Deposit to hold daycare spot?

asnowracer · November 2008

We only have 5 licensed providers in our area (where we live and I work). Yeah, its rural. 4 of them have been ruled out (major issues to me: not a smoke-free house, smells like dog-pee and dirty, etc.) We don't know anyone unlicensed well enough to trust them. Nannies are out of our price range. I'm limited to home daycares or centers. DH's work is too far away and he takes the train and takes classes after work, so finding a provider near his work is out.

We REALLY liked the last one we met.

Only problem is she wants a weekly fee to hold our spot...$50 a week! That's $1200 total! I think that's an absurd amount.

I'm almost positive she'd be willing to negotiate, I'm going to suggest having part of a deposit (and there's no way i will pay 1200 for nothing!) go toward the cost of service after the baby is born.

What were your daycare providers' deposit/policies to hold?

E C · November 2008

We are in a center - their policy was 1 week's 'tuition' to hold the spot.

AlisaS · November 2008

We didn't have one at the one we are at but we did lose $500 on a deposit on another place which was our safety.

pnstirling · November 2008

My center charged $100 to hold her spot.

mrstommyp · November 2008

The center we decided to go with we paid for the first month up front to hold our spot, which is right at what your provider wants amount wise. Now that actually pays for the first month so if we ended up not going for some reason we would get that back. There was also a $150 registration fee, which is non-refundable.

sara1104 · November 2008

the center we went with need $500 to hold her spot. some we looked at wanted $800 and another $1600. BUT, none of them could get her in until the month we needed or the month after. so they weren't losing any money. the daycare might be able to get another baby right away, so you might be out of luck with trying to have it go towards the fees. GL!

Taylor44 · November 2008

This isn't a common practice in our area. The DCs in our area only require a non-refundable registration fee, which ranged from $25-$75. Is the deposit refundable if you don't choose the DC? If you enroll your child is the deposit applied to your tuition? Sounds like a lot to me, but if it is refundable or applied to your tuition, then it is not a problem.

june10-06 · November 2008

Ours was only about $150 to get ds on the waiting list. They didn't give us an option to hold his spot, unless I guess you want to pay full the tuition. When there was space available we had the option to enroll or not. I would just ask that it go to your last month as long as you give enough notice.

renogaw · November 2008

DD's center required one week's tuition for the deposit. Since we followed through with the enrollment, the deposit is being held as the last week's tuition. As DD gets older (and the tuition goes down accordingly), they'll credit our account. When DD will no longer be attending, we won't have to pay for her final week.

I don't understand what you mean when you say "$50 a week! That's $1200 total!"

However it works out, the entire amount should count towards the amount you pay them, that's how any deposit should work. For instance, I remember (way back) when we got married we needed deposits on everythiing but it was all applied to the final bill. The only way you'd pay it for "nothing" is if you backed out.

RedBrideNC · November 2008

We paid a $100 deposit to hold his spot at a center. We ultimately lost it b/c I went with an in home provider. If we had kept him at the center the deposit would have went towards his first week daycare costs.

Emmasmom30 · November 2008

Wow, I'm on a wait list for the best daycare where we are moving to but they don't require a deposit.

luvmagoldn · November 2008

Do you mean she wants to charge you $50 for each week between now and the time the baby needs to start day care? If so, that's ridiculous! If not, I'm confused about what she's asking you to do.

We had to pay a $50 deposit for each child which is no where near the weekly rate (we pay $400/week for both at an in home provider).

molldoll71 · December 2008

We had to pay $300 to hold his spot and then it was credited to his first month there. For me $300 was reasonable. We even paid it before we finished looking because I knew we could eat $300. $1200 is a lot if you aren't going to get a credit for it!