College or child care? They cost about the same
After the balloons and cigars, it has long been the tradition among new parents to open a savings account for their newborns for college.
But new statistics from the National Association of Childcare Resource and Referral Agencies indicate parents might be wiser to open that bank account long before conception – not to pay for college, but for child care.
According to the Association, full-time, year-round child care for young children now costs more than public university tuitions in 44 states.
There’s sort of good news for Missourians. The state is one of the six nationwide where the average tuition of its four-year state colleges — $6,845 – is slightly above its average $6,539 tuition for full time infant child care at a center.
In Missouri child care tuition amounts to about 10 percent of the $66,580 median household income for a married, two-parent household with children under 18.
The stats aren’t so rosy for Illinois where 13 percent of married parents’ income goes toward an average $10,550 in child care tuition, versus $9,008 for public college tuition. That means Illinois parents are paying almost 15 percent more for their kids’ child care than they would for state college credits.
Parents. Did you find yourself going through sticker shock when it came time to find child care? Did you know what you were in for financially?
Nancy Cambria is the Children and Families reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She writes on a wide variety of topics pertaining to the well-being of children and family issues. She posts on children and family policy in The Grade blog and on general family and parenting issues in the Parents Talk Back blog located in the lifestyle section. 
I had NO idea preschool and childcare were so expensive before I had children. If you have more than one child, your child care costs can easily surpass your mortgage. This system is broken!
I have two kids and also an single mother its sad and hard out here when you have to choose between food housing or daycare.
While is does seem to add up, when you look at the time kids are in the daycare for the course of the week, it is not ALL that horrible. If you think about it, most parents that work a 9 hour day (8hrs + lunch)have a child in daycare for nearly 10 hours day or 50 hours a week. So even if it costs $225 per week for your child, you really are only paying a little over $4 per hour. And that is an infant rate, toddler pricing is even less. And if you find the right center it can do wonders for your child in preparing them for grade school. Both emotionally and mentally.
When our daughter started Kindergarten last year, she was not the child screaming cause they had to be away from mom for 3-4 hours. She was excited to be there and meet new friends. And from an education stand point, she ready to do the 2nd qtr coursework day one.
We owe much of this to the Daycare, because as much as we like to think we are great parents the centers provide structure and the teachers have the dicipline to re-enforce the daily teachings. Something that as working parents, we may not always have the time or energy to accomplish.
So while it may cost almost as much as the car payment for a Porche,
it is well worth the $4 per hour we pay.
you can only deduct $2500 per child care cost to a max of $5000 in most Flex plan accounts. If you really wanted to help the middle class then you would increase this to at $5000 to $7500 per child with no limit.
I spent close to $18,000 a year for 2 children before first grade. As a single parent I have to keep my kids in after care and camps and it is still close to $10K a year.
This is insane.
I was shocked because my sister used to pay a woman $50 a week in the ninties to watche her son. I assumed daycare would be around that amount. But, it was over $200. (We stuck with daycare because it was more convienent and next to my work.) Then, we had our son, and had two kids in full time daycare. At least the daycare gave us a discount.
We calculated that it was better for both of us to work and pay for childcare than one of us to stay home. We ended up with more money with both of us working.
Now that my daughter is in Kindergarten, I feel like I have so much money. Though, we’re trying for a third child, so it won’t last.
I also was shocked at the price tag for my 3 month old’s daycare. I pay $140 a week (full time). Unfortunately/fortunately I am pregnant again and will now double that amount. On a single income (my husband is a student) and without the support of WIC or child care assistance, it makes for a very tight budget. Additionally, just trying to find childcare for an infant is almost impossible. I had to get on a waiting list at 4 weeks pregnant, sign a contract at 6 months pregnant and pay a retainer to the provider to hold my spot. Now, I get to do the same process all over again!
Childcare is a huge expense! We have one child in parochial school and two younger children. Including childcare for our older child during the summer, our daycare costs total nearly $15,000 a year (one in preschool, one in a home daycare). With one child under two, we couldn’t afford to have them both in a daycare center, especially a really good one. When my oldest was still in daycare we tried keeping two kids in a great center but we went broke in the process (even with a break on tuition).
Yes, childcare is expensive and I’m certainly not thrilled about shelling out $1,000+ each month, but that’s the choice my husband and I made when we decided to have children and continue working. No one has ever said that having children is cheap (or easy), so the constant whining about the cost of day care, formula, diapers, college, education, etc. is getting old.
We lucked out by (a) finding a home day care provider in our area who is reasonably priced, and (b) having my parents watching our son at least 2 days per week. In the grand scheme of things, when you do the math, most day care providers are being compensated less than minimum wage to take care of our most valuable possessions. But I honestly do not know how families w/ both parents working can afford to have more than 2 kids these days!
My husband & I currently pay $178/week for my daughter’s daycare…and like the cost of living, this goes up every year. The cost of daycare is the primary reason that we are not having more kids…we simply can’t afford it.