When Giving Yourself A Raise..

[DancingQueen]

I would never go up much - I love my families and don't want to blow a good thing - but even THEY think my rates are too low LOL

[melskids]

Yep I'm sure. It's the state that decides what they pay no matter what. ALL providers get the same. Centers get more but all home providers have a set scale. $20 being the highest for preschool and under then it goes to $15 for school age. The state doesnt care what we charge private pay. They offer a set pay for everyone. Now if I want to go through school and get credits, more classes etc take bigger steps they will pay $2 more per day but that's the highest possible

here, the state decides what they pay as well, but we can charge the difference. so if my daily rate is 30, and the state only covers 20, then the parent has to come up with the other 10. are you allowed to do that too?

[Meyou]

I just did a 10% daily fee increase and none of my parents had an issue with it.

[Blackcat31]

Nan,
What are your hours of operation? I know you do contracted hours but what is the earliest one arrives? Is 3:00 p.m. the 9 hour mark?

[PitterPatter]

here, the state decides what they pay as well, but we can charge the difference. so if my daily rate is 30, and the state only covers 20, then the parent has to come up with the other 10. are you allowed to do that too?

No I am not allowed to charge them anything but the $2 or whatever the state says is their portion if anything. Up until last yr we couldnt even charge late fees of any kinds NOTHING!. It was in the parents book that if your provider ever charges u for anything other than your daily fee u are required to report them immediatley. (maybe not word for word but very close) When I had problems collecting the parents fees and called the state for assistance they said they would not get in the middle. It was my choice if I wanted to trem the client for nonpayment. If I chose to do that I am required to give a 30 day notice to the client. (so they can sit in my daycare and continue to rack up fees they wont be paying) The client then can go to another provider and get the state to pay them. Late pick ups after closing time... State said again I have the right to term them as long as I give the notice but other than that theres nothing they can do and I wasnt allowed to charge fees. Now we can tho so that's 1 step for providers. Its all for the clients as if they dont get enough handed to them on a silver platter! Sorry started to vent a lil.

[Unregistered]

See below table. I add one dollarper day to each "slot" every year... so in 2010 the 3:00 p.m. departure was 135 a week.

Our rates are calculated differently than most child care homes and Centers. The rates are based upon the total number of hours per day and the departure time. The published rates are based on a maximum of a nine hour day. If you need more than nine hours per please add $5.00/hour to our base rates.

We have a different rate structure for part time. Part time is a minimum of three full working days per week. We do not provide drop in care. We do not offer half day rates.

Full Time Rates (2011) based upon a maximum of nine hours a day and time your child departs from day care:

3:00 p.m. departure $140.00 per week

3:15 p.m. departure $145.00 per week

3:30 p.m. departure $150.00 per week

3:45 p.m. departure $155.00 per week

4:00 p.m. departure $160.00 per week

4:15 p.m. departure $165.00 per week

4:30 p.m. departure $170.00 per week

4:45 p.m. departure $175.00 per week

5:00 p.m. departure $180.00 per week

5:15 p.m. departure $185.00 per week

5:30 p.m. departure $190.00 per week

5:45 p.m. departure $195.00 per week

6:00 p.m. departure $200.00 per week


Part Time Rates

3:00 p.m. departure $34.00 per day

3:15 p.m. departure $35.00 per day

3:30 p.m. departure $36.00 per day

3:45 p.m. departure $37.00 per day

4:00 p.m. departure $38.00 per day

4:15 p.m. departure $39.00 per day

4:30 p.m. departure $40.00 per day

4:45 p.m. departure $41.00 per day

5:00 p.m. departure $42.00 per day

5:15 p.m. departure $43.00 per day

5:30 p.m. departure $44.00 per day

5:45 p.m. departure $45.00 per day

Additional hours beyond nine hours per day billed at $5.00 per hour.

Overtime must be pre-arranged and approved.

We do not raise rates on current attending children at any time unless the child's schedule changes to a higher number of hours per day or a later departure.

Discounts: We do not currently offer discounts for sibling groups.

State Funded Clients: We do not accept State Funding at this time.

Do all your kids leave at 3 then?
How do you get clients to pay this much? I am a licensed teacher and have low ratios and have a quality program but our private preschools dont even charge this much in my area so I could NEVER get ANYONE to pay this much. Who can afford this? Do you live somewhere that the number of clients is so vast that you only take the top tier earners? Where I live 100,000 people total in whats considered this area I could never get this rate. Does charging this rate only allow a certain type of client and thus weed out people you don't want coming to your daycare? I just couldnt justify this ever in my area and it boggles my mind that anyone would/could pay this much- well I guess I mean the people who would need care after 4 pm anyway.

[DancingQueen]

I really like the way you charge. You are still getting full time pay/rate but anything beyond 9hrs they are gonna pay good for and it discourages families from doing that.
I love it.

What do you do if a parent drops off at 11 and picks up at 3? are they still paying the 9hr rate? or less?

That is a fear of mine - that parents would bring them less and my income would decrease.

[melskids]

No I am not allowed to charge them anything but the $2 or whatever the state says is their portion if anything. Up until last yr we couldnt even charge late fees of any kinds NOTHING!. It was in the parents book that if your provider ever charges u for anything other than your daily fee u are required to report them immediatley. (maybe not word for word but very close) When I had problems collecting the parents fees and called the state for assistance they said they would not get in the middle. It was my choice if I wanted to trem the client for nonpayment. If I chose to do that I am required to give a 30 day notice to the client. (so they can sit in my daycare and continue to rack up fees they wont be paying) The client then can go to another provider and get the state to pay them. Late pick ups after closing time... State said again I have the right to term them as long as I give the notice but other than that theres nothing they can do and I wasnt allowed to charge fees. Now we can tho so that's 1 step for providers. Its all for the clients as if they dont get enough handed to them on a silver platter! Sorry started to vent a lil.

thats crazy. i would NOT be taking state payed clients, period.

[broncomom1973]

Well, the reason I started daycare in the first place was that while I was on maternity leave after having my son, our daycare provider increased her rates for all of her families by 50%. Honestly, the day my two older dd (they were 1 and 4 at the time) came home with that note in their bag, I felt sick. Her note was very nice and I know she didnt want to raise rates, but for her own familys well being, she needed to do it. Fifty percent though, was a substantial increase.

I previously worked part-time (3 days/week) and I knew that with the daycare cost increase, there was really no point in me working anymore after the cost of childcare. So, maybe 10 or 20% wouldnt be a big deal to some parents, but each family will probably be different. Its just going to depend alot on their current financial situation.