Daycare Cost Mystery

dshannah · January 2016

So I've contacted three daycare centers in the town we're moving to, and none of them will quote me a price. Not even a ballpark. They all want me to schedule a walk-through, at which point *if* I decide I like them we can talk numbers. And *then* they'll put us on a waiting list.

Is this normal? I don't live anywhere near where we're moving and have about two days to scout out daycares in person, so making an appointment to see a bunch of these places is going to be impossible. I've gone to sites that give average daycare rates for this locality, but they range from $5,000-$15,000/year, and that is not helpful--I don't want to go tour all of the $15,000 places, only to discover I can't afford any of them or they don't have any spaces available in the next year.

Have you all run into this? What have you done?

cortney626 · January 2016

I'm sure they do this to get you to come in and fall in love with it and hopefully cost won't be an issue. I've encountered one place that has done this and I never went to go see them. But I knew of the tuition at another place and we found our in home day care center, so it didn't matter at that point. But it was annoying that they couldn't just tell you a price. But I'm sure that deters a lot of people. If all of them in the area are withholding cost, then you may have to check them out or explain you won't be living near by until later on and maybe they'll share the price. Do any of them have referrals that you can ask for a ballpark figure?

kp90 · January 2016

That seems really stupid to me. Although the places we have checked out we always talked numbers once we went in to walk through. BUT I have seen websites online with their rates displayed. See if you can check out websites for day cares you are interested in. We are military so we are going to end up putting our baby in day care on post which goes off of your income but even then she was able to give me a price via phone when I told her our income. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

kp90 · January 2016

Oh and I would not expect to "fall in love" with the first few you check out... you may have better luck than us but the ones off post that we saw.. I wouldn't even want my dog staying there. And the one off post that WAS nice... was 700 and some dollars per month. Crazy.

balamama · January 2016

I'm looking at three places in my city and two of the three wont disclose cost until you come in. It's annoying, but I really want to see all three so I have a basis for comparison and will then factor in the cost.

js8812 · January 2016

Places here are pretty upfront about costs. All centers have longggg waiting lists, so any decent place (and not so decent places) won't have any problems filling spots. Infant care is about $785/month here.

asummerbride · January 2016

I have never experienced this, not sure if it's geographical thing (I live in a borough of NYC). I was given rates when I initially called. Do you belong to any local FB groups where you can ask for feedback on these daycares, including pricing?

dsmith211 · January 2016

We had 3 on our list and 2 of those would not disclose cost until we went in, so I think that's fairly common. All of them would tell us if they had availability in our timeframe though, so any that weren't we just skipped. As others have said it's probably to get you to fall in love with the place and disregard the cost. Thankfully for us the best place we went to and the one we liked the most ended up being the cheapest. We were pretty lucky too bc they only have 3 spots in their infant room and they rarely open up, but one of the current babies is moving a few weeks before we would start.

The place we chose is going to cost us about $880 a month which seems average for our area. One place we went to wanted $1200 a month and we couldn't understand why... Dirty looking, too many kids, teachers seemed annoyed, etc.

swflJD · January 2016

Most of the daycares in my area disclose their prices on their websites. We'll probably be using the one at my office, so I was able to just call my HR rep and get a price quote. It's about the same amount as the average rate at the local daycares, and it has higher accreditation standards. The problem is that it isn't opening until late February or March, which means I can't do a walk through until then. I also can't speak to other parents who have used it until it would be too late to get on the list for a different one (if there were problems).

@dshannah Did you try explaining to the daycares you called that you don't currently live there and that you don't have time to tour their facilities at this point, so you'd appreciate the details over the phone. If they aren't even willing to accommodate you to that extent, that may be a red flag.

PYLWhammy · January 2016

@dshannah depending on what state you are in, a Child Care Resource & Referral agency may be able to tell you the cost of different centers (in some states, Resource & Referral agencies are only available to those parents receiving child care assistance). Google to find your local agency, it's worth a shot..good luck.

Sunshinebins · January 2016

I've had mixed luck with this. Some will say and some won't. But I'm way less inclined to go with the ones who won't tell me up front! That makes me think they are very expensive. I agree with PP to maybe explain you're moving and won't be able to come by? And that you will not tour a place that doesn't give you a price given that you have limited time?

