I am looking to enroll my son into pre-k next fall (he will be 4) and wondering what people pay for a full day program. Even if it is a half day program with extra care. He currently goes to daycare and some of these prices to me are crazy.
-
My LO's preschool program runs from 8:45 - 3:15 on Mondays - Thursdays. Fridays only run until 12:00. We pay $964 per month. If you need the option of after care until 5:30 (M-TH) and 3:00 (F), it is an additional $300. Before care is also an option for 7:30 drop off, and it costs $100 more. It is $1364 total cost per month if you need both before and after care. In the end it's probably comparable to day care costs or even more expensive.
-
We had options for voluntary pre-k through the public school system which is offered as a half-day program at most of the daycare providers in town. This is a free program and wrap-around care is extra. VPK was from (typically) 9-12 and at our school the wrap around care for earlier drop off and afternoon until 5:30 is $400/month with a $50 annual materials fee (VPK did not pay the materials fee). Full-day care for 4's/Pre-K at the same school was $665/month.
-
The preschool we use is approx $6/hr. School runs 8:30-11:30 everything outside that you pay by 15 min increments.
-
The program has changed since my son attended, but just for comparison purposes, I went back to see what the 4s program would be now. It's a 9 month program, 5 days a week, from 8:45 to 1. $9900.
-
@looch: roughly the same.
-
Our daycare has a pre-k program for 4-5 year olds. It's $200/week for full time (6:30-5:30, Monday-Friday). But it's part of a daycare, so I don't know if that's different than a pre-k only program.
-
Ours will be a program run by the public schools, so a bit cheaper. It is staffed by high school students and certified supervisors.
Open only 6:30-4pm, only school days, $25 a day, so about $500 a month. They don't offer reduced prices for less hours.
-
@Adira: wow that seems so cheap to me.
My daughters junior K (basically advanced preK for kids born right around the K cut off) is about $600 a month for 5 days a week, 9-12:30. And it’s not even in a nice newer building or anything. The coop she attended previously was cheaper but doesn’t offer full day at all.
-
My daughter is in the pre-k program at her daycare. Since she started pre-school, the rate is actually cheaper than what she was paying for daycare, even with aftercare! And potty trained isn't even a requirement. I don't know exactly but it probably comes out to be ~ $200 a week, she is there 8:45 to 4:45.
-
Sigh. These prices depress me. We pay $379.00/week.
-
The school year runs September - May and the hours are 8 am - 2 pm. Cost is $9,000 for the school year. Price is the same for my 4 year old and 2 year old.
-
Last year we were in private for 2.5s. Full day would have been about 15k (we did half day). This year we got a spot in the public pre-K 3 program which is full day and FREEeeeeeee thank god. It was literally like winning the lottery.
-
Pre-k is half-day and $146/month. Daycare is $16.75/day on days school is in session and $24.75 on days that school is not in session. It is run through the local school system.
-
Forgot to add that the VPK program only runs with the school calendar year. School days-off are covered if you're paying for monthly wrap-around care. Full time care during summer months are same rate as the 4's/Pre-K monthly tuition.
-
@Eko: Well, our only full day option in our area was daycare, which we were on a waiting list for a year, and couldn't get full time - which was fine as it wasn't our first choice, but cost-wise it was better.
Our nature-based preschool (that our son went to for two years) is where we ended up putting our younger LO. It's a very sweet program, and super small. 10 kids, 2 teachers, and we LOVE their learning/play methods.
It's only from 8-12 (you can add on an extra hour at lunch, and two days a week it can go to 3:00 for even more $$)... but those 5 days a week from 8-12 for the school year (Sept-June) is $10k.
We also have a nanny that picks him up since its the middle of the day, and then she's there to get our older LO off the bus in the afternoon... it's very pricey right now.
-
We paid $270/week for full time pre-k. That included breakfast, lunch and snack (poor quality).
-
We paid over $1000/month for 3 days a week of full day PreK. I’m so happy I’m only paying for 1 in daycare now!
