Did you know that childcare is really expensive? Some of you don’t have kids, and some of you plan to never have kids, in which case, you’ll never know this personally. And this post may not be for you.
Still here? Yeah, so child care is really expensive. As of a 2008 study [1] it was the largest expense on average for middle class families, eclipsing both food and housing. As of a 2013 study [2], it often exceeds the cost of tuition at a state school. As you’ll read later, I had reason to gather facts and figures on this.
In Massachusetts, the average cost of childcare is $16,000 a year. That makes us if not the most expensive state, the second most expensive. Depends on the source and timing of the data. That’s the average cost. Quality care at an accredited center, will, of course, cost more. And centers in the more affluent and higher cost of living eastern part of the state will skew above average as well.
But we are lucky. I work at a college that has a very high quality, fully accredited program that has been established for 30 years and gives about a 33% staff discount. Meaning we have been able to enroll our toddler in a top tier program for a little less than it would have cost at the not-nationally-accredited KinderCare facility that he was in when he was too young to be enrolled at Regis. (Both are still above that average figure cited above but not by much. Those geographical factors.) And obviously it is convenient, because what could be more convenient than driving where you are going anyhow? And there is a safe and spacious campus around it, so the children can go on long(er) walks to the athletic fields or the gym, or to the science department to do exploratory and educational play, etc. His previous KinderCare we referred to as day care, and the Regis center we refer to as school. That kind of difference.
That whole paragraph will soon need to be rewritten to be past tense. At the end of April we received a letter informing us that because the center has had declining enrollments and has been running at increasing deficits, the program is being terminated at the end of June and will not reopen. This was a complete shock to us and the other parents. Many of us had already signed contracts for next year. And many of the almost comparable nearby facilities have already filled up for the next year. And it was a bombshell to the teachers at the center, who will also have a hard time getting new jobs because the nearby centers have already planned out their staffing for the next year.
We’re ‘lucky’. His previous facility has openings, so we have someplace for the Jägermonster. And as good as the people there are, and as clean and pleasant as the facility is, it is very hard to return to average when you’ve had excellent and were expecting excellent as an option. But the other excellent options either don’t have full day options, are way out of our price range, don’t have openings, or some combination of the three.
The parents of the children did rally and have a meeting with the President and CFO, but I don’t know as anything will come of it.
So this is one more thing that has been adding to our mental and financial stress.
[1]Â http://www.pewstates.org/uploadedFiles/PCS_Assets/2008/PEW_PkN_pre-kpinch_Nov2008_report.pdf
[2]Â http://usa.childcareaware.org/sites/default/files/Cost%20of%20Care%202013%20110613.pdf
The University of Missouri has sort of done something similar. There was a fatal accident when a concrete walkway at the apartment complex right where the early childhood education/preschool thing was set up and as part of the reaction to that they decided to inspect and close down the entire complex, including the school. Initially the plan was just to close it down, without bringing in a replacement, but there was a strong enough backlash, including pointing out that that almost all peer schools have something, and the administration has promised to get a new center–though they have had a history of saying that they will do something when facing unexpected pressure and then punting it far enough down the road that people forget and nothing gets done.
Hopefully that doesn’t happen, though the facility is closed for this upcoming year, at least, perhaps longer, which has caused some layoffs and some early retirements.
We’re still holding out -some- hope that the negotiations with an ad hoc parents committee will bear fruit. Here’s hoping Mizzou gets straightened out too.