Are you paying to hold daycare spot?

daniellerm23 · July 2012

Hi ladies! I have been looking for daycares for some time now, and just recently came across a couple with openings (although there are other mothers trying to get the same spot as well)... I set up some interviews for next week and I know at least two of them require a contract to be signed right away and for you to pay a monthly fee to hold the spot. I was just curious to how everyone else's daycare search is going? Do you have a spot lined up yet? If so, how much are you paying per month to hold this spot until the baby is here?!

Lovely Lauren · July 2012

DD1 has been at the same daycare for years, so they're holding our spot just on good faith. However, their standard policy is that you have to put down a deposit of $250 to hold a newborn spot and there is a time limit for how long they'll hold it for. I think it's like 4 months max or something. That way they're class isn't down one kid for the entire 9 months for only $250.

datagirl79 · July 2012

I've been calling around. One place I called told me I could hold the spot for 1/2 the tutition of each month, until they started. I'm not looking for her to start till february, so that's a lot of money just to hold a spot.

Most others just put me on "the list". I'm hoping I didn't wait too long to get started. My ideal place doesn't have anything for this school year.

abfromva2 · July 2012

Mine won't collect a deposit until they tell us they have a guaranteed spot. We will find out in September. Fingers crossed one of the places works out!

CurlyQ284 · July 2012

I paid $75 registration fee and my spot is reserved.

AnnieH32 · July 2012

I can pay 1 week's tuition to hold a spot at the daycare my son used to attend. We are going to try to find someone to come to our house 4 days a week to watch both the kids instead, or possibly even an in-home daycare situation. However, if we don't get some promising leads on that front soon, I'll probably go ahead and give them the deposit, just in case.

Aloe0l · July 2012

We had to pay a fee to be on the waiting list, but we aren't guaranteed a spot until one opens. I had the option to pay a monthly fee to hold a spot, but, we chose not to do that, as both DH & I plan on taking time off and can be flexible with when we return (after a certain date). We do however, get preference for having a sibling already enrolled, but, there are quite a few pregnant momma's there these days. Just depends on how much maternity leave everyone takes and who moves up classes when.

daniellerm23 · July 2012

Oh, you all made me a bit less worried! I was worried it was going to be a few hundred every month until we actually start bringing her there... which maybe it is, but I hope not! Hopefully just a one-time fee to hold the spot, or a very low monthly fee.

I didn't expect it to be THIS hard to find a daycare... woofta! Indifferent

watermelon830 · July 2012

I reserved a spot my DD's current daycare. I just had to pay the first week's tuition and that was it - my spot is held until February.

CarynGunter · July 2012

I paid a $50 deposit to be put DD1 on wait list but wasn't guranteed a spot at any particular time. When I spot did come up I had to pay 3 months before she was old enough to go to hold her spot or risk not having a new spot in 3 months time.

I now have to leave her in the entire next year that I'm off on maternity leave to keep her spot and give piority to LO2. I won't send her every day but it will be very convient to only have the new LO home by myself if i so choose. (Side note: I'm in Canada and get a year).

tobysnuggles · July 2012

I'm on a list and once baby is born I will call and put down a deposit for a guaranteed start date.

Sprite2012 · July 2012

Yes, we reserved our spot with a deposit ($225 = one week) when I was around 12 weeks pregnant. The day cares in my area fill up quick, so we started our search early.

KristaNbHam · July 2012

DD1s daycare works like a school, following the local school year calendar and kids only moving up in August. DD2 won't start daycare until mid-January, but we have already paid the school year deposit fee of $175. We don't have to pay tuition for the first half of the school year, but we still have to go ahead and bring beginning of the school year supplies and pay the curriculum fee.

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