Interesting Pay for Daycare - What Do you Charge?

[Former Teacher]

I am in TX. My former center were as follows:

0-3 years $125 per week (515 per month)

3 years and up $115 per week (500 per month)

Afterschoolers (PM only-did not have an AM run) $90 per week ( no month rate)

When the AS kids were here for vacations etc...they would be charged the 3 years and up rate.

We did offer a discount rate of $5.00 per child additional child. However the children must be siblings, not from the same family (ie cousins, etc)

It didn't matter if the child was potty trained or not, once they child turned 3, the rate would drop.

We also had a late fee of $5 dollars for the first 5 mins. (so if the parent was 3 mins late it was 5 dollars) and then $1 each additional min., per child. Since I opened I would have been willing to offer an early drop off fee but then I decided against it because I didn't want to start something like that. Also, we were only licensed for care from 630-630 and that is what I would tell parents when they asked.

[momofboys]

Small town in NW Ohio

5 days 1 child $80 to $85
5 days 2 children $135
4 days 1 child $70
4 days 2 children $120
3 days 1 child $55
3 days 2 children $90

3 day minimum.

School age b/a school $35 Add $10 per day if no school

Our rates suck here. People expect sibling discounts, and it kills me. I supply everything at this rate and the rates definately don't relect the amount my expenses have went up in the past 2 years.

Honestly, I need to get a new rate sheet, cut back on the sibling discounts, and pay myself better. I do charge whether they are here or not, including sick days, holidays, vacations. But my vacation is no charge.

Hey! I grew up in that part of the state (Wauseon area). . . not sure where you are at. but yes, it's too bad your rates can't higher. I am in west-central Ohio now & my rates are only slightly higher except for the b & a school care.

[momofboys]

Thanks for those who replied about my B & A school care situation. I will definitely talk to the mom about it as I should have previously. I guess part of me is hesitant b/c she really does do a lot of nice things for us. She buys craft supplies/has given me diapers for my own child on top of the ones she brings for her child, is providing treasures for our treasure hunts, etc. But still this has been bugging me & so I think I will bring it up & see what she says.

[mac60]

Hey! I grew up in that part of the state (Wauseon area). . . not sure where you are at. but yes, it's too bad your rates can't higher. I am in west-central Ohio now & my rates are only slightly higher except for the b & a school care.

Wauseon is about 35 minutes from me. Small world.

[momma2girls]

Mac 60-
COuld you go up on your rates for the New Year?
Maybe to $100.00/wk. for fulltime. That is only (I think)$10 or $15.00 more a week, than what you have now.
I really don't know how you do it for $85.00/wk.
I know my sis babysits in a very small town in Iowa, even her rates are $2.75 an hr. before I quit to SAH, we were paying her $27.50+ a day to have her watch our daughter. We both had 1 hr. each way commutes everyday.

[Unregistered]

I live in a small town in NY. I charge

$130 per wk (37+ hours) xtra $15 for under 2
$30 per day (6+ hours)
$20 per half day (3-6 hrs)
$15 Per part day (-3 hours)

School Age $85 per wk year around (average including summer)

[Unregistered]

Monica

I am no longer a daycare provider, but I did it for 8 years.

Regarding the hourly charge, I agree that it doesn't make sense. What your clients are paying for is to secure their child's spot at daycare. Daycare provders are only liscensed for a certain amount of children, and you charge a weekly/monthly rate b/c you can not.at the drop of a hat. find someone else to fill the time slot that is left open when a child only needs care for a couple of hours one day and 10 hours the next day. Am I making any sense?

BTW, I stopped doing daycare in August of 2003. I lived in Howard County Maryland and my rates were:
$200 per week for infants up to 2 years.
$175 until potty trained
$150 until Kindergarten aged
$130 for kindergarteners (they are only gone 2.5 hours a day and you still have to feed them all the meals/snacks.
$90 for before and after school.
$125 for school-agers during summer/vacation or
$30 per day for drop in for vacation days.

This was a while ago, and at the time, I knew a few providers in my area who were charging more. And I was thinking about charging all of my full-time kids $200 per week, b/c infants may be more work in some ways, but the other kids are more work as far as cirriculum/routine planning and cost more for supplies, food, etc...

I really miss doing daycare and have been thinking a lot lately about doing it again. But I live in an apartment now, and can not run a business out of here. My baby is now 10yo, and I REALLY miss having babies and young ones around.

Good luck everyone!

[Abigail]

Short-Term Care Should Cost More

I think $3 a day for before/after school care is something a teenager should expect, not a professional! A few years ago, I was paid $10/day to drive a six-year-old to and from half-day kindergarten. I drove only a mile out of my way each day and felt it was well worth it. Worked out well for me for the extra income and well for the family since a stranger wasn't taking their child to school!