Otherwise I would maybe try to google the places and scout around for someone listing the price somewhere. It would at least give you an idea.

mrstmoose · January 2016

I'm in the Midwest and can expect to pay between $700-$800/month for full time infant care. We are only looking at home daycare options and they have all been upfront with us about cost and what that includes. I would suggest looking at Childcare Aware or your local department for health and environment. All childcare providers have to be licensed and should be listed there so at least you know what you're walking into.

dshannah · January 2016

@cortney626 and @swflJD:
I explained the whole situation, and even asked for referrals of parents to talk to: none of them would tell me anything! They'll give me the names of parents to talk to only after my visit. It was really frustrating. The best one of them did was to say that people who work for the employer I'll be working for do have their kids there. But I don't know what those other folks make, so even that's not super-helpful.

All my new coworkers with kids live far enough away from work that their daycare options won't work for me, and no one I know seems to have any local experience. I might try to join a FB group...

I'd like to see places before I commit to sending baby there, but I need to know cost so I don't waste my time looking at places we simply cannot afford. And, as @dsmith211 pointed out, cost doesn't seem to equate with quality!

@PYLWhammy: thanks for the tip! My state does have one of those:) I'll go check it out.

Pascal86 · January 2016

Wow, I'm in Portland and average cost seems to be about $1500/month, and I've just seen a couple closer to $1300.

balamama · January 2016

@Pascal86 same prices around me. Makes me want to move to the Midwest

Charla1224 · January 2016

@Pascal86 and @babyfmama I live smack dab in the middle of the Midwest (Indianapolis) and would expect to pay between $1200- 1500/ month too. I'm a bit jealous of the prices other ladies shared here.

yogahh · January 2016

Just want to say I am jealous of anyone paying less than $1000. Ours is $1700, the highest in the neighborhood but totally worth it. It's more like a school with a focus on learning. @dshannah try a local fb group and ask about the options in the area. It's the best way to get insider info ino

kami09 · January 2016

Dang I was gonna say...when I nannied I got $2200/month for 2 boys. They probably think I was robbing them (although they came up with the compensation..I just went with it lol..aaand it stayed the same when the third came along)

JessicaB0627 · January 2016

Charla1224 said:

@Pascal86 and @babyfmama I live smack dab in the middle of the Midwest (Indianapolis) and would expect to pay between $1200- 1500/ month too. I'm a bit jealous of the prices other ladies shared here.

I'm not sure what side of the city you live on, but DD's daycare is about $900 a month and really highly accredited! I didn't realize most were that much more.

gamommyx3 · January 2016

Same here...we got prices with the information packets they gave us at the end of the tours. The places ranged from $800 to $1200. Fortunately the least expensive one was also the best fit for us logistically & also had the best atmosphere. And the waiting lists!! A friend of mine had her baby in June & she is STILL on the WL at 3 places and has no daycare yet.

Charissadeats · January 2016

I'll just make mention of the fact that your daycare is much more expensive than some of our schools.

You can even get into a decent private school, and I'm talking high school, for what @yogahh is paying! That is absolutely shocking! Holy crap!

Why on earth does it cost that much?!

khochanadel · January 2016

I also had mixed results with getting information. You really have to pry it out of some people. The tours were informative but I literally had to take a whole day to do 3 of them. I did 5 total. Naturally, our favorite place was also the most expensive, but not by much. They're all pretty much within the same ballpark.

We're having twins, so multiply $1350 a month times two. Lord beer me strength. Oh, they're doing us a solid and giving us a whopping 10% discount on the second child. #geethanks

proudparent2b · January 2016

I'm in the midwest as well, and almost everywhere runs $17,000-18,500 for the first year. The closest YMCA does offer a better deal, only $10,000, but it's 45 min. out of my way each way and I simply can't spend 3 hours daily in commuting to daycare.

My area is also hyper competitive for spots as most places only have 6-9 spots total for infants due to state mandated 3-1 infant to staff ratios. When I chose a place back in September, half the options in the area were already booked through October/December 2016.

Most of the daycares I saw were quite nice, but even the ones that weren't were less than $1,000 annual difference in cost from the 'elite' ones.

nerdymama15 · January 2016

We only toured one daycare and fell in love with it. They weren't stingy with information beforehand either. The most annoying thing about the whole ordeal was the pricing/rates were not posted on their website and you had to call an 800 number and talk to a customer service rep. The rep provided the information. We set up a tour online. The one we looked at is 192 per week and include diapers, wipes, and formula. They also are set up like a school and work on age appropriate milestones for each age group and prepare them for kindergarten. They have child care centers all over the country, but the prices can vary from center to center. For example, there are a few in our area and the prices differ on a few of them.

dshannah · January 2016

nerdymama15 said:

We only toured one daycare and fell in love with it. They weren't stingy with information beforehand either. The most annoying thing about the whole ordeal was the pricing/rates were not posted on their website and you had to call an 800 number and talk to a customer service rep. The rep provided the information. We set up a tour online. The one we looked at is 192 per week and include diapers, wipes, and formula. They also are set up like a school and work on age appropriate milestones for each age group and prepare them for kindergarten. They have child care centers all over the country, but the prices can vary from center to center. For example, there are a few in our area and the prices differ on a few of them.