-
@psw27: think of the time savings by being in the city though. It’s cheaper near me deep in the suburbs but a commute into the city is like an hour each way (DH works full time from home now)
-
@Foodnerd81: Ha we are moving to the suburbs in April. It all sucks, either way.
-
@Eko: a couple years ago our older lo did half days for about $9500/yr including the summer. Maybe a bit more like 10k because I think summers cost more. I believe the full day was something like $15k. (About 12-1300 monthly)
The program we almost put lo2 in was a little cheaper at 975/month for full day or 750/month for half day, and only ran 10 months per year. We ended up changing to a public program, half days, about 375/month. Also on the regular public school calendar. If I go to work ft we'll have a sitter too.
-
ughhhh... so expensive. haha.
I have two in daycare right now. His cost to me to be in daycare is about $215/week. I am fine to continue paying the same amount, but I can't really do more. I am starting to seriously question how two parents can work full-time and accommodate school hours.
-
Our public preschool (that you still have to pay for) is $1,200/month and that includes before and after care. (7:30-5:30). If you don't include aftercare it is only $733/month.
We are at a private daycare that offers preschool and Jr K (there is an attached private elementary school). Preschool is $1,354/month including after care until 6pm. It is $1,112 if you don't use after care. Jr K is about $1,779/month for the school year (summer is less).
We chose private preschool since we were already at the daycare and the public preschool locations were not convenient for us.
-
@Eko: it is so expensive. One of the reasons we have almost a 5 year age gap between our two. It's gotten better now that we just pay for after school care for my oldest. But summer camps are expensive so we still have to plan for that.
-
We hope to get into our lotto public pre-K program. It's a 7:50 - 3:00 (normal school day) program with the option for additional care after at the school until 6:00. The program is $6500 for the school year (10 months = $650/month). The after care program is an additional $165/month for a total of $815/month for the school year.
Our daycare also does a structured Pre-K program (we are doing it this year) and it's more expensive at about $1,125 per month. The hours are a bit longer and don't have nearly as many days off to worry about.
-
@Eko: my oldest just started K, and we both WOH full time and have hour+ commutes... School schedules are NOT friendly to two working parents... having one in K and one in preschool has proven tricky. Summer is going to be tough too since my little guy is too young for full-day camp... We ended up going the part-time nanny route which makes like a lot easier, even though its $$.
-
@hellobeeboston: We’re NW of Boston and the summer camps around here start accepting kids at age 5/going into kindergarten. DS is 4 and I look forward to sending him to camp next year so he can get out his energy and play outside all day instead of being stuck half the day in a daycare classroom.
Our private daycare pre-k is about $900/month. It’s daycare so it’s full day and no school calendar to deal with. The town public pre-k is about $3800 for the school year and I think it’s only 9-12. I’ve heard you can add on after school, i think around $350/month. We’ve thought about sending LO2 there next year when DS goes to K but we’d also need to pay for before school care for her since we start work before 9 and of course after school for both of them. And we need care for both of them on the monthly early release days and all the other school holidays. So it really starts to add up.
-
@ShootingStar: yes we looked at a few last summer in anticipation of this summer! The problem is my just-turned-three-year-old.... which was how we ended up with a nanny again. When he is older they can do camps and after school together!
Ugh, it’s so hard to piece it all together!!
-
In our area, there are a couple of crazy expensive preschools, but for the most part preschool is cheaper than daycare.
We've been doing a nonprofit Montessori preschool (8:30 am to 3:30 pm during school year with the option of before and after) since my first was 2.5, and it's $600 a month. I think even the most expensive option 7:30-5:30 is $800 a month, which is less than an average daycare costs here.
In the summer, both my girls have to do daycare, and the cost was an awful $1000 each per month. The younger just got into a less expensive daycare where I'm paying $645 a month for four days a week; I'm hoping they will be able to enroll my preschooler for the summer also.
The for-profit Montessori preschools in the area are $700-900 for a short or regular school day, I think.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
28 comments