[nannyde]

I also wonder about some of your before & after rates? I only care for one family's children which includes a school-age boy, a preschool girl & a toddler. When I initially wrote up the paperwork for the mom to sign (3 months ago) I had no idea what to charge for before and after school care. The mom led me to believe that her husband would be driving the school age child to school most days so I would only have him after school for about 1.5 hrs. Well, flash forward to when I started watching them she has always brought him with the other children in the morning & husband has NEVER driven the school age boy. Hmmmmmm, being so new at childcare I never said a word; however, now I am feeling quite taken advantage of b/c I agred to a cheaper rate under a falsehood, thinking I'd only have him for 1.5 hrs instead of almost 3. I know there is nothing I can do about it now but I do plan to raise his rate next school year. These are a teacher's kids so I won't have them in the summer. I am embarassed to admit I only charge $3 a day for him but I thought he'd only be here 1.5 hrs instead of 3 Come next year I think I will tell her his rate will raise to $25 for the week. DO you think that's fair?

NEVER allow a parent to base your rates on "it might be so and so hours now and then". It almost ALWAYS translates into the latest possible and most possible hours. Always build your fees around the worse case scenario.

You DO have the power to change it if you have made a mistake. You should have told the mom that your rates were based on 1.5 hours per day and they are using 3.

Part time school aged care (before and after) is the most expensive hourly rate care in my area. My school district gets 6.00 per hour for school aged kids during the school year. Low hour part time care should always be the most expensive. Whatever your hourly rate is for the other kids during the day should be doubled to accomodate before and after school.

[nannyde]

Our rates are calculated differently than most child care homes and Centers. The rates are based upon the total number of hours per day and the departure time. The published rates are based on a maximum of a nine hour day. If you need more than nine hours per please add $5.00/hour to our base rates.

We have a different rate structure for part time. Part time is a minimum of three full working days per week. We do not provide drop in care. We do not offer half day rates.

Full Time Rates (2010) based upon a maximum of nine hours a day and time your child departs from day care:

3:00 p.m. departure $135.00 per week

3:15 p.m. departure $140.00 per week

3:30 p.m. departure $145.00 per week

3:45 p.m. departure $150.00 per week

4:00 p.m. departure $155.00 per week

4:15 p.m. departure $160.00 per week

4:30 p.m. departure $165.00 per week

4:45 p.m. departure $170.00 per week

5:00 p.m. departure $175.00 per week

5:15 p.m. departure $180.00 per week

5:30 p.m. departure $185.00 per week

5:45 p.m. departure $190.00 per week

6:00 p.m. departure $195.00 per week


Part Time Rates

3:00 p.m. departure $33.00 per day

3:15 p.m. departure $34.00 per day

3:30 p.m. departure $35.00 per day

3:45 p.m. departure $36.00 per day

4:00 p.m. departure $37.00 per day

4:15 p.m. departure $38.00 per day

4:30 p.m. departure $39.00 per day

4:45 p.m. departure $40.00 per day

5:00 p.m. departure $41.00 per day

5:15 p.m. departure $42.00 per day

5:30 p.m. departure $43.00 per day

5:45 p.m. departure $44.00 per day

Additional hours beyond nine hours per day billed at $5.00 per hour.

Overtime must be pre-arranged and approved.

We do not raise rates on current attending children at any time unless the child's schedule changes to a higher number of hours per day or a later departure.

Discounts: We do not currently offer discounts for sibling groups.

State Funded Clients: We do not accept State Funding at this time.

Absences

The parent must pay for ANY day their child misses child care for any reason. If your child is absent any day of the week you are still responsible to drop them off and pick them up at the contracted times each attending day thereafter. We do not make up any time for missed days. Absences on one day do not allow you to use more day care hours on any other day. Part time children can not attend the day care on an unscheduled day to make up for a missed scheduled day.

[judytrickett]

NEVER allow a parent to base your rates on "it might be so and so hours now and then". It almost ALWAYS translates into the latest possible and most possible hours. Always build your fees around the worse case scenario.

.................... Low hour part time care should always be the most expensive. Whatever your hourly rate is for the other kids during the day should be doubled to accomodate before and after school.

Well, you KNOW I agree!

I also wanted to add that there should NEVER be a sibling discount. Two kids cost you the same to provide care whether related or not.

And, in fact, siblings are a higher risk category in daycare than two unrelated kids. Because if they decide to leave a bigger chunk of your income is a stake until you can fill their spots.

[JenNJ]

$150 ft care all age
$35 a day part time care
$6 hour drop in with a minimum of 3 hours
$10 drop in for 2 children with a minimum of 3 hours

I do discount siblings on a case by case basis.

[professionalmom]

Our rates are calculated differently than most child care homes and Centers. The rates are based upon the total number of hours per day and the departure time. The published rates are based on a maximum of a nine hour day. If you need more than nine hours per please add $5.00/hour to our base rates.

We have a different rate structure for part time. Part time is a minimum of three full working days per week. We do not provide drop in care. We do not offer half day rates.