What is the name of the place? Maybe they have one near me--I want to pay $192/week!

mrstmoose · January 2016

I guess I should clarify, I literally live in the smack dab of the USA in Kansas. So yes, cost of living is way less here, but salaries are also less and everything is comparable based on where you live. So in NYC, I would assume you would pay more than I would here in Kansas. Because paying $17,000 a year here is probably a private high school tuition (which we are not sending our kids to private school!).

laurenmdrn16 · January 2016

Just for more range info: my son is at an in home daycare in MA (on the North Shore in a very wealthy community where I work...we live on the "other side of the tracks" and it feels like a world away!). For infants the rate is $350/week and for toddlers (walkers) it is $325/week. I got a deal because I work at the elementary school in town so my son is only $295/week. And then when my daughter is able to go in September, she will be at the infant rate ($350/week), but my son will drop down to $265/week. So, all-in-all, for full time 5 day a week daycare for 2 children it will be $615/week. So...$2,460 a month and $29,520 a year.

We provide diapers and wipes and I bring in special milk for my son due to his allergies, but otherwise they provide breakfast, lunch, and 2 snacks. I will need to provide formula/breast milk for my baby girl, but the daycare is literally walking distance from work so I could go over and do a nursing session during lunch if I wanted. I also get early drop-off for free, but usually pick up early too.

emma+karen · January 2016

I'm doing a happy dance right now because my son just moved up to preschool and our cost went down by almost $500/month! It is usually most expensive for babies and toddlers. We're looking at the daycare center at my work (public school--the high school has a daycare center employees can use if there's space) for at least the first year for this little one. It's way cheaper and will be nice to have him right next door when I'm at work!

Charla1224 · January 2016

@JessicaB0627 we've been looking at large centers because of the hours we both need. I know the cost would drop if we had more flexibility in our schedules.

chottomotto · January 2016

For comparison, here is a price sheet for a reputable daycare chain in Orlando, FL. My kids don't go to this school, but the price sheet is almost identical.

jenashawn · January 2016

Whoa! $785 a month. That is crazy. Not sure where you live but all the daycares around here are roughly $300 per week.

We had some luck getting quotes prior to coming in, but others were very tightlipped about it. Seems like the home daycares were more apt to tell us upfront, and the franchised daycares were very hush hush. So annoying!

balamama · January 2016

Just toured two of the three daycares today and they were night and day. The less expensive one was $1200/mo and the more expensive (and significantly nicer) one was $2000/mo. I still have to see the third daycare which I think will be somewhere in between price-wise and we are also going to interview some nannies to compare costs and pro/con all our options. Crazy how much costs vary and how expensive it all is!

laurenmdrn16 · January 2016

babyfmama said:

Just toured two of the three daycares today and they were night and day. The less expensive one was $1200/mo and the more expensive (and significantly nicer) one was $2000/mo. I still have to see the third daycare which I think will be somewhere in between price-wise and we are also going to interview some nannies to compare costs and pro/con all our options. Crazy how much costs vary and how expensive it all is!

It was funny because I did all the tours looking for daycare for my son and would report back to MH. His first question was always cost and the cheapest one was the one we should go with according to him. But I have to say there is a HUGE difference and the cheapest one in our area was absolutely not acceptable! I was appalled at how filthy the place was, they seemed understaffed, and I noticed at least 3 safety issues (outlet not covered, no rail on changing table, and no gate at bottom of stairs) and 2 health violations (staff did not wash/sanitize hands after cleaning changing table and eating surface was not adequately cleaned after snack time) just from a 10 min tour! I actually pointed all these things out to the owner of the daycare when I explained why my son wouldn't be going there and she got defensive saying that they have the state come in and assess them regularly blah blah blah. Long story short, sometimes you get what you pay for. You might get lucky and find a wonderful place for a steal, but in general, if you want top quality, you gotta pay top dollar.

durbie92 · January 2016

Missouri here....the ones I've talked to and would give info upfront were about $300 per week. That's more than my house payment so we opted for in-home care. She's been doing this for 8 years, is state certified, has a nursing and an educational background and is only $120 a week! Cannot wait to meet her and then shadow her. She came highly recommended by mutual friends in Facebook.

balamama · January 2016

laurenmdrn16 said:

babyfmama said:

Just toured two of the three daycares today and they were night and day. The less expensive one was $1200/mo and the more expensive (and significantly nicer) one was $2000/mo. I still have to see the third daycare which I think will be somewhere in between price-wise and we are also going to interview some nannies to compare costs and pro/con all our options. Crazy how much costs vary and how expensive it all is!

