Background: Public administration scholars have thoroughly documented a major issue in accessing a variety of public programs -- the administrative burden embedded in the application process (Barnes & Henly, 2018; Herd & Moynihan, 2018; Moynihan, Herd, & Harvey, 2015; Nisar, 2018). Herd and Moynihan (2018) classify these administrative burdens into three categories: learning costs, compliance costs, and psychological costs. These costs are embedded in the application process for early childhood education (ECE) in the U.S., which typically involves a decentralized web of programs and funding streams, often with different eligibility requirements. In prior work (Weixler et al. 2020; Weixler et al. 2024), we have documented administrative burdens in the ECE application process and tested successful outreach methods for addressing learning costs by providing timely information to parents. The current project extends this work by addressing compliance and psychological costs, as well as learning costs, for potential applicants to public early childhood education. We do this through a randomized controlled trial embedded in a pilot version of Louisiana's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) application. Louisiana's Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is currently piloting a version of their online application that is mobile-friendly and uses simpler language. The project described here is in collaboration with DCFS and their contractor, using this pilot site which is active from March through June 2024. Research Questions: 1. What are the effects of providing information about ECE programs and likely eligibility to SNAP applicants on ECE application and enrollment rates? 2. What are the additional effects of streamlining the application process to ECE programs for SNAP applicants on ECE application and enrollment rates? Setting: This study was conducted in New Orleans, LA, which uses a centralized application for public ECE enrollment, managed by New Orleans Public Schools (NOLA-PS). This system includes public-school pre-K, publicly funded seats in private schools and childcare centers, and Head Start/Early Head Start programs, encompassing nearly all publicly funded ECE seats for children ages 0-4. To apply, families log into a portal and fill out a single application (the New Orleans Common Application Process, or NCAP) with rank-ordered choices and then provide documents to demonstrate their eligibility. The application is open in January and February for the main lottery round, and then reopens in May for first-come first-served applications throughout the summer and school year. Participants: Participants include Louisiana SNAP applicants who apply in Orleans Parish using the pilot SNAP portal and have a child under age five. The pilot site has just launched and will remain open until June 30, 2024. Our target sample size is 900 applicants. We expect that the vast majority of participants will be at or below 200% of the poverty line, as that is the limit to quality for SNAP. Intervention: Applicants are randomized into three groups when they start the SNAP application: (1) control; (2) information only; and (3) application assistance. Control group participants complete the SNAP application as usual. Participants in the information group see a screen at the end of the application telling them that they are likely eligible for free ECE, click "yes" if interested, and are given the link to the NCAP. Participants in the application assistance group are offered the option to send their data directly to NOLA-PS to start their application (see Figure 1). Applicants who select this option are then contacted through the NCAP system after their application has been created, and instructed to access their application to select their program choices. In the first phase of this intervention (March-April), applicants are uploaded into the 2023-24 application to request seats currently open. In the second phase (May-June), applicants will be uploaded into the 2024-25 application for seats opening in July/August. Data Collection and Analysis: At the end of the intervention period, the contractor managing the pilot site will share the phone numbers of SNAP applicants who were included in the intervention with NOLA-PS. NOLA-PS will then merge this list with their application records from the intervention period, to identify SNAP applicants who completed the ECE application, and compare application rates across intervention groups. At the start of the school year, NOLA-PS will conduct the same analysis for actual enrollment in programs. Findings: Given the stage of the project, we do not have any preliminary findings yet. However, we anticipate reporting the percentage of each group (information and application assistance) who click yes to indicate their interest in applying, and how those interest rates compare to actual application and enrollment rates for each group, relative to controls. Conclusions: At this time, we have no conclusions or recommendations. However, we hope that our findings will enable us to speak to the potential of cross-program integrated applications to increase participation in public ECE programs. We also anticipate being able to draw conclusions about the impacts of different administrative costs on ECE application rates. The information group experiences a significant reduction in their learning costs, as they are told (1) how to apply and (2) that they are likely eligible. The application assistance group, in addition to this reduction in learning costs, experiences a reduction in compliance costs, as most of the eligibility screening questions will be answered for them using their SNAP application answers, and any documents that they provide at the time of SNAP application will be used to fulfill the ECE document requirements. Administrative burdens limit families' access to many social support programs, including ECE. Finding ways to reduce burden and increase ECE access has the potential to significantly improve outcomes for children and families.