I found this article fascinating. Though I will say it lists the average annual day care cost in my state as less than half of what I pay... so it's even worse than it looks!!!
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I know - it kinda makes me sick when I get that report at the end of the year that says how much we paid in DCP fees over the year
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Holy @#$!@#!!! That's crazy!
Thank God for my mother (grandma-care)!
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Its all about ratios....you have between a 1-4 and 1-7 ratio of staff to kids in most centers (compared to 1-.....40? At most colleges?) Staffing is easily the most expensive part of budgeting in education. If teachers were actually being paid as professionals (seriously daycare teachers are paid only a little above minimum wage) it would be a whole lot more expensive than it already is. Also, state colleges are subsidized by the government, so they don't even need to fully fund their own school...most daycares are completely private, meaning no government funding.
I would argue that the quality of daycare is far more important than quality of college. Most learning and brain development happens in the first 5years of life. And we are putting our kids in centers taught by, largely, 16-25 year olds with little advanced education.
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I couldn't view the map on my phone but forwarded to myself. I believe it though. I can't believe how much we pay for daycare! If I made less money I also would have stayed home since it wouldn't make sense to work solely to pay for daycare. But yeah, eek - never thought about it being the same or more than college.... But I guess if I break it down we pay about $20k a year?
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Yikes. Already our daycare payment is almost as much as our mortgage per month. I can't wait to take that money and save it for the future!
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@avivoca: Our day care is significantly more than our mortgage every month
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We pay way more then it says the cost is in GA.
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And it doesn't end with daycare, hello preschool!
I also think that the point of the article is that some of us look at the cost of college and freak out, while we should be freaking out about the cost of daycare, but we don't because we pay for that weekly, as opposed to all up front in one lump sum.
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@MamaMoose: Ditto.
Although fortunately the cost went down once our boys turned 1. It used to be nearly double our mortgage.
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We pay WAY more than what it shows for VA. But I also live in the expensive part of VA.
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@sunshineandsushi: I can't imagine having twins in day care!! Bless you!
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@littlek: @Smurfette: I'm assuming small in home day cares in rural parts of our states are balancing out what we pay in the metropolitan areas?
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@MamaMoose: Yah that makes sense. What my SIL pays in South GA for the month is a week for us.
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We pay the average in our state, which is less the college! So yay!
... though it's still expensive.
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@MamaMoose: That was my guess as well.
To be honest, daycare cost is what it is, I'm more than happy to pay the price if it means my son is mentally stimulated and happy throughout the day.
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This is just crazy. Mine is quite a bit less than my state average, but it's still crazy expensive and the thought of 2 in it, sigh.
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@littlek: Amen. Honestly cost was the least important factor for us in selecting a daycare. But we recognize we are definitely fortunate to be able to have that freedom.
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When LO starts full day preschool it will cost about the same as in state tuition for a year. The preschool is actually affiliated with the university, but omg we're going to have to save money now to be able to afford it.
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@Mrs. Lion: good points!!
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yikes! although we do pay about 6K less than the average in MA. We would not be able to afford a higher daycare payment- I would probably have to stay home!
@looch: good point!! I always assume we won't be able to afford to pay all of LO's college tuition when I look at big numbers, but if they let us pay monthly or something we probably would be able to!
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The article is interesting- I agree with @Mrs. Lion: points.
But why oh why do I read the comments?? To remind myself what terrible people there are out there?
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Most people PLAN for college from birth.....the vast majority don't plan long-term for daycare costs. Which makes it even more difficult to stomach
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We pay slightly more than the PA state average for daycare, but our state tuition is actually about $2k more. (And going to rise dramatically - the state has stalled out the system's state contribution at 24%. Used to be 75%.)
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We pay about average for CO". It will be about 25k a year for our two kids.
To be honest, daycare cost is what it is, I'm more than happy to pay the price if it means my son is mentally stimulated and happy throughout the day.
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