Child care now more expensive than college tuition

[Liberal_in_LA]

Used to be parents saved their pennies to send their kids to college. Now it's hard for them to even save a dime when they're paying sky-high prices for child care.

A new report says that the cost of child care has skyrocketed across the nation--so much that in the majority of states it has surpassed the price of tuition at a four-year public college.

The survey conducted in January by the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies also revealed that since 2000 the cost of child care has increased twice as fast as the median income of families with children. In 25 states, the increase in the cost of infant care in a center far exceeded the rate of inflation. The average increase among all states in the cost of care for a 4-year-old in a center exceeded the rate of inflation.

What's more, the average center-based child care fees for an infant surpassed the average annual amount that families spent on food in every region of the United States. Monthly child care fees for two children at any age were more than the median monthly rent cost, and were nearly as high, or even higher than, the average monthly mortgage payment in every state.

The average cost of full-time child care for an infant in a center in 2009 ranged from more than $4,550 in Mississippi to more than $18,750 in Massachusetts. New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts (where the cost of infant care was as high as 18.1 percent of family income) were among the least affordable states.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=69342&tsp=1#ixzz0vfQ6yMrO

[Oregone]

1. Instead of sending your kids to college...

Have em run their own daycare

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. Better yet, a chain of daycares.

No one checks the educational background.

[SoCalNative]

2. Used to be

one parent stayed home to raise the kid(s) so child care expenses weren't an issue.

[MountainLaurel]

9. Only in middle-class white families

Poor women and women of color have always worked outside the home. Children were taken care of by extended family, other children, or taken to work themselves.

[laundry_queen]

3. That's nice.

I'm going back to school full time and have to pay childcare while I do it. I'm screwed. Thankfully I qualify for a subsidy.

The only thing though that is good, is that childcare workers were extremely low paid, and it is getting better which might explain some of the increase in childcare costs.

[Rage for Order]

4. $191 per week here

51 weeks per year (they give us one week of vacation) = $9,741, plus registration and supplies, go ahead and make it an even $10,000 cash. It sucks. The wife and I are working towards getting ourselves in a financial position that will allow one of us to stay home. We're close, but not quite there yet. We have a few more debts to pay off before we can go to a single income household. Hopefully by the end of next year at the latest.

[DesertFlower]

5. in the last few years i've seen

more and more stay at home moms. after you pay for child care and clothes and carfare, what's left?

of course, if you're a single mom you don't have a choice.

i was extremely fortunate. my grandmother took care of my son while i worked. i never had to worry about having to stay late at the office.

[canoeist52]

6. In Massachusetts day cares have to be licensed

and in order to be licensed they have to be inspected, have insurance (which is expensive and is always rising), and the teachers have to be certified. (have to have taken college child psychology courses).
There aren't many daycare centers making millions.

[havocmom]

8. Took care of an infant to age 5 for $15 then $20 per day

Treated her like a granddaughter, taught her letters, sounds, all that pre-school stuff and had a good time with her.

Paid taxes and self employment taxes on that money too. Good citizen.

Next year, someone called and wanted to know what I would charge to tend her newborn daily. I told her and she screamed at me. She figured on $5 a day.

Five dollars a day is what I paid for my daughter, when she was potty trained. That was in 1975 and I made a helluva lot less than the screamer gets now.

People where I live need to get out more.

[ThomCat]

10. It doesn't matter what some people are hiring you to do.

Some people always want you to do it for pennies, and get mad at you for wanting to support yourself.

They expect you volunteer your time, or collect only a token payment, because of course you understand that they are too important to actually pay for anything.

And it is usually the people who can afford to pay who expect to get everything dirt cheap or free.

:eyes: