Cost of Day care?

[nealymouse]

I was always a stay at home Mom. I now work 3 days a week and just cant stand being out of my childrens reach and was thinking of starting a day care.

I have been a Foster Parent for 12 years. caring for children is really what I do best.

But I have no idea what a day care costs and was wondering if anyone out there could give me ideas on what to charge.

I was thinking in the ball park of $125.00 a week per child. Am I in the right ball park ??I am in Southern Maine

 

[Aimeedyan]

It's entirely regional... and depends on age. You need to call around to different centers, find out their rates, enrollment fees, supply fees, etc along with what they provide, as far as field trip costs, food, snacks, vacation paid, etc. It would probably be wise to check out the centers around and see what you like and don't like about them, and what others are doing.

In my area, at the center I've been working at PT, age 3 pay, like, $80, babies are $95, etc etc. But my SIL, who is still in TX but in a different city (north Texas) pays more than $200 a week for a 3 yo.

Ratios are diff for diff ages, so that is taken into account when figuring out costs, too. Here, babies are 1:4 so their costs are higher, whereas 3 yo's are 12:1

Good luck to you!!!!!!!!!

 

[pkasbohm]

I agree with the op! It varies from areas because here ( I do home daycare) I get $90 for a baby per week and $80 for every other age. I am state licensed and am on a state food progam where i get a amount back at the end of the month for feed the daycare children. I do supply the babyfood and formula and the wipes.

If you do decide to do daycare i would highly recommend having a contract! If you need help you can e-mail you and i could send you a copy of mine! Anytime a parent has a chance to take advantage of you they will--i just went through that and it is not fun!

Anyway, good luck with your decision! The best part of what i do is that i get to stay home with my own kids!!!!

Pam

 

[Trinity721]

I take DD2 to a home daycare, and she charges $6/hr if it's just drop off and pick up for a few hours. Otherwise per week it's $125-$150. She is licensed by DCFS. She also has a contract where she put out the guidelines. The home daycare we tried before her charged the same amount, except that she charged $75/wk whether or not your child was there. So even if you went on vacation or your child was only there a few hours that week it was still $75 regardless. Our current sitter does not charge such a fee.

Hope that helps, good luck!

 

[nealymouse]

I want to go threw the state and get a licence. Being a Foster parent already I have to have special permission. I hope I get it.

$125.00 I hear for Southern Maine is lower then the going rate. I was shocked when I heard that. Happy but shocked LOL.


Beth

 

[Jasminesmommy]

I have home day care and charge $100 a week whether they are here or not. I figure as long as I am here you can send your child so I still get paid. I am from Indianapolis. I thing don't get more kids then you can handle. I have 4 plus my 2 kids. 2 of them were 6 months when started and that was hard.
pkasbohm-I am sending you a PM

 

[Alice28]

I ran a school age daycare for a school district for 7 years. In the summer we charged $90 a week for full time care, which included snacks but not lunches.

For my children I paid an hourly rate as my kids did not go full time. I sent them to an in home daycare and she charged me $2 an hour; $2.50/hr for their first year (meaning under 1 year old). She charged her full time parents $90 a week. She was licensed by the state and took part in the food program, so she supplied all the food when my kids were there at meal time.

I do know of PLENTY of daycares that charge WAY more than this. I called around to other daycares when I thought I was going to switch to a full time (I worked a split all the years I did before/after school care) and some places were going to charge me $500 a month for my then almost 2 year old and $380 for my 5 year old. Glad I was able to stay at home!

 

[Kimberle]

We pay $250 per week for pre-school. Infant care is $300 per week in our center.

Only 3 more months of this..........