Full Time Rates (2010) based upon a maximum of nine hours a day and time your child departs from day care:

3:00 p.m. departure $135.00 per week

3:15 p.m. departure $140.00 per week

3:30 p.m. departure $145.00 per week

3:45 p.m. departure $150.00 per week

4:00 p.m. departure $155.00 per week

4:15 p.m. departure $160.00 per week

4:30 p.m. departure $165.00 per week

4:45 p.m. departure $170.00 per week

5:00 p.m. departure $175.00 per week

5:15 p.m. departure $180.00 per week

5:30 p.m. departure $185.00 per week

5:45 p.m. departure $190.00 per week

6:00 p.m. departure $195.00 per week


Part Time Rates

3:00 p.m. departure $33.00 per day

3:15 p.m. departure $34.00 per day

3:30 p.m. departure $35.00 per day

3:45 p.m. departure $36.00 per day

4:00 p.m. departure $37.00 per day

4:15 p.m. departure $38.00 per day

4:30 p.m. departure $39.00 per day

4:45 p.m. departure $40.00 per day

5:00 p.m. departure $41.00 per day

5:15 p.m. departure $42.00 per day

5:30 p.m. departure $43.00 per day

5:45 p.m. departure $44.00 per day

Additional hours beyond nine hours per day billed at $5.00 per hour.

Overtime must be pre-arranged and approved.

We do not raise rates on current attending children at any time unless the child's schedule changes to a higher number of hours per day or a later departure.

Discounts: We do not currently offer discounts for sibling groups.

State Funded Clients: We do not accept State Funding at this time.

Absences

The parent must pay for ANY day their child misses child care for any reason. If your child is absent any day of the week you are still responsible to drop them off and pick them up at the contracted times each attending day thereafter. We do not make up any time for missed days. Absences on one day do not allow you to use more day care hours on any other day. Part time children can not attend the day care on an unscheduled day to make up for a missed scheduled day.

I am about to cry over the bolded parts! That would be my ideal situation. However, where I live, it just was not possible, especially taking the state funded clients, which always gave me problems. I am JEALOUS!!!!!!!!!

[nannyde]

Well, you KNOW I agree!

I also wanted to add that there should NEVER be a sibling discount. Two kids cost you the same to provide care whether related or not.

And, in fact, siblings are a higher risk category in daycare than two unrelated kids. Because if they decide to leave a bigger chunk of your income is a stake until you can fill their spots.

Yup
Just had this happen and it sucked. Next sib born into the day care will require a TWO months notice contract plus one month of deposit for each kid.

[nannyde]

I am about to cry over the bolded parts! That would be my ideal situation. However, where I live, it just was not possible, especially taking the state funded clients, which always gave me problems. I am JEALOUS!!!!!!!!!

I would take sib groups if they were pure evening shift. Like after five p.m. till two a.m. or something like that. As long as the majority of the hours were sleeping hours I would do it.

Daytime... NO

The State pay is SO low and the clients ARE much more difficult to work with as a whole. Always exceptions but in my 15 years of taking State paid I only had a handful that were reliably employed and kept to their agreement with attendance and notice.

I didn't allow more than one slot for State paid on the day shift for most of the time I took it. My cousins kids were with me for three years and he was a DREAM parent to work for. I loved that part of my day care days. He was super excellent to me and I loved having my own flesh and blood in the day care. This was long before DS was born and I wanted kids really badly. They were a pleasure and I was SO bummed when he graduated college and moved up North.

So you definitely can find some deals where it really works but for the most part the State paid slots are your most unstable slots. You not only have money issues but you have other issues that come along with poverty... transportation issues, clothing issues, family drama, job changes, flunking out of school or quitting, etc.

One of the BIGGEST problems I had was them bringing their kid when they weren't working or in school. They could NOT understand that if they were not working they could NOT bring their kid. I had a TERRIBLE issue with that.

Once you give something to someone for free it doesn't take long before that becomes them. They are thoughtless about it and just assume that it is the way it is. It's VERY risky to do this for very long because it becomes not valuable to the receiver once it becomes a given as a way of life. The only way for them to see the value of it is to make it difficult to get and then to remove part of it or all of it.

As a society we do not owe anyone free day care. It's a privledge to live in a country where society values helping people overcome to obstacle of child care when income is low. We don't have to do it. We are doing it to be helpful. If it gets cut off or it is harder and harder to get then it shouldn't be looked at as a bad thing. We can and should do what we CAN but it shouldn't be easy to get.

Here in our State a subsidy for two or more kids in day care is MORE money than the parent that qualifies even makes in their job. We need to really look at that and decide if it is worth investing so much money in it and set some limits for how long each person can access it. It doesn't really pay to have multiple kids in child care when the parent is making minimum wage. We should only allow that for a short window of time... a few years and then put a stop to it.

The other thing that needs to change TODAY is that parents are able to access these grants before accessing child support. NO parent should be able to apply for this assistance until they have begun the process to access child support. Daddy first... then Uncle Sam. It should be a part of every application that forms showing PROOF that child support process has been inititated and updating for every grant renewal to show the process of where the child support is standing. The child support money needs to be included n the grant money calculations.

I'm not saying that a parent who doesn't get child support should be denied... I'm saying they can't apply for it until they apply for child support FIRST. This would stop a LOT of scamming that is going on where parents are claiming Daddy doesn't live with them so they can get free day care. Daddy aint gonna go for the child support deal when he is there in the home.

We should also require that every applicant show proof of US citizenship before applying.