It was funny because I did all the tours looking for daycare for my son and would report back to MH. His first question was always cost and the cheapest one was the one we should go with according to him. But I have to say there is a HUGE difference and the cheapest one in our area was absolutely not acceptable! I was appalled at how filthy the place was, they seemed understaffed, and I noticed at least 3 safety issues (outlet not covered, no rail on changing table, and no gate at bottom of stairs) and 2 health violations (staff did not wash/sanitize hands after cleaning changing table and eating surface was not adequately cleaned after snack time) just from a 10 min tour! I actually pointed all these things out to the owner of the daycare when I explained why my son wouldn't be going there and she got defensive saying that they have the state come in and assess them regularly blah blah blah. Long story short, sometimes you get what you pay for. You might get lucky and find a wonderful place for a steal, but in general, if you want top quality, you gotta pay top dollar.

That's exactly how I felt about the cheaper option and I would never be able to send my son to a place I knew was sub-par in good conscience. Luckily my husband was with me and after we saw the second (expensive) option he was the one who said "ok, so first one's out". Just for color, the first daycare showed us their outdoor play area aka GRAVEYARD. With gravestones. No. Just no.

LadySamLady · January 2016

It's $2200 per month in my neighborhood for 3 days a week! NYC is crazy. We had hoped to send the LO for 3 days a week for socialization and to make it a bit easier on my H, luckily does the kind of work that will allow him to be the primary caretaker, but we just can't justify the cost knowing that it isn't absolutely necessary.

balamama · January 2016

LadySamLady said:

It's $2200 per month in my neighborhood for 3 days a week! NYC is crazy. We had hoped to send the LO for 3 days a week for socialization and to make it a bit easier on my H, luckily does the kind of work that will allow him to be the primary caretaker, but we just can't justify the cost knowing that it isn't absolutely necessary.

I lived in NYC for several years before moving to Philadelphia (for MH's job) and I'm definitely using the NY cost of living to justify daycare (and every other) cost in my mind. "Well... if we still lived in New York it would be at least 20% more so this isn't really THAT bad..." ugh. People weren't kidding when they said having a baby was expensive.

Bltbear82 · January 2016

babyfmama said:

LadySamLady said:

It's $2200 per month in my neighborhood for 3 days a week! NYC is crazy. We had hoped to send the LO for 3 days a week for socialization and to make it a bit easier on my H, luckily does the kind of work that will allow him to be the primary caretaker, but we just can't justify the cost knowing that it isn't absolutely necessary.

I lived in NYC for several years before moving to Philadelphia (for MH's job) and I'm definitely using the NY cost of living to justify daycare (and every other) cost in my mind. "Well... if we still lived in New York it would be at least 20% more so this isn't really THAT bad..." ugh. People weren't kidding when they said having a baby was expensive.

@babyfmama it really is kind of ridiculous living in NYC. We've never done daycare but just knowing the cost of 2s programs at preschools for next year is enough to give me anxiety. Maybe this is better in FFFC, but it's frustrating that we have a 529 set up for DS but can only use it for college expenses not general educational expenses. I feel like his elementary/high school education will cost the same as college, if not more.

whattalife525415 · January 2016

I am shocked at these prices! That being said i live in a town of 3,000 in Minnesota. won't say what we pay for an in home daycare (no centers in our town) because you will hate me. Check on the county/state website for a list of certified/licensed providers that area. You can call and they should be able to tell if they have violations. Just another option and some may be more flexible with their hours than others.

proudparent2b · January 2016

mrstmoose said:

I guess I should clarify, I literally live in the smack dab of the USA in Kansas. So yes, cost of living is way less here, but salaries are also less and everything is comparable based on where you live. So in NYC, I would assume you would pay more than I would here in Kansas. Because paying $17,000 a year here is probably a private high school tuition (which we are not sending our kids to private school!).

Where in Kansas? It's way higher than that in the KC metro area!

mrstmoose · January 2016

@proudparent2b I'm in the KC Metro as well in JoCo. We are going with an in-home daycare. The most I've heard someone charging for an infant is $200/week. The La Petite's and other "fancy" places are going to charge $250 easy but that's not our style (or in our budget). The people we are looking at are where we are going to be buying a house and prices there range from $175-$185/week.

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