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. 
Another commentor (Jitterbug) posted this comment on the wrong post, so I’m reposting it here where I think it was meant to go:
McD: I understand the cheap hourly rate thing you’re talking about, however, you’re failing to mention that you must multiply that $4 per hour by how many children that person is watching at the same time. In that case, my child’s daycare has 10 kids at his level. So, that’s $40 per hour or roughly $83K per year for one teacher. Not too bad if you ask me….