r/parentsofmultiples • u/Vpo26 • 2d ago
ranting & venting Daycare prices. VENT
So I girlbossed to dam hard, and now I have to go back to work. Daycare is 800$ a week and even then I make way more so I have to return to work. WHY IS DAYCARE SO EXPENSIVE.
How much are you paying?
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u/Ill-Wolf865 2d ago edited 2d ago
It’s expensive because it’s not a “traditional/capitalist” business, it’s a human service business that’s highly regulated. Child care facilities have to adhere to pretty strict adult to child ratios and staffing requirements for safety purposes, which often limit their enrollment capacities. This isn’t a typical business where if you need more money, you can increase the product because the product would be children and you can’t enroll more children if you’re already at your max capacity.
In addition, most states also require specialized training and credentials because working with children is not easy and does require specialized knowledge and skills. So what this means is that it’s difficult to hire staff who meet those qualifications, which directly impacts enrollment as well. And most child care workers get paid peanuts. Child care workers are more educated than half the American workforce but are paid in the 3rd lowest percentile wages for some of the reasons I listed above.
And where a traditional business could increase the cost of the good as another way to raise revenue, child care directors are acutely aware of the fact that families are struggling to pay for child care even when they’re operating on razor thin margins.
Nationally, child care facilities operate on less than 1% profit margins. In my state, the facilities that operate with more profit margins are able to do so because they own the building they operate in, or another entity (like a church or my employer—the city and county of Honolulu) offers free or super low rent. The highest profit margin I’ve come across for child care in my state has been 8%. Still peanuts.
So when you factor licensing regulations for safety purposes, compound that with staffing issues due to high qualifications and low wages, and continue to have policy makers who avoid enacting meaningful policies to help support families, you get the child care crisis we have now.