Start saving now: Day care costs more than college in 31 states

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ay-care-costs-more-than-college-in-31-states/

College costs loom large in the parental mind. According to a 2013 report by Sallie Mae, half of parents are putting away money for their kids' education. Those who aren't are fretting about it, saying that they feel "frustrated," "overwhelmed" and "annoyed" when they think about college savings. But most parents will deal with an even larger kid-related expense long before college, and it's a cost that very few of them are as prepared for. That expense is day care.


A report last fall by Child Care Aware America, a national organization of child-care resource and referral agencies, found that the annual cost of day care for an infant exceeds the average cost of in-state tuition and fees at public colleges in 31 states. The biggest gap is in New York, where day care will set you back nearly 15 grand, but in-state college tuition is only $6,500 -- a difference of over $8,000. Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado and Oregon also have large gaps, driven primarily by the high cost of day care in those states. At the other end of the spectrum is South Carolina, where in-state tuition is higher than the cost of day care by about $4,000 a year.


The variation between states is due to differences in costs of living, the regulations and licensing requirements in each state, and the amount of money each state spends on higher education. In South Carolina, for instance, in-state tuition is so high partly because the state reduced higher ed funding by 67 percent from 1980 to 2011, according to the American Council on Education.



While parents have years to prepare for college costs, there is literally no time to save for child care -- a baby is born, and parents typically have to go back to work in just a few weeks' time. We accept that it typically takes 18 years to sock away a sizeable-enough college nest egg. Considering that child care is an equivalent, if not greater, expense and that the average maternal age at first child birth is 26, this suggests that we should similarly start putting money away for day-care expenses when we're roughly 8 years old. Sorry, kids: Your allowance money is going to the day-care fund now.


Obviously this isn't a realistic scenario, but it does raise the question: How do we pay for child care? A report out Tuesday by the Pew Research Center finds that an increasing number of parents are simply avoiding child care costs by staying at home. Nearly 30 percent of moms stay at home now, up from only 23 percent in 1999. For many families it simply makes more financial sense for a parent to stay home with a young child than it does to incur thousands of dollars in day-care costs. Pew reports that only five percent of "U.S. married stay-at-home mothers (with working husbands) had at least a master’s degree and family income exceeding $75,000." This suggests that stay-at-home motherhood is primarily increasing among the lower and middle classes, and that it's driven primarily by having too little money, rather than too much of it.


Parents fretting over college costs can at least console themselves with the notion that there is a good deal of financial aid available for students who need or deserve it. But there are no merit-based scholarships for day care.

 

Vasectomy = $300

 

:smt043

C'mon now, you know you want some little numbers running around your house! They'd be soo precious Well worth the grand per month in daycare!

 

For the first 3 years or so of my daughter's life, we were lucky enough to have a woman in her home care for her, and it only cost us $150 a week. But when my daughter got older, the woman said that my daughter needed to be at a daycare where she can learn quicker, etc.

Well, given her age, it "only" cost us about $850 a month to put her in Tutor Time. That was one of the cheaper options. If we would have put her in there as an infant, the cost would have been well over $1000 a month.

How parents can afford that is beyond me. I basically went into debt putting her in Tutor Tiime for 2-3 years before she started Kindergarten.

It's terrible how expensive it is, but I understand why - insurance premiums, etc. Looking back, I should have stayed home and gotten a PT job working nights and weekends in a retail store. That would have saved us a ton of money.

Kids aren't cheap!!

 

Another reason to just not have kids. I'm not kidding when I say this, unless you plan on doing that Mormon type communal family thing how on earth can a working class person afford children. Sounds like another luxury of the rich in this country. 850 a month just for people to watch them then on top of them feeding and clothing them, then feeding and clothing yourself then rent then car insurance then health insurance. That shit sounds like a good 5k for a family of three.

 

It's definitely not easy, which is why we're seeing a rise in stay-at-home parents.

It's cheaper for a parent to stay home now than it is for both to work and pay for daycare costs - unless you're above a certain income.

But there are definite downsides to a parent staying home, like they lose out on 401K and Social Security contributions which are only going to hurt them when they age.

 

I agree with the above post! The cost of child care shocks most new working moms these days. In many cities, parents can spend over $30,000 a year for a full-time nanny or two kids in a high-quality daycare center, rivaling annual college tuition. That's why the cost of returning to work can often outweigh the benefits, when it comes to the rising cost of childcare. Apparently, some people just absolutely require having these things referred to as “kids” and one of the huge things a parent has to provide for is child care during infancy and early childhood. It's not exactly affordable either, as child care expenses have been accelerating away for a while.

 

It's a racket.

Someone is going to break into this preschool niche and make a killing charging a fraction for daycare.

$850/month for childcare is extortionist.

The government should subsidize the salaries of daycare providers and keep the cost @$75-250/month.

If communities can come together, there are creative ways to set up their own daycare services utilizing family networks and retirees.

 

I've thought the same thing. If you have a class of 20 kids for 500 a month why wouldn't I just set up shop in my house

 

The Right will cry socialism

 

Head start is something to use. Its fed funded but im not that familiar with it.

People , like tdk is saying, need to rely on family . I would have my daughter go to her aunts home. I would read and teach her when i got off work. You would be shocked at how much a kid will love to read if you start them off

 

I wish someone had pulled my coat on this one. Lol

 

Lol....