 2634; Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title VI, § 633, Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 1937.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2024—Subsecs. (d), (e). Pub. L. 118–159 added subsecs. (d) and (e) and struck out former subsec. (d). Prior to amendment, text of subsec. (d) read as follows: “The Secretary of Defense may, to support recruitment and retention initiatives, charge a child care employee, whose child attends a military child development center, a reduced fee for such attendance.”

2022—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 117–263 added subsec. (d).

2021—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 116–283 added subsec. (c).